United to Receive God’s Grace

Grace for All

Seek the Lord while He may be found.

This devotion was written by Ed Cherry and recorded by Jim Stovall.

Our scripture for today comes from:

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

(Matthew 18:20 KJV)

and

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalms 133:1

KJV)

We hear the word unity in many labels, slogans, admonitions, and challenges.

In simple arithmetic, we know that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4, but when God’s people come together, a new way to add comes to our attention. Each person comes into a group with their individual talents and skills. When two or three or more unite, the group can do things that go beyond the sum of the individual skills. It can be called teamwork.

I remember the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team. As a united group they won a game with the Russians that all experts and prognosticators said that could not happen. But it did because they were united and worked together and found skills that went beyond the sum of their individual skills.

I also remember a few years back when a member of our church was in kidney failure and a candidate for kidney donation was needed. A few members of First United Methodist went into a room and engaged in a group silent prayer asking for help to finding a matching donor. The next morning a matching donor came forward. That person was an active member in our congregation. Today, both of these people are doing well. Thanks be to God. I believe that our united group prayer session helped that process.

The lesson is simple as we can read in Longfellow’s Hiawatha:

All your strength is in your union all your danger in discord; therefore, be at peace henceforward, and as brothers live together.

Let us pray:

God, please be in our midst and give us the wisdom and strength to gracefully unite in all that you will have us do. Amen.

This devotion was written by Ed Cherry.

Sarah outro

https://3.basecamp.com/5699235/buckets/34806075/uploads/6744657106

Episode notes

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [e-mail].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.