Sing the Harmony (Romans 15:1-7)

When believers hold different convictions, practice different ethics, or believe in different theological convictions, they face a choice: stay together…or go their separate ways. This is what Paul is addressing in these final chapters of his letter to the Roman church. Our positions matter, they do, but so does our posture: our approach, our attitude, the way we engage and communicate. If our positions are the keys on a piano, the raw notes, our posture is the way we play them: the order and sequence, which ones hit harder and  emphasize. Despite their shared faith in Christ, the two groups clashed over important issues. What were they allowed to eat? What days were sacred? Who gets to decide? If we choose to accommodate rather than separate, we’re living into the principle of loving our neighbor, willing their good, building them up. Paul isn’t saying, “think the same things.” Harmony, musically, isn’t possible if everyone sings the same note. Harmony musically, isn’t everyone singing the same note. Harmony is when different notes work together to produce a fuller, richer, more amazing sound.