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Unity

                How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. (Psalm 133)

                Today’s passage is outside of our culture. While we can imagine dumping a barrel of sports drink, or some ridiculous amount of ice water on someone’s head, the idea of pouring some sort of oil, and especially an oil that was restricted only to that purpose, sounds a little strange. If we add that the oil represented the Holy Spirit or the presence of God, it makes it even stranger. It helps me to know that the oil was made of olive oil, myrrh, cinnamon, and cassia. I’ve read that Myrrh smells warm, resinous, slightly sweet, and spicy, with woody and medicinal undertones. Cinnamon and cassia are related and delightful. This means that the scent of that oil in the hair and on the clothes would remind everyone, especially the high priest, of God's closeness and of the high priest's relationship with God. Scents tend to be linked closely with emotions and memories. This is why aromatherapy helps people.

                This description of the oil is used for dwelling together in unity. Part of me recoils because “unity” means brainless conformity to me, and to many people. Unity is like the lyrics of the Patty Duke Show:

Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike –

Or, more frighteningly, there are the Borg from Star Trek. “You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

But those really refer to uniformity, not unity. Unity is “the state of being united or joined as a whole.” We’re not all assembly line copies of the same thing. We’re different pieces designed to come together as a whole thing that is not just one or another of us, but all of us. There are rules that govern us all, but they aren’t designed to reduce us to Stepford people. Instead, it brings together a community.

Instead of fearing or resenting unity, we should actively seek our place in it.


source: https://lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/thepattydukeshowlyrics.html

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