Martin Luther King, Jr. said the worship hour on Sunday morning is “the most segregated hour in America.”  In his December 5th broadcast, Scott Pelley covered the healing that is taking place between two churches in Macon, Georgia, in the aftermath of a shooting in Charleston last year.  The churches had split back in 1845 when the black slaves who attended outnumbered the white slave owners present.  Two churches a block apart who have had nothing to do with each other for over 100 years. His story tells of the unity these two churches are experiencing as they dialogue and fellowship together after so many years of distance and division.  Albeit, their initial separation was over racial lines, churches all across this land and throughout the world divide over theology, styles of worship, prayer, as well as very insignificant issues, such as clothing, versions of the Bible, difficult people . . .  and on and on it goes.  One of the pastors in the video comments, “We wouldn’t worry so much about that one hour a week of being divided if we weren’t so divided the other hours of the week.”  There are certainly many issues that Christians will never all agree on and we will choose to worship at different churches, but the truth is that our testimony before the world comes when we experience harmony as the body of Christ.

How much God desires that we “dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133:1).  There are more than 60 verses in the Bible that talk about unity.  In the Apostle’s Creed, we proclaim “the communion of saints.”  We read in Romans 15:5, “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The vision of Olympic Peninsula Women’s Fellowship is “to be a catalyst for unifying and encouraging Christian women on the Olympic Peninsula through Biblically-based annual events.”  Over the the past couple months in our discussions with women from many different churches, we sense that same desire.  We are praying that many women across the peninsula will plan to attend our inaugural event in February to sing and pray with one voice and listen to Elisa Morgan bring a challenge from the Word to make a difference in our own communities and spheres of influence.