​Today beings our Rally to Restore Unity—a week-long celebration of Christian unity and fundraising effort for Charity:Water.  

The goal is to lightheartedly combat some of the vitriol coming from the online Christian community by unabashedly ripping off Jon Stewart, working together to solve the water problem, and proving once and for all that we can have a sense of humor about non-essential theological differences. 

As donations, synchroblog posts, and homemade signs start rolling in, I am reminded of just how doable this is.  One blogger has already noted that unity does not mean uniformity, that we can preserve our differences while celebrating the fact that we’re all looking to Jesus for salvation and guidance. Christianity is meant to be diverse, colorful, adaptive, and global. Unity is as much about respecting our differences as it is about recognizing our commonalities. 

Unity is about reconciliation, humility, patience, and laughter.

 It’s about sifting through all the “extras” to find what is essential. 

It’s about making enough room at the table for tax collectors and zealots, prostitutes and Pharisees, Arminians and Calvinists, Republicans and Democrats, barbecue chicken and mashed potatoes. 

                                   ...Mmmm. Mashed potatoes. 

So here’s how it will work: 

Throughout the rally I’ll be posting twice daily. Mornings will include guest posts, roundtable discussions, songs, lists, and articles. Afternoons will include links to your synchroblogs posts, photos of your signs, updates on the fundraiser, and news from the day. 

**Synchroblog participants—To make sure I see your post, please leave a link in the comment section of this post (or future rally-related posts) that includes your name, the title of your post, and a link. I’ll also be checking twitter (#restoreunity) and the Facebook page, but leaving a comment is the best way to make sure I see your contribution and share it with the group. ** Let me know if you have any questions. 

So let’s bid farewell to flippant dismissals, farewell to name-calling, and farewell to dirty water. 

Let the rally begin! 

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Take this opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas, links, and photos. And let me know which of the signs above is your favorite.