How About A Little Harmony

I

 love listening to a cappella music.  It never ceases to amaze me how voices from different people, regardless of their number, can blend so that only one voice is heard.  A few weeks ago, I was listening to a local Christian radio station.  They were playing a good selection of contemporary music so I relaxed in my seat and enjoyed the ride home from Arlington to Fort Worth. 

After a few songs, the announcer introduced a beautiful song by this singing group.  Right away I knew the arrangement would be voices only, and in a few seconds, I was able to confirm my hypothesis. I was very familiar with the song but dared not sing along with it.  So lovely and harmonious were the individual voices that any attempt on my part would have marred the music.  Despite the fact there were three distinct voices coming from the radio, the group had its own distinctive sound.  One voice the more, or one voice the less, and the performance would have been completely different and not at all inspiring.

From these three people came one gorgeous sound.  Their voices blended as one, speaking the same words, carrying the same message, each voice joining with the others in perfect union and harmony.  For the next several minutes I was deeply moved and encouraged as this song ministered to my heart.  The only thing I could concentrate on was how perfectly and how lovingly these voices blended into one to share the truth of God’s love and mercy and to praise him.

As the song ended, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’ words at the Last Supper recorded in John 13-17.  As he spends these last moments with his disciples, Jesus teaches them about washing the each other’s feet, about loving each other, and he calls them friends instead of servants.  In John 17, Jesus prays a prayer known as the High Priestly prayer of Christ. In this prayer he prays for unity among believers so that we may be one in mind, heart, and spirit as we serve God.

John 17:20-21 gives us these words of Jesus:  "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”  It is indeed humbling to see that in addition to the disciples, Jesus prayed for me and for you that night.  Notice that his prayer includes everyone who will believe because of the disciples.

His prayer, however, doesn’t stop there.  Jesus prays for us with a specific purpose in mind, that we would all be one.  Moreover, Jesus wants us to be one in the same way as he and God are one.  That means completely and totally united with no differences among us This was our Lord’s request for us yet the church today seems to be anything but united.  We are more concerned with what our neighbor is wearing, the type of car he is driving, or the size of his house than we are with his spiritual well-being.  We are quick to point out where someone is wrong and slow to acknowledge where someone is right.  We spend more time talking about our fellow Christians than we do with them and when we pray, it seems we pray at our brothers and sisters instead of with them or for them.

This is not what Jesus meant when he prayed that we be united in spirit and in love.  The song on the radio captured my attention because three distinct voices blended into one. Although of different registers and ranges, they united into one sound with one common purpose; that purpose was sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to all those listening to their testimony.  Oh that we would take a great lesson from this today and apply it to our own Christian lives.  Are we united with our brothers and sisters?  Do we take time to listen to them? Do we really care about them and the burdens they are carrying?  Do we love them as Jesus commanded us to do?  Jesus is asking us the same question that he asked those twelve men sitting with him around the table that evening, “How about a little harmony?”  What will your answer be?