The

unity of the church can be threatened in many ways—even over the

distribution of food. The church was growing as a “needs-meeting”

community of faith. And that growth brought challenges, including the

challenge of “overlooking.”

If

we enter a room full of people, we usually look first for people we

know. As a result, we can overlook others.

The

followers of Jesus knew the Hebraic widows. They were the ones

connected with families that they knew, or knew of. But the widows

who came from Greek-speaking Jewish families were relatively unknown.

So in the daily distribution of food, many of them went unnoticed—and

unfed.

As

tensions rose, the potential for church division along ethnic lines

grew. So the apostles called everyone together to address this need.

The apostles would remain focused on prayer and the ministry of the

Word of God. Seven others would serve the needy, and it’s clear

from the names of these seven leaders that they were from a Greek

background. So the church’s unity was restored, and its story

continued.

The

church is still threatened if we overlook others because of

ethnicity, gender, economics, or other characteristics today. May God

give us eyes to see so that the story of his church continues, to his

praise and glory!