But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one… For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

(Eph 2.13&14,18-22; 3.17-19; 4.3-6)

Nearly a month ago, I left the church community which has been my family for seven years ago, and moved across the country. I left behind faithful friends, people who have loved and supported and encouraged me, and whom I in turn have sought to love in Jesus’ name. Our last service together included that precious time of remembrance, when those who trust in him for salvation take bread and wine, take time to consider again what price was paid for our forgiveness, and take time to give thanks for one another – the family which God has created for himself.

The family of God around the world today is multicultural, multi-lingual, and yet we are taught that in Christ, we are one. Our unity is not a thing of uniformity, of shared language or tradition, but a glorious technicoloured celebration of diverse peoples who all call Jesus their Lord and Saviour. Our unity is founded solely in him, and in the effectiveness of his work on the cross to defeat sin, death and evil for us once and for ever.

This week, I took the bread and wine again, in a different building, with different believers around me. And I remembered again that Jesus died to make me his own, to unite me with all his precious brothers and sisters, those whom I love and miss, and those to whom I have been called in this time, these new family members who sit around me. How deeply thankful I am that wherever I go in the world, I have family. I can go to a gathering of Jesus’ followers and even if I understand very little of their language, I can share with them in praising God and celebrating my Saviour. The unity of his children is real – and in spite of the disgraceful habit which we have, of falling out and putting up fences, we still share so much more than any of the things that divide us!

The more we can focus on Jesus, on his love and power, his beauty and his high calling on our lives, the closer we are drawn to one another. Before God’s throne, where Jesus stands ever as our great High Priest, there is no distance at all between God’s children as they pray and call for him to work out his purposes and reveal his glory. When I come to intercede for my friends in India or Mexico, or to remember those whom I left behind last month, I am shoulder to shoulder with them as we spend time in God’s presence.

It is particularly sweet to me in this initial time of loss, to know that those whom I have left behind are not lost to God, but are precious to him and he will bring them safe into his presence. Even if in this world I do not see some of them again, I know that we will one day be together in glory, enjoying the new creation and praising our precious Jesus together. None of God’s children are lost to us when they go ahead into glory, we miss them, but only for a time and how we cherish that reassurance. I can place those whom I left behind into God’s safe keeping, and have peace that He will do all things well for them as for me. How great and good is our Father, to whom we owe everything and from whom we receive grace upon grace!