March 6

Ephesians 2:11 – 22

Link to Bible Verses: Ephisians 2

Reverence: Inclusive of all of creation—including self—because of the spark of the Divine in all

Oh, how my soul wants to hear this call to unity! In a time of historic division—or, at minimum, the perception of historic division—I long for a sense of togetherness, of unification, of letting bygones be bygones. But is this realistic, especially now, in an era incredibly different from the time of St. Paul, in a time when messages of derision and division fly across our devices faster than we can read them?

I do believe that people who commit themselves deeply to the Way of Christ as a daily practice, as a way of being in this world, do have greater chances of working toward unity. But, with a focus on unity also comes a very real danger of uniformity, of a demand for sameness: You can be one of us if you dress, act, speak, and live as we do.

To keep an eye on this danger, maybe we adopt an eye of reverence for the divine spark in each of us…as we were created by God. This implies taking a stance of reverence about our differences, if only because they are God-given. And perhaps revering our differences is one of the steps along the Way of Christ, toward unity in Christ.

Thank you to Linda Land-Closson for writing our 2026 Lenten Devotions.