Tonight I was at a meeting and while on the topic of why there isn't more diversity in the church, (the place that was intended to be the temple of God) someone started talking about the diversity of God.. and it lead me to this conclusion.
We must learn to see God in every person. Diversity is one way of showing many of the different facets of God himself. He is so diverse in nature, that one ethnic background wouldn't be enough to capture him, one culture would not come close to his creativity, one dialect or language wouldn't approach the entirety of his vocabulary.
How odd that we would, as a people, tend to push away the unknown. Our very nature is to be with God, to know Him, to receive from Him, to grow in Him once we have the Spirit of the Lord dwelling within us...it just doesn't make sense to me.
I don't want to call out churches that I am not a part of but there is a church here in Knoxville (a church that I love, I love the pastor, the people, the idea of it.. I love the church) and they have graciously offered a wing of the church building to a predominantly African American congregation to hold service in. This is great! This is fabulous... but I can't help but think.. That is so neat that you are giving your space to a congregation with no place to go.. but why are they not all just worshiping together? Why are the white people having "church" in one half of the building and the black people in another.
I was talking to my dad about this over the weekend and we talked a lot about how the issue has become more of a cultural preference issue than a segregation issue. People worship in different styles. Some are more comfortable with standing up and dancing, while others prefer to sit in reverence. Quite honestly, many times it's not an ethical difference or anything fundamental.. simply a difference of preference. The other thing we concluded was that location has a lot to do with the diversity of a church. If you plant a church in the middle of white suburbia, naturally, your congregation will most definitely be predominately white. Even on other scales like economic diversity. If you plant your church in the middle of the projects, you are likely to get a low income congregation. It's only natural.
It make's me sick to think that Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the entire week, but I have no idea how or where to start changing that. I don't think that God intended so much separation, but there are so many factors that add up to making things the way they are.
All I know to do is to take on a stance of wanting to learn about and better understand the cultures, ethnicities, and economic populations that I am not a part of. I think exposure to differences creates change and that's all I know to do at this point.
Any ideas???
PS... I know this is ridiculous.. but I love this commercial (mainly for the song.. but still)
1 comment:
Caro...i kinda agree that people's "worship styles" prevents them from worshipping together but can we really believe that all white people prefer to worship one way and all black people another? I think the closer we get to God the more that is just silly...my heart yearns for God and I want to worship Him in every way possible. I think if people were willing to diversify their services...the worship sets mixing songs we might learn to appreciate worshipping God in many different ways and in turn learn to appreciate one another...i will tell you something...i hope that my children learn to worship by singing loudly and dancing - AND - by lifting their hands and praising...i hope that when our kids go on vaca together we can have worship time that its diverse so when they encounter different styles it wont be an excuse to not worship with others not like them... And the whole neighborhood thing...that is a matter of convenience...if we really thought diversity was important we would go further to church...BUT i say all this to say i forgive the masses and i forgive myself... i love my church and for me i like going to church with people i know...so i just pray God forgives me too.
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