Psalm 133:1 (NASB95)

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is 

For brothers to dwell together in unity!

Romans 12:4–5 (NIV)

4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

I love going to hear the symphony perform. The way the sounds seem to float in the air is unlike anything else. It feels so present, like a cloud of beauty or a smoky incense that fills the hall. You can almost expect to see remnants of it staining and dripping down the walls after the performance ends. It does something to your heart and soul, it changes you and cleanses you.

One of my favorite parts of the experience takes place just before the performance begins. The entire orchestra begins to warm up and the sound is horrible. At this point, they are not an orchestra, they are just a collection of individual instruments making noise. Suddenly the room goes quiet and a single note calls out loud and clear and the collection of individual instruments are drawn to the note and echo the sound in their own voice. They aren’t all necessarily playing the same note, they aren’t in unison, they are in harmony. The cacophony of noise becomes a symphony of sound. They become one expression of beauty.

There is something powerful that happens when we learn to become one with one another. Not in unison where we are all the same, but in harmony where our unique song adds to the symphony. We were created for community and we are better when we are together. We were created in the image and likeness of God who is a community of love, three distinct personalities but one in essence. Separately, we live our lives in a crowd making noise, but if we will commit to the community and learn to live in harmony, we can become a symphony. The cross was a single clear note that calls us all to tune our lives to the Maestro and become one. And when we do, we join in the song of angels and the incense fills the temple.

Your Turn:

There are three areas of community that we will focus on this week. Take some time and add your voice to their song.

• Family and friends: These are the relationships that form your deepest level of community. It is here that you are most deeply known and loved. Find some time to gather together this week to let them know how much they mean to you. It is often the ones we are closest to that we forget to thank for their love and fellowship.

• The body of Christ: If you haven’t committed to being in community with a local expression of the church, this is an essential first step. If you are attending a local church, are you investing yourself in the community there? Are you helping to advance the vision and call of that specific community? Are you praying for your pastor? Are you volunteering and lending your talents and gifts for the edification of the other people there? Are you tithing? Are you praying for each other? Are you getting there early and leaving late? You have to find a way to add your voice to the song.

• The body of Christ in the past: The saints of old that are no longer here on earth are all part of the cloud of witnesses that await you. Someday you will be with them for eternity. Take some time to get to know them now. Read some of the works of Augustine, C.S. Lewis, or Dallas Willard. An incredible place to begin would be with the short book Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a book that tells the story of a small group of believers fighting for community in the midst of the Nazi occupation.

• Go to the symphony with some friends.