Finding Unity in the Mundane

If you've been on Facebook at all, you know there are groups you can join that share common interests. A Facebook group I joined acts as a virtual bulletin board for all things happening in the Tri-Cities and surrounding areas in West MI. There's a healthy share of business promotions, locals asking for recommendations, and, of course, memes. However, this Facebook group recently had a hyper-fixation on a particularly mundane happening: a pothole.

It started with a picture of the pothole being posted in the group, which had now become large enough for an entire recliner chair to sit comfortably in it. The pothole quickly became a sensation, sparking hundreds of people to visit, multiple news stories, and mild infamy in West MI. It gained enough traction that a Grand Haven City Councilmember responded in the very same group, citing work in motion to fill the pothole.

It's wonderfully silly what can unite people. Something as mundane as a pothole sparked hundreds of people from vastly different walks of life to experience the joy of unity in a shared joke. And where there is unity, there is holiness.

FCC's vision statement reads, "All kinds of people...becoming like Jesus."  I often have to remind myself of this truth. True community isn't dependent on sameness, as it's not hard to be around those similar to you. While there are benefits in finding a group of people to whom you can relate, only being around those who think the same, act the same, and vote the same is stifling opportunity for us to become more like Jesus.

What would it look like for Christians to be at the forefront of unity, not just with other Christians, but with all kinds of people? What if we actively worked toward unity across denominations, religions, politics, and cultures? What might it take to do this within our cities, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and families? I'd like to believe the answer is like that pothole: more mundane and less fantastic than we might think.