Ephesians 4:1-16
Thank goodness for adhesives.
Where would we be without super glue, Elmer’s glue, and glue sticks?
How would we get along without those little yellow sticky notes? Or Scotch Tape?
Over 30 years ago now, a scientist by the name of Spencer Silver was working on pressure-sensitive adhesives for the 3M company. He was looking for glues that would instantly bond to a surface, but then could be removed without destroying the surface. He investigated various synthetic polymers…and eventually came up with one that was a weak adhesive. But it didn’t quite work like he was hoping, so he lost interest.
About the same time, there was another fellow over at 3M, an engineer by the name of Arthur Fry. He sang in the church choir, and he had a problem. He wanted to mark the pages in his hymnal and used slips of note paper to do that. But, when he lifted the hymnal to sing, the slips of note paper fell out.
Then Arthur Fry remembered his friend Spencer Silver, the guy who was working on the weak glue. He went to work and brought a little of the weak glue home with him. He put it on the slips of paper, discovered that he could put them into his hymnal and then peel them out without messing up the page…and…the sticky note was born. Not a day goes by that most of us don’t use a sticky note to mark a page, or attach to a document or get someone’s attention.
There’s a similarly interesting story about the origins of Scotch Tape. Again it involved the 3M Company, this time back in the 1920s. Car manufacturers were beginning to make cars that were two colors. In order to keep straight edges between the two colors, they would glue newspaper to the car to cover the part they didn’t want to paint a particular color. Only problem was, when they peeled off the newspaper, pieces of it kept sticking to the car.
3M came to the rescue. A chemist there named Richard Drew took rubber cement and put some on the edge of a paper strip. He figured it could stick to the car and then be peeled off without leaving a residue.
The car painters liked the idea until they began to use the newfangled tape. Turned out that placing the glue along the edge of the paper strip wasn’t enough to hold it firmly in place. The painters told the 3M salesmen to “take the tape back to those cheap Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put the adhesive all over the tape and not just on the edge.” And hence…Scotch Tape.
Where would we be without our Scotch Tape and Post-it notes and Elmer’s glue? We need adhesives to make things stick. To hold things together. To keep our lives organized. We couldn’t wrap gifts, fix a broken plate, or make a school project if it weren’t for the tapes and glues and sticky notes that help us to hold it all together.
Adhesives…the stuff that sticks. The stuff that holds it together.
The scripture for this morning is about adhesives…the adhesives that hold together the community of believers.
For two or three weeks now, we have been looking at this letter to the Ephesians. And I have said time and again that the theme that keeps surfacing in this letter is unity. One way or another, this writer of Ephesians keeps telling us: We are one in Christ. There is no difference between Jew and Greek, between men and women. Tear down the walls that divide us from each other. Unity in Christ is central to discipleship.
This morning we get two keys to achieving and maintaining that unity. Something needs to hold us together. There must be an adhesive that creates the bond that makes us one. What is it that makes us “sticky Christians” who hold together and stay connected?
The first key to being a sticky Christian has to do with how we treat each other. The writer calls us to lead a life of “humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The unity is essential. The bond between disciples is essential. Make every effort to keep that sacred bond intact. Hold it together. How? Through humility and gentleness, through patience, and by bearing with one another in love. Keep that in mind the next time you are frustrated by a fellow believer or are ready to speak sharply to another disciple. Patience, gentleness…adhesives for the bond of discipleship.
The second key to holding together the community of faith has to do with the gifts Christ has given to us. You and I have been given gifts, spiritual gifts, that complement each other and work together with the goal of achieving unity. “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith…” Did you hear that…unity…Unity of faith. Discover your gifts…use your gifts…they are all important. They all make a contribution. They build up the church. They hold us together. They are the glue that leads to unity in Jesus Christ.
You and I are called to be sticky Christians…disciples…held together in humility, gentleness, and patience, using our gifts to bind us in Christ.
Come to the table, share the one loaf. Drink from the one cup. And know that we are one in Jesus Christ.