With over $2 billion spent, the last presidential election was the costliest one in U.S. history. Day after day, we were inundated with TV and Internet ads, direct mail, targeted phone calls and door-to-door visits. Many of us said things such as “I’ll be glad when the election is over so we can get back to a normal life.” But that “normal” is very different depending on your financial resources, your job, your social status and a host of other issues. All of these, as well as race, gender and religion, were identified by election teams and targeted to gain votes for one side or the other, which reminds us that we are a divided people in many ways.

            There have always been things that divide people and single out one group or another in a negative way. One of the determining factors is the thinking that “If they’re not like us, they must be wrong.” But imagine if we could move beyond that thinking. Imagine if we could recognize our differences and yet still be one. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke eloquently when, in his now-famous “I Have a Dream” speech, he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

            Jesus’ last prayer recorded in John 17 asks that his believers might all be one. Our text today states as fact that “all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” But is that true even of all who follow Jesus? Is that possible? What would it look like if it really happened?

One by faith and baptism

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