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His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:15b-16)

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord\u2019s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge\u2014that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17b-19)

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3)

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Our devotion yesterday mentioned the letter of Ephesians, grace, and the gift of already being a part of God\u2019s people.\xa0 A gift we have only to receive and live congruently out of to find ourselves in touch with God\u2019s blessing.\xa0 Well: I feel like I have been living in this gift and these texts this past week, and even though it might mean a slightly longer devotion today, I would love to share the story with you so that you too can be encouraged.

Wednesday afternoon, a group of Calvin Seminary students gathered in Hamilton to see what \u201cCRC ministry\u201d looks like here.\xa0 I was able to serve as one of the organizers and tour guides for their time.\xa0 And, rather than show them around a church building to see the Sanctuary, Fellowship Hall, and GEMS closet, we took them on a tour of TrueCity to see the gift that it is to be a part of the reconciled family of God.

We started at 541 where they got their food, bought their buttons, and listened in to a young Anglican in roughly the same spot in the ordination track as they are.\xa0 \u201cWhat keeps a place like 541 running?\u201d it was asked.\xa0 \u201cIt couldn\u2019t happen without the support, community, and patronage of folks and churches in the TrueCity network\u201d came the reply.\xa0 This place wouldn\u2019t be here without the churches working together for the good of the city.

Next we came to New Hope Bikes, a ministry that has expanded and generated a deep and broad community and hub of activity.\xa0 Tammy greeted us there, talked about how this ministry grew from the prayerful presence of the church and Asset Based Community Development principles incubated at Diaconal Ministries Canada.\xa0 \u201cIs there a TrueCity thread running through this place?\u201d\xa0 \u201cMost of our board members, supporters, and funding partners are people from the TrueCity network\u201d was the reply.

Then we visited Indwell at the Perkins Centre where New Hope meets.\xa0 Again, CRC incubation (by Immanuelites especially early on) of a ministry that\u2019s now deeply supported, staffed, and integrated in Hamilton within the TrueCity Network. An example of which is the three or four TrueCity churches that have Indwell projects integrated into their buildings or will soon.

Then we visited GOHOP, the new monastic prayer movement in Hamilton where not a few of our Young Adults and Redeemer Students have done internships or taken shifts with the prayer teams and where I myself get spiritual direction.\xa0 They were the ones who began praying for the churches and pastors in Hamilton a few years before TrueCity sprang up, and they have been the prayerful anchor for the movement ever since.\xa0 Never does a TrueCity Conference happen without the churches coming together in GOHOP facilitated 24/7 prayer stretching for a week or two after.

I had to leave before Katie shared about Open Homes Hamilton and all the newcomer support that happens here, also through places like the Micah House, but that too is a TrueCity network story through and through.\xa0 A thing that may never have existed if the churches weren\u2019t together for the good of the city.

The hostility between our churches and denominations has been put to death in the cross of Christ here in Hamilton as we live together in this one new humanity of the church.\xa0 And together with all these TrueCity saints, I have begun to grasp a little more fully how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.\xa0 I think by the end of our tour, our visiting seminarians did too. \xa0

When the church lives in the \u201cunity of the Spirit through the bond of peace\u201d that was forged between us through the cross of Christ\u2014a whole city can be transformed.\xa0 Structurally, physically, relationally.\xa0

It\u2019s happened, friends.\xa0 It is happening.\xa0 And whether you knew it or not: you\u2019re already a part of it!\xa0 In these ways and so many more.

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