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Unity and Diversity. Listen (Litany) In Paul’s letter to the Romans, we learn that the Apostle faced the problem of how people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs function as one Christian community. In the Roman church of the first century, Christians of Jewish background argued with Christians of gentile background about such issues as following dietary laws and how Sabbath should be observed. Paul was frustrated because he thought these matters were secondary. Weren’t they to be one in Christ’s body? Wasn’t it a waste of time to argue about such things when Christ’s return was at hand?

Well, Paul learned that creating unity while honoring diversity is easier said than done. Easy enough for me to say that what you believe is secondary. But please don’t tell me that something I cherish is secondary. People deal with the problem of unity and diversity in one of three ways: 1) to insist on conformity by forcing everyone into the same mold; 2) to split everybody off into small like minded groups, as with political partition and religious denominations, or 3) to try a balancing act between the two. But Paul discerned then and I believe we must proclaim now, that the ultimate solution is a spiritual one. Paul says:

Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?…We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

Paul discerned that the real answer to the challenge of how to achieve unity in the midst of diversity is to realize that the question is not "how do you defend your rights and maintain your identity?" The real question is "who do you belong to?"

What we all share is that we were each created by God and belong to God. We are each accountable to God first. Only then can we put our relationship to self, church, community, clan, race, and nation in proper perspective. From this recognition of our accountability to God, a number of understandings flow.

First, because we are each created in the image of God, our uniqueness demands that we celebrate human diversity. God’s creation is diverse. The human race truly is a rainbow of color, a tapestry of language, a melting pot of traditions, and a mixing bowl of character, belief, talents, sexual orientation, and so forth.

Second, a true Christian Church will reflect this diversity. If not here, where? But the sad fact is that, in the United States at least, Sunday morning worship remains the most segregated hour of the week. Instead of leading the way, churches too often succumb to the view that comfort level among our own is more important than picking up the cross of discomfort in order to be faithful.

Third, accepting the challenge of creating unity while honoring diversity is the church’s special task, because our role is to continually remind the world that the only answers to the real problems must come from the Spirit. And in this we are called to travel the way of love and prayer. We can have the best systems imaginable and the most sophisticated processes in place, but without an attitude of love in our hearts and prayer on our lips, they mean nothing. Jesus placed the challenge before us quite directly when he said we must love our enemies. It’s easy to love and be loved by like-minded friends. But try loving those who bitterly disagree with you. Try loving those who hate you. How much easier it is to fall back on our own "in-group". Easier to demonize a Saddam Hussein or an Osama bin Laden, than to do the hard work of trying to understand them. We are not talking about approval or agreement here. Just understanding. Americans ask the legitimate question, "Why do so many in the Arab world hate us?" It is an important question. But we cannot settle for the answer "They hate us because we are good and they are bad." When the enemy is demonized, understanding has been given up on. And what is forgotten is that God created that enemy as well. Jesus’ word about loving our enemies represents his hardest teaching, his most important teaching, and his most widely ignored teaching.

I believe that Christians can learn from other religions to better understand our own faith. A Hindu or Buddhist might say that suffering comes from a basic misperception of reality, summed up in the statement, "I am here and you are there." Not true they would say. As Christians we might put it this way. "You and I have been created by and serve the same master. We are both accountable to the same Lord. That Lord has dealt with each of us with great generosity, amazing grace, and unbounded forgiveness. And that same Lord has said, ‘Treat one another in the same way.’" A Christian could say "God is there, and you and I are here together, whatever our differences." And a Christian would also say, "God is here, and you and I are both here, despite our differences, in the heart of God."

In Jesus’ farewell prayer following the Last Supper, he asked God’s blessing "so that they might be one, even as we are one." Here he points to the spiritual mystery of the unity of God: Creator, Spirit, Savior. God invites us into that mystery. Into that unity and diversity. For it is there that we find the strength and vision to be the rainbow people of God. AMEN.

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