Amelia Rawlins
Unity, for me unity is the glue that holds a village together. We’ve all seen acts of unity around us. When terrorists’ attacks destroyed our city on 9/11, when Hurricane Katrina turned New Orleans upside down and most recently when young PJ Avitto was killed in East New York, everyone near and far became united in support. But, there seems to be a pattern; all of these occurrences were tragedies.
Why does this type of sacred unity only happen when tragedy strikes our community and our world? It is obvious that America is more than capable of becoming “United as One”, and that our society has the power to fight together for a common good, but why do we wait until we are about to be annulated or broken down to do so?
We lobby together in Albany, New York to keep our medical centers open, we rally in the streets to send a message to police officers to stop falsely shooting and frisking our kids and our black men and we even find it in our hearts to go around and obtain 1,000 petition signatures to show the government that we are serious, but as soon as we get what we’ve worked towards, the idea of unity seems to fade away.
In God’s eyes, according to Ephesians, Chapter 4 verses 1-6, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit —just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
This type of unity that God speaks about, may take more than rallying together one good time. This type of unity that God speaks about takes faith, will and commitment. We as a congregation, we as individuals have to start joining together in body and in spirit, with lock and force, bonding together with a hold so strong that Satan cannot break it.
This starts in our home, this starts in our church, this starts in our workplace, in our schools and resides forever more in our hearts. Unity isn’t just for one time, unity should be forever.