I spent nearly all of Monday in a traffic jam.  Well, several traffic jams to be precise. Traffic jams on the M4, traffic jams on the Edgware Road, traffic jams in Regent Street, traffic jams on the M25.  Welcome to London – bet you wish you’d left the car at home!

 

But it’s not all bad news.  There are many useful things that you can do to pass the time in a traffic jam.  You can dust the dashboard, listen to the radio, tidy out the glove compartment, perhaps try to figure out last Sunday’s sermon.  If you become really bored you can even look around at the world passing you by. 

 

So it was, that sat in one of my traffic jams I happened to notice that Mayor Ken has a campaign going at the moment.  'We are Londoners, We are One' celebrates the fact that London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, which is, the campaign claims, one of the things that makes it a great city to live in and visit.

 

A city is a complex entity made up of thousands, if not millions of parts, each with its own function.  This is what makes the city work – the diverse people who provide the things that are taken for granted - including the transport, the food, the utilities, the healthcare, the shops, and the hospitality for visitors. A bus driver may not know the nurse who is his passenger, but they rely on each other to do their jobs. This may not be a profound observation, but it is worth reflecting upon.  And I think it is why, when something happens like the tube/bus bombings, the whole city pulls together. It may be idealistic, but at its best it is true:

 

though we are many, we are one, because we all share in the life of one city.

 

Ok, so you will have guessed where I am going with this. Can we Christians make the same claim? In microcosm, can we even make this claim for the membership of St. Andrew’s Church? 

 

A church is a complex entity made up of many parts, each with its own function.  This is what makes the church work – the diverse people who provide the things that are taken for granted including the lifts to services, the refreshments, the administration, the worship, the music, the flowers and the hospitality for visitors.  We may not all know each other but we rely on each other to do our jobs in the church. Again, this may not be a profound observation, but it is worth reflecting on.  And that is why I hold onto the hope that, when something happens which challenges our faith, or our confidence in the future, the whole church will pull together.  It may be idealistic, but at its best it is true:

 

though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread.

 

We are Christians. We are church. And, by the grace of God, we too are one.

 

With blessings from all of us at St. Andrew’s, Taunton, UK.