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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York

Good morning.

'Have a unity of spirit,’ says the first letter of Peter. What unites us may be much more than what divides us, but we can't pretend that the church in this age - like the church in every age - finds it hard to agree on some issues.

But our unity is not for our own preservation. Jesus prays that his church is one so the world may believe. All denominations probably underestimate how damaging our disunity is for our proclamation of the gospel. Put simply, I think the world looks and says, ‘Well, if they can't even agree amongst themselves, how can we possibly take them seriously’ And what the world urgently needs to hear is that it’s possible for those who disagree to still love one another and to live together in respectful unity.
But unity is not uniformity. And God has created us with a wonderful and glorious diversity.

In the Anglican church in New Zealand we see this lived out in a particular way. The Church is made up of three streams who order their affairs within their three contexts, that is Maori, those of white European origin, and Polynesian. It can sometimes appear that one diocese has three bishops. But it is a model of unity in diversity that is creative and relational – something like the Trinity, perhaps? This challenges us to look at diversity differently, seeing it not as a problem to be solved, but a gift to be celebrated.

And so we pray –

Transforming God, help us to see unity differently. Help us to disagree well. Teach us that we belong to one another, and that your love for us draws us into community through your Son Jesus Christ who prayed his church be one.

Amen.