31 Days of UnitySample

(Re)new: Marriage is a great mystery. In many ways, it is a wild idea for two people to commit themselves entirely to each other. This commitment is so difficult because we have no idea what will happen over the course of time. People change. Good and bad come into our lives. No, one cannot predict the future. Marriage is a great leap of faith that our love for another person will allow us to hold fast to them as they change, we change, and the world around us changes. This is why we make vows to mark our covenant, vows about faithfulness to each other, endurance of hardship, caring for one another in sickness and in health, and a pledge that this covenant will only ever work if we make these promises to each other.

Living in this kind of commitment changes us. We are transformed by committing ourselves to one another. Genesis describes marriage as the two becoming one. Two become one, forever altered by their covenant. In a hopeful description, the Apostle Paul says that the mystery of marriage is that loving another person this way, living in this mutuality, has the power to sanctify us, to make us holy.

The church needs more covenantal relationships in order to be holy. In Jesus' prayer for the church in John 17, he prays that his followers can know a unity such as Jesus has with the Father. This unity, as it works to completion, will be a testimony to the world that God is at work. That makes sense, because people choosing to live in mutual love with one another, beyond marriage, beyond their social groups, beyond family, with others who are different than them, is another wild idea. Why would we do this? Why would we risk giving ourselves in love to people who can hurt us? Living like this seems impossible.

And yet, this is the purpose of the church. We are called to offer covenantal love to one another as the church. It is this love, and this radical commitment to be a community of love, that changes us. It is like marriage, a holy mystery that sanctifies us, allowing us to show the world the love of God.

Our renewal, as the church, will be a renewal of covenantal love. We must find ways to unite ourselves in our love of Christ and do the hard work of learning to love each other. This is how our path to showing the world the great mystery of God’s love for us all.

After reading the passage, ask yourself these reflection questions:

• Have you ever been in a covenantal relationship? If so, how did it change your idea of love?
• What is the hardest part of loving each other this way, as the church?
• Is God speaking to you, right now, about someone you are called to love better?

Our Prayer for (Re)newal

Create in us clean hearts, O God, that we may learn to be your people, and live in unity with one another. Give us the gift of humility, and strengthen us to live in sacrificial love for one another. May we glorify you by being peacemakers in a world of division. Amen