A word picture: The harmony of church life.

Instead of trying to articulate ideas consider the following example--I'm still stuck on the idea of disunity in the church.

Consider a full orchestra:


In an orchestra there are many different instruments.  When played independently these instruments sound very different.  Consider the Timpani (drum) versus a violin.  Consider the oboe and the vocalists: two entirely different sounds.  Very few people would say the sound of an orchestra is ugly (I know I guess there are those who haven't had a chance to have their musical tastes developed but the same analogy could apply to almost any genre of music).  For music to reach its epitome it must have different components.  However all these components must be unified in a central song in order for their to be beauty.  If half of the orchestra starts off in a different key on a different song the sound is horrible.  But there are times when many of the different members are playing a different note.  There are even minor chords which may briefly sound discordant but if taken as a part of the whole song sound awesome.  Some songs may even be sung as rounds where different groups are different places in the song at the same time.

How does this apply to church life?  God calls us to different places of service, ways of service, and terms of service.  These different callings are supposed to come together into a beautiful symphony.  Sometimes we get confused with other people's callings and we begin to think that when someone else is playing a different note than ourselves they are actually playing a different song.  We think that when someone else is serving differently than we are that they are working against us.  When everyone plays music in unison all the time it doesn't sound nearly as great as when there is harmony.  However, I believe there are churches where two different songs are being played.  Some people are playing God's song (following God's plan) and other people are following their own song (their own plan).

Big question: How does one know when another church member is singing a round, playing a minor, or singing an entirely different song?

I would say to be help flesh out my metaphor that if a church is singing two different songs they should split (actually they should start singing the same song, but in the real world it doesn't always work out this way).  My call to the church is that it is time that we stopped splitting our churches just because God wants us to play a minor chord or sing a round (diversity of calling is okay as long as it is all within God's truth).  My call to the church is also that we start splitting our churches when we are singing different songs.  We cannot compromise on sin.  We just can't.  And so the question remains......(Please see the large lettering above.)