One in the Spirit

It was the summer before 8^th grade and I was attending the first funeral of my young life.   A classmate of mine had died tragically in a mini-bike accident.  It was jolting news for a 13 year old to absorb.   But it was her funeral that really opened my eyes to reality.   I remember her gray and white coffin being brought in to the sanctuary in somber procession as her family sadly followed in behind. I saw grief on their faces. Her parents clutched each other closely as they followed their daughter’s casket down the middle aisle of the church.   As they filed in, I could hear the sobbing throughout the sanctuary.   I’m certain at my young age, I’d never witnessed such heartbreak.   And yet, it was in this setting, God spoke to me in a very real way.  

From a choir loft of that beautifully ornate Catholic church, a group of youth sang a song that I heard for the first time that day.   I was reminded of that moment this past Sunday, as we sang the song in church.  The song is an old standard now, but in the summer of 1972, it was fairly new song. Its first verse goes:

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

They will know we are Christians by our love

In this setting of incredible sadness, the song spoke to me directly, mostly because I didn’t understand the meaning of the words.   Oh, I had been raised in church, no doubt had many opportunities to hear the Gospel of Christ.   But at the time I heard that song, I had no idea what being "one in the spirit" meant.   To what Spirit were the singers referring?   And why would anyone know Christians by their love??   Somehow, my young mind comprehended one thing with perfect accuracy: they were singing about someone else, not me.

Ephesians 4:4 tells us: There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--

And in 1 Corinthians 12:13 we read: For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–

Christian are linked by that one Spirit.   We are one in the Spirit, one body of Christ. Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and others alike are bonded by that one Spirit - the very Spirit of God, through their declaration of Jesus as Lord for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."(Romans 10:13).   It’s one of our basic Christian concepts.

I didn’t have that understanding, mourning the loss of my classmate that day. An old adage states, "To wonder is to begin to understand."   Through that song, God was making me begin to wonder.   It was the beginning of a process that eventually led to my accepting Christ, becoming one in that sweet Spirit.