There are many phrases that are popular today as we try to integrate God into our American culture. Often we are quick to point to the phrase “In God We Trust”, feeling that it is one of the core principles our nation was founded on, though the phrase was not adopted until 1956. We speak of “God Bless America”, and have songs like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” which speak of the judgment and wrath of God burned into our minds.
Many times these phrases express our desired national sentiment or Christian representation of “God’s Country” rather than actual biblical significance. One phrase, however, captures a biblical truth that we as a church have all too often forgotten – e pluribus unum – from many, one.
Each of us comes to Christ from a different path, with different stories, different experiences. We have different talents, different desires, and different preferences. But amazingly Christ has brought us all together in His Kingdom to form one unified body under his leadership, the body of Christ.
And in the body of Christ we become one – old and young, rich and poor, successful and not, those who struggle daily with sin and those who seem to have everything right – all of us come equal and needy to the broken body of Christ.
And in the moment when we reach to his body and take his flesh and drink his blood, may we be reminded that none of us is any better than another. May we be mindful that we have no right to look down on anyone else, nor should we feel less worthy than anyone. May we respect the paths and stories of all those who have come to Christ – seeking to love each other. And may we remember that our true identity is in Christ, and that out of many, we become one.