My friend and colleague, David Livingston recently wrote a blog post titled “The Power of And.” That got me thinking about the United Methodist Church in general and Abilene First UMC in particular.

You often hear something along the lines of: “we disagree, but we can be in the same church.” As I shared yesterday, I think it would be better if we said: “we disagree, and we should be in the same church.

I make this assertion because I firmly believe that in the church, God, through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, is working reunify humanity. As Paul wrote in Galatians 3:38: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” To have people of different persuasions and opinions sitting side by side in the same pew is one of the reasons God created the church. Here at Abilene First UMC, we’re doing that, let’s keep doing it.