We've updated the PowerPoint for this resource.

This responsive poem is themed around the topic of our unity and diversity as the Body and Bride of Christ. You can use the PowerPoint to allow people to join in the response at the end of each verse. We also teach simple sign language for the responses:

  • "we" (put right hand on left with palms up, then move right hand out and round in a circle),
  • "one" (hold up one finger)
  • and "Christ" (push your finger into the palm of the opposite hand).

As poetry, it deserves to be read meaningfully. You can bring out the humour in some of the lines, but also the sadness of some of the others. 

 

We are many,
God's great diversity,
yet we are one in Christ.

Different faces,
different races,
yet we are one in Christ.

Butchers, bakers,
website makers,
bankers, tailors,
teachers, sailors,
yet we are one in Christ.

Fathers, mothers,
sisters, brothers,
single, married,
broken, carried,
yet we are one in Christ.

The happy, the clappy,
the barely out of nappies,
the ancient, the modern,
the famous, the forgotten,
yet we are one in Christ.

Some hopeful, some hopeless,
some cope well, some cope less.
Some sure and some doubt,
some whisper, some shout,
yet we are one in Christ.

Those with abundance,
those with need,
those who are generous
or wrestle with greed,
yet we are one in Christ.

Elbows, tummies, knees and noses,
kidneys, femurs, teeth and toeses.
Some unmentionable, some protected,
some accepted, some rejected,
yet we are one in Christ.

A broken body,
torn apart,
mars God's image,
breaks God's heart.
And yet our Father knows how the end will be,
when all his kids will sing in harmony,
the bride will dazzle, her branches bloom,
so add your voice to hymn the tune
that we are one in Christ.