As I stood looking over the barricade of the Hoover Dam, that separated me from the canyon and river below, I felt light-headed and more than a little fearful. The truth is that I don’t like heights. To the south, I noted construction taking place – it was a bridge. I saw the workings from the east and the west. I saw the empty space that separated the two sides. Could this construction span come together to form a unit that would connect the roads on both sides of the canyon nearly 900 feet above the river below? Five years later the project was complete…a perfect union.

There are days I look at the church and I feel like I am standing on the Hoover Dam looking out at an incomplete bridge. There is some structure coming from the east and the west (right and the left), but there is too much empty space between and too little being done to complete the work. There are times that I see workers, but they seem focused on their own little piece of the project rather than working to span the chasm. I wonder about the engineering; I wonder about the commitment.

The good news is that the Engineer is God. The more difficult news is that the workers seem to lack the unifying willingness to come together for the good of all. The Engineer’s plan is perfect; those called to implement the project…not so much.

What is our purpose? We are God’s image bearers on earth. We are called to bridge the chasm between heaven and earth. We are to be ones that the Master Engineer loves and God wants to bring us together in complete unity through Christ. How do we discern our purpose, assuming that we want to know how God has designed us? If the church is created in Christ Jesus to do good works that were prepared in advance for us to do, what will it take to move us from personal agenda to the place that we can be one?

Remember, Jesus’ prayer, “That they may be one so that the world may believe that You sent me…and have loved them as you have loved me.”