1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 (NRSV)
Read 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 on biblegateway.com
Verse 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Verse 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; Verse 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; Verse 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. Verse 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Verse 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, Verse 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, Verse 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. Verse 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Verse 12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. Verse 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Devotion
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
As I am writing this devotion during the Easter Season, Pope Francis and the Coptic Egyptian Church have agreed to recognize each other's baptisms. The Lutherans and the Catholics together kicked off a joint commemoration of the Reformation last October. The council president where I serve in Staten Island is married to the council president of the Catholic Church around the block!
The Spirit heals divisions and gives the church its unity. I once visited the ecumenical Taize community in the south of France. When I asked someone what "denomination" they were part of, I don’t remember which one they said, only the implication that those categories and labels no longer apply.
Prayer
God, send your Spirit, and awaken in every confession of the whole church a holy hunger and thirst for unity in you. Amen.