Tag Archives: Diversity

Diversity and Inclusion

Lent

March 5, 2021

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

   and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

What is in a word?  How do we perceive the words: wise, foolish, weak, strong, and signs? These are the English translation of the original Greek words Paul used to write the above scripture. We trust the scholars who translated the document did the best they could as objectively as they could. None of us know how the author, Paul, understood these words, and he could not have possibly known how all of us who have read them over the centuries perceived them.

I still remember some 40 years ago, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, our church choir rehearsing for a casual Christmas concert. We did a medley of secular songs, including Deck the Halls. After singing that grouping, a woman raised her hand and wondered if we should include Deck the Halls. I think all of us looked at her with questioning faces. The Director inquired, Why? And she replied because of the phrase Don we now our gay apparel. Some thought we should include it because it was written far before the current controversy regarding homosexuality. Some thought she was being too sensitive. Others thought she was not sensitive enough. We sang the song.

After sending the letter that became I Corinthians, Paul wrote another letter later, numbered 2 Corinthians. He tried to explain some of I Corinthians that he thought its readers might have misunderstood. As our world becomes more inclusive and thus more diverse, we, like Paul, must learn to dialogue with our fellow sojourners as we strive to follow the path Jesus laid before us. We can find common understandings of word and deed and of the stories of Jesus in a very different time and culture than we live in today. Jesus promised to be with us when two or more are gathered together in his name* to sort out our understanding and our responses. Welcoming his presence might be an excellent place to start those discussions.

Prayer: God of all people and all languages and cultures, grant us your grace to find understanding when our diverse background come together to work on being the One Body of Christ. Amen.

*Mathew 18:20

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Communications

Living in the Spirit
June 21, 2018

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
   and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way:

We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
–2 Corinthians 6:1-4a, 11-13

I do not know what the original problem was but at the least, Paul had a communications problem with the church at Corinth and this letter labeled 2 was his attempt to correct the situation. We do not have anything labeled 3 so we do not know the success or failure of this correspondence. His denial of placing obstacles in anyone’s way leads me to think his previous instructions had seemed onerous to some.

Communication is hard. We come loaded with the baggage of our lives, culture, education, failures, and successes. The person or people we are trying to commune with each come with their own set of influences and then another layer is added if they come as a group. I spent several years writing policy or supervising the writing of policy for a government agency and know well the problems of guiding 8,000 or so employees to work within a common framework. Some truly understood differently than it was intended. In a few instances, I was pretty sure some disagreed with the policy and chose to interpret it differently as a result.

How important is it as Christians that we all are on the exact same page? Would we use some of our time and skills better if we tried to understand from what perspective others viewed the world? Even very homogenous people may be of differing ages and stages of life. My mother lived during the Great Depression and she never ever wasted anything as a result. We children did not adopt that level of conservation. We grew up during the time of the throwaway culture of paper cups and plates.  At my annual Christmas party, I would find her standing at the kitchen sink carefully washing the plastic plates and utensils. I finally gave up and switched to using pottery and stainless steel, at least I could run them through the dishwasher.

We do not have to be on the same page, but we need to know what page we are on and be willing to share that with others so that some mutual understanding arises. Who knows? We might learn a whole new way of being by learning from our combined experiences.

Prayer: Lord, grant us insights into ourselves and the others with whom we work toward a world ruled by love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

There Is No Race

Eastertide
May 13, 2018

Scripture reading: John 17:6-19

Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
–John 17:11b-19

We have an interesting relationship with science. We absorb it quickly but have more difficulty letting it go. That reality is directly opposed to the empirical methods used by scientists.  Remember when we thought stomach ulcers were caused by stress. Then one day scientists identified a bacterium that causes ulcers, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). While stress can negatively impact all healing, there is not a cause and effect relationship between stress and ulcers. Remember when persons with developmental disabilities were labels as idiots, imbeciles, and morons? Science has long debunked these descriptors, but the words hurtfully remain in our language. The same is true of the labels trying to discern differences among human by something we dubbed race. Remember them: Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid? This science too has been debunked and our world still swims deep in its pool of discrimination based on false hypothesis.  Why?

The following is the opening of a statement from the American Anthropological Association shedding light on what we call race:

In the United States, both scholars and the general public have been conditioned to viewing human races as natural and separate divisions within the human species based on visible physical differences. With the vast expansion of scientific knowledge in this century, however, it has become clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups. Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographic “racial” groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within “racial” groups than between them. In neighboring populations, there is much overlapping of genes and their phenotypic (physical) expressions. Throughout history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred. The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species*.

Jesus Christ called us to be one turning our differences into positives as our many talents and skills comingle to create even greater outcomes than any of us can attain individually. We have known this from the beginning when we learned that all humans were created in the image of God. That is easy to say but it takes a vast amount of intentionality to break our habits of hostility among those we identify as different.  Now is the time to let our not-from-God habits go and remember who made us and for what purpose.

Prayer: Make us aware of how our actions and attitudes are perceived by others. Habits burrow deep into our beings. We do not know when we are offensive. With increase awareness, give us the courage to let the comfortable and familiar go and move into a new being in Christ. Amen.

*Opening statement from the American Anthropological Association Statement on Race. See athttp://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2583

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Being One

Eastertide
May 11, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:9-13
If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

God’s life is in God’s Son and God’s Son’s life continues in and through his followers. To fulfill our calling to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our world today, just as we must continuously strive to be whole, we also must strive to be one. God surely had purpose in creating us as diverse people in every aspect of our being. The Myers Briggs personality types* define 16 different combinations of personalities based on four criteria. I am very goal oriented so having someone who is more process oriented around helps me see the broader picture. Such markedly different personalities must work hard at understanding the gifts of the other so skills can be maximized.

