Last week was a funeral.  The son of a pastor was killed the day he (the son) became a father.

Today I had lunch with the executive pastor (Rocky) who works with that pastor. We ate with the executive pastors and administrators from a more than a dozen other churches.  Rocky talked about the pain and the encouragement. I asked him if they had discovered that God had made them ready for anything.

Support from other churches. That was what he found was ready. The grieving father had worked for another church who offered their facility for the funeral because it was larger. Still another pastor offered to do the funeral. Other people have called and served meals to not just the grieving family but the grieving staff. (Imagine a great boss. Imagine a great kid. Imagine a sudden death.) Others have volunteered to answer phones so staff members could go to visitations and the  funeral and prayer services and memorial times.

“Why don’t we work together all the time? Why only in crisis?” is what Rock wondered.

Why indeed?

There is so much perceived competition between churches. And some of it is real. And some of it is nasty. And all of it hurts.

So we spent some time praying for Rock and his church today. 16 people gathering around him, putting their hand on his head or his shoulder. 16 people from 15 churches from 12 denominations.

It’s sad when it takes someone dying for that kind of unity to be evident. It’s especially sad when Jesus already prayed for that kind of unity, and then died so it could happen.

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

[For the context: John 17:20-23]