Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

Diversity. ugh. How often haven’t we (especially us white males) sat in diversity training events and been told that all the world’s problems are our fault. If you’re “invisible backback” is reportedly huge, you’ve probably grown weary of the whole discussion.

I’m with you.

HOWEVER, our God created an immensely diverse world and we, God’s children, can only gain from learning how to value and engage that diversity. Don’t get me wrong, all diversity is not valuable; much, however, is.

Let me suggest this: if the church is to be effective in the future, we must embrace and value the diversity of God’s creation. Notice that both of those words are active. There’s nothing passive about embracing and valuing.

I didn’t say “allow.”

Why is this important? Because the church, over the centuries, has often fought against diversity in attempts to make us all the same when God didn’t; God created us with differences and told us to live together in faithful unity.

Embrace and Value. Essentially, my claim is that we (in the church) should be active about having diverse congregations. Diversity, here, means a lot of things: culture, gender, class, income, color, etc.

Paul uses the image of a body with many parts to explain the church. He, of course, is referring to gifts and abilities. It’s probably also true in other areas.

Although society, as a whole, may have trouble remembering that there are areas of diversity that are valuable and those that are not, it has done better at this than the church. We’re afraid of it. We suspect it. We automatically place items (and people) of difference into a gray area until proven innocent.

And so, we are segregated. We are closed off into our little enclaves of same-ness. I often joke that, outside of a few years and months here and there, I’ve spent much of my life bouncing from one Dutch ghetto to another. It’s true. I’ve learned to value the benefits of that but also to recognize it’s draw-backs.

The church must do the same.

My congregation is not the body of Christ, neither is yours. Together, however, we begin to see it a little more clearly.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

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