A musing on unity... Everyone that's got a few weddings under their belt can basically recite 1 Corinthians 13 "Love is patient..."

Immediately preceding it at the end of Ch 12 is the context and the problem in the church of Corinth to be solved "All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts."

Paul speaks of the different parts of the body of Christ and how it is Christ that placed them where they are, with their purpose and their gifts. The primary reason for splintering in church bodies is self-worship. Believing all others should believe and behave as you do. Now, I'm not saying WHAT to believe, but how to believe.

In Jesus ministry, he upheld traditions of man (he teaches in the synagogue and synagogue isn't in the Old testament) and he also rebukes traditions of man (he rebukes Pharisees for complaining that He and the apostles are eating and healing on the Sabbath).

1 Corinthians 12 and 13 makes me wonder how much latitude God is okay with between the denominations. A teacher is going to be attracted to a different denomination because he has gifts to be leveraged there, a healer would go to a denomination that has healing ministries and prioritizes that, a speaker of tongues, another. If an eye looks across the body of Christ and is mad at an ear for not being an eye, is that right?