We Are One in the Spirit

Ok, another song that’s not from this week’s service…

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love

All praise to the Father from whom all things flow
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son
And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love

GEMS is a nationwide, non-denominational group that gives girls everywhere the chance to meet the Savior. We have a group at our church that meets every two weeks. We sang this song at our GEMS meeting on Thursday night.

Being the music person that I am, I absolutely loved the arrangement on the CD we sang with. The song is in a minor key, and it started very mysterious sounding, almost Enya-like, then came in with heavy electric guitars, almost Evanescence-like!

We also had hand motions for it, things like putting our hands together in the middle of a circle for we are one in the spirit, acting like we are shoveling for we will work with each other, and covering our eyes for save each man’s pride.

The final verse is what really got me. While the tempo doesn’t slow down, we sang the last verse in what might be considered… half time? Two beats where there were normally one? And we had very slow, deliberate motions of lifting our hands and bringing them back down. On the final all praise to the Spirit who makes us one we all raise our hands and grab hold of the people beside us, and sway to the music. I looked around the sanctuary at all of the girls there and was overcome with the sight.

Looking out over our group, I realized that a third to a half of our girls did not attend our church. They came with friends and attended school together, but came from various church backgrounds. Within my 7th and 8th grade class alone, I discovered I had girls from a Christian Reformed Church, a United Reformed Church, a Community Church, Resurrection Life (a large non-denominational church), and an Assembly of God/Pentecostal church. And here they all were, holding hands raised to God, singing we are one in the Spirit, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love. WOW!

If only that unity could carry over into the rest of their churches. Sometimes denominations get so frustrated with each other because of petty theological differences. But who cares if when you get baptized you are sprinkled with water or you are dunked in a river?? All that matters is you believe in the Lord Jesus! Yes we need to try and understand these other parts of the Christian life, but we should not get so worked up about them that we miss the big picture, the main point.

I can only pray that I might instill this sense of unity in my girls during the time I have with them…