(Given the Lenten season that those of us who call ourselves Christian find ourselves in right now, I thought it appropriate for me to share a speech I gave back on August 14, 2005 as a Brookview School staffer and a member of Brookview's Seeds of Tolerance Committee to introduce Brookview's Seeds of Tolerance Project to St. Joe's Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ http://www.qtm.net/pilgrim/)

Reflections on the Theology of Diversity

By Santiago N. Lopez

Galatians 3, 26-29

"For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

If I may, I'd like to share some thoughts with you from Bishop Joseph Perry, an African-American Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Bishop Perry reminds us that as Paul stated in Galatians, the world consistently would divide us into opposing groups.  Considering the divisions, separations, casts and categories in the world, we are all summoned to a harmony that some cannot fathom.  Society would differentiate us as slave and free; male and female; Jew and Greek; black and white (and might I add - gay and straight).  But, Paul reminds us we are one in the Lord where such distinctions are of no value.  Christianity was one of the first communities to experiment with bringing people together in lived fellowship who were rich and poor; white and black, Jew and Gentile.  It was a novel thing to do - mixing people together - so unfamiliar to social standard that the infant faith was both admired and criticized.  Remaining faithful to this mixing of peoples has been our greatest challenge over the millennia for we who pledge ourselves to a faith in Jesus Christ.

An ethic of inclusion and sharing of space does not erase the natural distinctions which are our spice.  For some, only an erasure of distinctions in a melting-pot fashion will make life easier where all people are expected to subscribe to and adapt to what is deemed the dominant cultural pattern. It is supposed to be obvious to everyone which culture and which language are the norms.  Rather, it takes courage to step aside for legitimate differentiation to surface as gift to the community.  It takes every person to insure the dignity and comfort of every person and allow their contribution to nurture growth in the group.

Now Bishop Perry used some fancy language there, so let me restate his thoughts-

Being committed to the concept of inclusion and sharing space with those who are not the same of you - does not mean that everyone has to lose everything about them that makes them not the same as you - these things are the spice of life.  Some people may think that the best option is to erase everyone's differences and make people adapt or assimilate into what is thought of as the dominant way.  Make people all act the same way - speak the same language - look the same - you know "the melting pot concept".  But Bishop Perry says something which I believe strongly in:  "IT TAKES PROFOUND COURAGE FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO STEP ASIDE FOR GOOD REASON AND EMBRACE THOSE THINGS THAT MAKE THAT PERSON DIFFERENT - THIS WILL THEN ALLOW THE INDIVIDUAL TO SURFACE AS A TRUE GIFT TO THE COMMUNITY."  It takes every one of us to make sure that every one of us is treated with dignity and allowed to feel comfortable - and when this happens - their contribution will nurture the growth of the community.

Let me go on and share some closing thoughts of Bishop Perry -

If there is no variety found in our private space; if there is no variety among our friends; if there is no variety in our churches, schools and places of work we are living insulated lives, lives of exclusion and we will never attain the oneness Christ so wanted for all of us, God's children...