Bind us together Lord

Dear brothers and sisters,

Some of us might recall the old Christian song Bind Us Together Lord. The song was written after a prayer meeting where the artist felt a strong sense of unity , and felt the desire to express that in a song. Perhaps you’ve sung it in your head before? Perhaps it is rolling around your head right now. The gist of the song is a prayer that we might be bound with the unbreakable chords of love, and this ought to characterise relationships amongst church members.

Love and unity are essential qualities for any church, Jesus says we will be known for our love (John 13), Paul gives thanks for the Ephesians unity and love (Eph 1), and in Colossians reminds us that love is the bond of unity (Col 3:14).

As a church, are we doing all that we can to build unity in love? While calling for this unity and love, Paul also warns us of one of the dark dangers in any church. Gossip. In Romans 1:29-31 he lists some fairly extreme things (murder, enmity, God-hating), and in the middle of the list gossip stands out. In the West we might scratch our heads at this? Surely it is ok to talk about someone else, so “spill the tea” and find out salacious details in the lives of others—entire industries are built around gossip after all! As Christians we can be tempted to take on the values of society, and be interested in talking about others rather than to them, in sowing seeds of discord rather than building bonds of love. There is a reason gossip is in the same list as murder, it can have deathly consequences for the body of Christ.

Instead of partaking (or perpetrating) gossip, perhaps we might instead lean towards generosity and forgiveness? An attitude of generosity might help us see that another's words or actions may not be intended to harm me, and a willingness to forgive may help us resolve harm that is done. In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us to be thoughtful of others, not insulting another, nor accusing, but rather being reconciled to each other. And this reconciliation is because God reconciles through Jesus Christ! In Christ, God binds us together with cords that cannot be broken. If we’ll be together for eternity, there is no time like the present to learn to live in love!

In Christ’s Love,

Craig Olliffe Senior minister