This year Tracy and I purchased season tickets for Broadway in Atlanta. The productions at the Fabulous Fox feature both classic and contemporary musicals.

The patrons who pack the venue reflect the city’s diversity. Different genders, ages, races, ethnicities, orientations, and religions unite for three hours in a shared love of the theater.

We sit together in companionable enjoyment: Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative, gay and straight, young and old, black and white, Millennials and Baby Boomers. One common interest unites us for the length of a Broadway play.

The church is one body made up of different parts. We are a diverse and different people—some more different than others! No human commonality binds us together. We are a divine creation united in the name of Jesus Christ.

The body of Christ does not achieve unity by abolishing human differences and disagreements. We achieve unity by focusing on Jesus Christ who binds us together and not on the world that tears us apart.

In Ephesians 4, Paul wrote: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”

One.

Perhaps God’s people could learn a thing or two from Broadway in Atlanta audiences.