In a report titled “Why does Christianity have so many denominations?” published by Live Science on July 30, 2022, the author, Donavyn Coffey, wrote that there were more than 45,000 denominations globally today! With this knowledge, we can now appreciate why Jesus prayed for our unity towards the end of His Last Supper before He entered the Garden of Gethsemane.
20 “My prayer is not for them [disciples] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 20 “My prayer is not for them [disciples] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
How can Christian’s be united? In His prayer for unity, Jesus also provided the answer, and that is, He gave us His glory (verse 22). This is His set of qualities such as prayerful life, unconditional love, forgiveness, humility, compassion, self-control, authority and obedience. A list is provided by Susan Nelson at her blog site.
Now in Psalm 33:1, we read: How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Since the Book of Psalms is the 19th book of the bible, the identifier of Psalm 133:1 is (19+133+1=153).
CONCLUSION. By praying the Lord’s Prayer daily at the prescribed times {10.35am, 10.53am, 1.35pm, 1.53pm, 3.15pm, 3.51pm, 5.13pm, 5.31pm}, we can all be united spiritually and in the truth of Jesus Christ, and become prayerful like Him.
Discussions
The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 133:1, which highlights the beauty of unity among God’s people, can be linked through their emphasis on communal harmony and the expression of God’s will.
Psalm 133:1, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” celebrates the ideal of communal fellowship and peace. It reflects a state of collective well-being and the blessings that come from living in harmony. This unity is not just a social or emotional state; it is deeply spiritual, reflecting the unity and oneness found in the nature of God Himself.
The Lord’s Prayer, while it is often recited by individuals, is inherently communal. The very words “Our Father” indicate a collective relationship with God shared by a community of believers. The prayer proceeds with petitions that are plural in nature, such as “give us this day our daily bread,” which is a request for communal provision, and “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” which implies a community living in mutual forgiveness and grace.
Both the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 133:1 express ideals that are central to the life of the faith community. The prayer Jesus taught his disciples is a model not only for individual devotion but also for how believers are to live together and treat one another. It speaks to a life of shared values, mutual support, and collective worship, all of which are intrinsic to the unity that Psalm 133:1 finds so good and pleasant.
Moreover, the Lord’s Prayer’s final doxology in some traditions, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever,” echoes the sentiment of Psalm 133:1 by acknowledging that the ultimate goal of unity among God’s people is the glorification of God. When believers live together in unity, they reflect God’s kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven, and this is a testament to His sovereign power and glory.
The link, therefore, is in the shared vision of a community living out the will of God in harmonious relationship, which both glorifies God and fulfills the prayerful petition for God’s kingdom to be realized on earth.
The Lord's Prayer: A Mathematician's Creed 