Pastor Speaks - June 8, 2000

Perhaps you remember the movie, "If you could see what I hear". It was about a blind man and a deaf man. They witnessed a crime. Separately it could not be solved, but together it was. That’s what it means to be in the community of faith. Using every individual’s gifts and talents to work for the common good.

One of the joys of ministry for me is that people are not all the same. Every individual has God-given characteristics, personalities and gifts that makes them unique and distinctly different from all others. The same is true for my colleagues. And I appreciate the fact that there are a variety of men and women who are serving as pastors to a myriad of personality types, people from a wide range of traditions and social-economic groups.

Unfortunately, there are some who want people of the faith to be all the same, to believe the same thing, to ascribe to a rigid pattern of rules and religious practices. Some churches exclude people just because they do not fit a criteria of what they judge to be "normal." Therefore, anyone who is different, for any reason, is ostracized, labeled as unfit for the faith and consequently made to feel inferior and not included in the household of faith.

This was the situation for the Church at Corinth. (See I Corinthians 12:4-26) They believed that everyone should be like them. They had developed a "club" mentality that had certain requirements. If you didn’t play by their rules, dress like them, act like them, you didn’t get in. Paul was encouraging the Church at Corinth to be more diverse. As long as they promoted sameness, their faith would be only superficial.

The Church does not value one person over another. Everyone is loved by God. What makes the church unique is that we are not all the same, but different. What makes us interesting is the fact that we come from different backgrounds, different communities, and each of us has individual talents and abilities. We are therefore bonded together not because we are all alike, but because we share a common mission.

Our mission is to "love one another." That means accepting people who are different. That means being inclusive and treating others as equals. Diversity leads to tolerance. When we are exposed to others we gain respect for people different than ourselves. A community who is composed of different folks is more open to outsiders and strangers. Conflict is virtually unavoidable, but diversity promotes an opportunity for expression of mixed points of view, opinions, even beliefs. What makes our faith rich and exciting is the common struggle of searching, learning, engaging one another and ultimately growing in our faith and in our relationship with God.

Since we are all different it is not always easy to relate to one another. People are threatened by strangers, folks who are from other places, or other points of view. People are afraid of diversity. They want to hold on to their identity. They want to protect their tradition and image. But Paul concerned himself with mission. What really matters is that we are all working together for the common good and for the glory of God.

The church, Paul says, is like a body. When one part aches, we all ache. When one part is successful, we are all successful. When someone is left out there is pain. When one group is discriminated against there is sorrow. Everyone, regardless of race, nationality, religion, ancestry, sexual identity, education, or financial status needs to be ministered to. When someone is denied the opportunity to use their God-given gifts and talents there is needless suffering that goes unattended.

Its not a superficial faith that I seek but a faith that is deeply committed to loving others. Any church, group or family can be richer and fuller when all of its members have the freedom to be themselves, when they are included as equals and part of the team that enhances the faith and makes it grow rather than make it weaker by leaving someone out.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio