What I can’t get away from is that what passes for “Christian community” today is so un-counter cultural that you don’t even know when you are blatantly committing fornication.

Once again, I couldn't have said it any better than the Monk.

It was along those lines that I asked for spiritual support this weekend. Thank you to those who provided it.

It wasn't about fornication. Not in the ordinary sense, anyway.

Someone very important in my life had asked me to speak at a newly-formed, out-of-town church. I was honored. I agreed.

Then I found out that this was not really a "newly-formed" community. Actually, it was an offshoot of a recently "newly formed" community in a town that, believe me, really needs such communities.

And when I say "offshoot," I of course mean that they had some political strife with the main community and, being good Protestants, broke off to form a new community.

Anyone who knows me knows that that stuff boils my blood. But I was still asked to speak. I was asked to inspire this new community with my own story as a testimony of the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

But I didn't want to inspire this community. I wanted to scream, at the top of my lungs, "GO BACK! GO BACK!! TRY TO WORK IT OUT!!! STOP ALL THIS DIVISION!!! ANY OF YOU EVER READ PAUL'S LETTERS?! GO BACK!!"

So, thanks again for the prayers. I didn't know exactly what I was going to say until I got up there. And as the moment drew near, I realized that what Paul was saying was not just that we should always strive to be one in Christ, but that we are already all one in Christ. It wasn't just rules for the church, it was ontology.

So I touched upon some Ephesians, talking about the plan of the mystery hidden for ages, and all that, but it wasn't my central message. My central message, as it should always be, was about the God revealed in Jesus Christ, in whom we are already one.

Once again, thanks for the prayers.

Grace and Peace,
Raffi