By: Bishop Tessa Moon Leiseth
October 22, 2024
A group from the Eastern North Dakota Synod is on a Footsteps of Paul pilgrimage with other ELCA Lutherans, including a group from Western North Dakota Synod.
We were recently in Ephesus (in modern day Turkey), and I shared a version of this devotion after we had walked through the ruins and reconstructions at the excavation site of the ancient city.
In preparation for our visit to Ephesus, I read through the whole book of Ephesians, Paul’s letter to the community at Ephesus. While there are different possibilities of what I could share today, it was Paul’s language of unity that most spoke to me.
Right now, in the United States, we are experiencing divisions. People find themselves on different sides. These sides can at times feel far from each other. We hear about, feel, and focus on our divisions. As we get closer to Election Day in the United States, it seems that our anxiety about division is increasing.
Hear these words from Paul from the second chapter of Ephesians:
11 So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us, 15 abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; 21 in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
The community at Ephesus had its own challenges with division and unity. As we have walked the ancient city of Ephesus, we might even have tried to imagine those divisions. But even with possibly different challenges, the point remains that our unity is found in Christ. As we are reminded, “In [Christ Jesus] the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God” (Eph 2:21-22). It is indeed in Christ that we are joined together as siblings, all part of the family of God. As we continue to navigate our own home landscape and divisions, may this reminder bring us peace and hope.
I would close with this prayer for all of us:
God of us all, we truly are made one in Christ. Permeate us with this reality. Remind us. Inspire us to live from the unity we have in Christ. And heal us, O God, where we encounter division. We entrust this all to you, knowing that in you we are indeed one. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
Bishop Tessa Moon Leiseth 