The group who had gathered for worship were attending a cross-cultural event in the Church of the Brethren. As we sang "Jesus Loves Me," and as we gathered in circles of prayer, voices could be heard which spoke Creole, Spanish, German, Korean, and English. It was a time of rich blessing for me, worshiping in Jesus' name with sisters and brothers from throughout our denomination.

Boise State University

Yet, the question arises: as we worship God with others whose language or ethnic origin, whose style of music or worship, whose political or theological understandings may differ from our own, how can we become one Body? What unites us when we sound and look and act so differently from one another?

We are united in Jesus' name. An answer which sounds simple perhaps, but this is not an "easy" unity, ignoring our differences, or pretending that all is well when broken-ness and pain, struggle and division are all too evident among us.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that "[Christ Jesus] is our peace; . . . and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. " (Ephesians 2:14). Jesus Christ is our peace; — no easy peace, but one born out of the love and the agony of the cross.

Our challenge throughout this next year is to experience and to know Jesus more deeply through study of the scriptures, through worship and the singing of hymns and songs, through prayer, through fellowship with one another in Jesus' name, and through "continuing the work of Jesus . . . peacefully, simply, together."