Embracing Our Differences

This weekend in the United Methodist Church is Human Relations Sunday and in our country it is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.  Both of these days are reminders for us of the complex nature of human relations and how easy it is to be afraid of people we don't know.

In this area there is no doubt that as followers of Jesus we are called to not take the easy path, but to forge new paths that lead to connection and understanding.  We are all afraid of what we do not know, but if all humankind are God's children, then we are called to understanding and love for one another, no matter whether we go to church, practice our faith on a trail up the North Shore or follow a different path all together.  Jesus spent much of his time on Earth with those who were on the margins of life, who lived differently, from what was perceived as the "norm".  He knew that to truly bring about peace and God's kingdom we would need to start by loving one another and building communities.

That means embracing our differences instead of being afraid of them!  Easy to write, not always so easy to do because that fear is on both sides of any meeting.  Think about that the next time you are unsure or afraid of interacting with a person or group who are very different from yourself - they too are probably feeling the same way!!!!!  When we take the time to understand one another or even to realize that we all have the same feelings we can more easily come together.  And when we come together we find our similarities and learn from our differences.

Just think - if we all had the same spiritual gifts how would we get everything done God wants us to do?  there would be no music if we were all preachers, no mission work if we were all administrators, no moments of inspiration or deep joy if we only looked for the process of faith and not the mystery.  Our differences make us each unique and make our community stronger, more loving and more giving.

I think of all of the people I know who create through sewing, quilting, art, knitting, writing, cooking, etc. If those creators didn't constantly use difference colors, fibers, ingredients, whatever, each creation would be much the same as the one before.  God used different ingredients for each one of us and look how colorful, unique and gift-filled we are!!!

Embracing our differences, embracing different lenses through which life is viewed, is what we are called to do.  God's kingdom is in the making and each time we embrace our differences, welcome those who we don't yet fully know or understand, we move that much closer to making that kingdom a reality.

So, I invite you to do something this weekend to embrace the differences around you - talk to a neighbor you have been avoiding, attend an event of an ethnic group you want to understand further, attend the MLK events to support and live into his legacy, whatever you can find.  Embracing our diversity is embracing God more fully!