Common Good

Back to Foreign Relations, Commonwealth Partnerships and International Aid

Unity in Diversity

AdventForeign Relations, Commonwealth Partnerships and International Aid Week 2 · Day 1

Scripture References

Read First

Old Testament

Isaiah 2:2-4

² It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
³ Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law shall go out of Zion, and the LORD’s word from Jerusalem.
⁴ He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

New Testament

John 17:20-26

²⁰ “Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
²¹ that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
²² The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one,

Read 4 more verses

²³ I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
²⁴ Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
²⁵ Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
²⁶ I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Thought for the Day

Isaiah sees the nations streaming to the mountain of the Lord. Not erased into sameness, but gathered into worship. And from that worship comes something public: swords beaten into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, the patient unlearning of war.

Jesus prays for those who will believe through the apostles’ word: that they may be one, as Father and Son are one. Yet his prayer is larger than unity alone. He asks that his people would be with him, that they would see his glory, and that the love with which the Father has loved the Son would be in them.

Show 112 more words

So Christian unity is not a political technique. It is a gift received in Christ, and it has a radiance: it makes room for truth, for repentance, and for patient difference. It is the opposite of rivalry. It is the shape of a family.

Pray, then, for nations and leaders: for diplomacy that is more than theatre, for alliances that serve the weak, for agreements that are honest. Ask for small, stubborn steps of reconciliation. And pray for the Church’s witness: that, in a world trained to divide, we might carry the Father’s love into public life, so that others glimpse, however briefly, what it would mean to learn war no more.

Prayer Points

Respond

Lord Jesus, make your Church one in truth and love; keep our unity from becoming either softness or pride.
Give wisdom to diplomats and leaders; grant agreements that protect the vulnerable and restrain violence.
Deliver nations from rivalry that feeds on contempt; teach peoples to tell the truth without hatred.

Show 2 more prayer points

Raise up peacemakers with clean hands and steady courage, especially where war has become normal.
Teach me to seek unity as a fruit of Christ’s prayer, not as a tactic or a mood.

Continue Reading Journey