Unity.      ORIGNAL

Please bear with me for 12 minutes. I had put this speech together for you. And now, within the last 24 hours, I find that I am the one in desperate need of lifting myself up. So this is me talking to me. An you just happen to be listening. Praise yee the name of the Lord.

We Christians are a good people. We have come so far. But we still have far to go. We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build, and much to gain.

Few times in our history has been more challenging or difficult than the time we are in now. Time itself may be rolling down. A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can not be any more desperate, or any more clear. To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul, and to secure the future, requires more than words. It requires, that most elusive of things, Unity.

Today, our whole soul must be in this unity. Uniting our people as Christians. I ask every Christian to join me in this cause. Uniting to fight the common foe we face: sin, anger, resentment, hatred, violence, disease, hopelessness. With unity we can do great things. Important things. We can right wrongs. We can take back what the devil has stolen from us. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can deliver justice.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new.

The battle is formitable. Yet, we can do all things in Christ Jesus. Through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our “better angels” have always prevailed.

In each of these moments, enough of us came together to carry all of us forward. We can do so now. Faith, history, and reason show the way, the way of unity. We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect.

We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature. For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No togetherness, only a state of chaos.

This is our moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward. We must meet this moment as Christians under God. If we do that, I guarantee you, we will not fail. We have never, ever, ever failed, when we have acted together.

So today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh. All of us. Let us listen to one another, hear one another, see one another, show respect to one another.

Differencences need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war. We must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured. My fellow Christians, we have to be different than this.

I believe we Christians are better than this. Just look around. Here we stand, in the shadow of chaos, and yet we endured and prevailed. Don’t tell me things can’t change. Disagreement must not lead to disunion.

We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility. If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment. Because here is the thing about life: There is no accounting for what fate will deal you.

There are some days when we need a hand. There are other days when we’re called on to lend one. That is how we must be with one another. If we are this way, we will all be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.

My fellow Christians, in the work ahead of us, we will need each other. We will need all our strength to persevere through this dark winter. As the Bible says, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. We will get through this, together. The world is watching today. So here is my message to us all: We Christians are being tested and we will come out stronger for it.

We will repair our alliances, and engage with the world once again. Not to meet yesterday’s challenges, but today’s and tomorrow’s. We will lead, not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. We will be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security. We have been through so much in this world. We will honor the saints who came before us, by becoming the people we know we can and should be.

This is a time of testing. We face an attack of sin, anger, resentment, hatred, violence, disease, hopelessness, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways. But the fact is we face them all at once, presenting us with the grave-est of responsibilities.

Now we must step up, All of us. It is a time for boldness, for there is so much to do, and, this is certain. We will be judged, you and I, for how we resolve the cascading crises of our era. Will we rise to the occasion? Will we master this rare and difficult hour?

Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world for our children? I believe we must, and I believe we will.

And when we do, we will write the next chapter in the Christian story. It’s a story that might sound something like a song, that says that we gave our best to our children, and our children's children. They did their duty.

Let us not think of what is, but of possibilities. Not of personal interest, but of the over all good. Together, let us write a story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity. Of love and of healing. Of greatness and of goodness. May this be the story that guides us. The story that inspires us. That is what we owe one another, and generations to follow.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.