But, of course, personality is not the only form of diversity, we differ in language, rural/urban, skills, skin color and hair texture, gender, handedness—you get the idea the list is endless. I at times am dependent on someone tall enough to reach the back of the top shelf in the grocery store. As a child, I helped my dad work on machines because his hands were too big for the task. Learning to love the synergy in diversity is a first step in becoming one. God knew what God was doing when God created us.

Prayer:
Weave, weave, weave us together.
Weave us together in unity and love.
Weave, weave, weave us together.
Weave, us together, together in love**. Amen.

*For more information see http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/the-16-mbti-types.htm?bhcp=1

**Weave by Rosemary Crow, may be found in the Chalice Hymnal. For more information see https://hymnary.org/hymn/CH1995/495

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Bearing Fruit

Lent
March 17, 2018

 Scripture Reading: John 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. –John 12:20-26

John moves Christ’s followers toward diversity in this scripture reading. The visiting Greeks were not Jews who lived in Greece or Greeks who had converted to Judaism. These Greeks were gentiles and Jesus welcomed them. He spoke about the death of seeds planted eventually bearing much fruit. In Matthew he had commanded the Disciples to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20) In John Jesus is modeling that command.

We too live in a diverse world with multitudes of different skin tones, cultures, customs, and languages all made in the image of God, but not all always treated as God’s children.  I watched a story on TV recently telling the story of children in the Congo being held out of school to mine for minerals necessary to make our cell phones and other electronics work. Greed is the driving force as child labor is cheaper than adult labor. The children work hard, well, and long for the small sums they are paid.

Part of opening our hearts to all of God’s children is doing justice for them. When everyone in every nation has enough to be fully the people God endowed them to be, we will experience the joy of the Kingdom of God.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see our citizenship in the whole world and work together with our brothers and sisters across the earth to foster wholeness, oneness, and justice. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Finding Common Ground

Lent
February 22, 2018

Scripture Reading: Mark 8:31-36

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

  He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

I listened to the resolve in the voices of the students at Parkland High School essentially saying school shootings stop here no matter what it takes. I think that is the same type message Jesus was giving his disciples in the scripture above. He is saying what you do and decide is your decision, but I have come to initiate a new way and I will.

Our call from the start of Jesus’ ministry is to partner with him in actualizing God’s Kingdom of Love.  We must avoid anything that takes us off that track. As we interact with various segments of our communities, we must model Jesus’ respect for all people while finding the ways we can work with diverse groups identifying means of living and working together on which we find common ground and making them realities. We might be surprised to find how much we share in common. We also may need to set aside the most divisive issues that are designed to tear us apart. We might be stunned to learn that those divisive issues go away or diminish greatly by way of our common ground initiatives.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in the work we do in your service with all of your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Reflection, Refraction, and Dispersion

Ordinary Time
February 13, 2018

Scripture Reading: Genesis 9:8-17

God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’ –Genesis 9:12-17

A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicolored circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun. *

Most of us who can see know what happens when we look into a mirror. Our image appears. We get a glimpse of how others might see us for good or bad. We see our reflection. If we are indeed made in the image of God what does our reflection tell us about God?

I am particularly thankful for the power of refraction for at the age of 11 I was diagnosed as nearsighted with astigmatism. In later years I added farsightedness to my visual challenges. The art of bending light made seeing more clearly a reality for me. If we saw the world through God’s eyes what would we see?

Light dispersed in water opens new dimensions of understanding of the beauty of diversity forming a union. If we approach the world with wonder rather than fear would we better reflect God?

If rainbows always appear directly opposite the sun, are we rainbows in God’s eyes?

Prayer: Lord, let your light shine in and through us so that others may see glimpses of you in our love for them. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.D

What’s in a Town?

Ordinary Time
January 13, 2018

Scripture Reading: John 1:43-51

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ –John 1:43-49

I grew up on a farm near three small towns located about equal distance from where we lived. We did business in all three towns at one time or another. My dentist was in one, my doctor in another. I do not know why my parents chose which town to visit. As a teenager, I was cautioned not to frequent one of these towns after dark when I was on my own or with friends as it was dangerous. I never knew what that meant, and I did go there with friends occasionally. Nothing bad ever happened. I wonder if the caution came from something that happened in that town when my dad was a teenager some 30 years earlier. It was the closets of the three towns, but more boring than the other two. There was not much to do except drive around the square and see who else was there.

I do think that caution caused me to wonder if anything good could come from that town. Funny, how our minds associate things to make us assume something, not in evidence. Such transference is the bases of much bigotry.

Perhaps having to live with people judging Jesus by his hometown gave him a greater understanding of the importance of inclusiveness. He selected a broad sweep of disciples to train. I worked in an office once with all primarily white women. Don’t ever want to do it again. Give me diversity. One must work a little harder to understand or create the environment for success in such an environment, but the creativity from diverse experiences and training makes for far better outcomes.

Prayer: God, equip us to appreciate the value of learning from each other. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Revelation

Living in the Spirit
November 23, 2017

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:15-23

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. –Ephesians 1:15-19

Revelation

  1. a (1): an act of revealing or communicating divine truth  (2):  God’s disclosure or manifestation of himself or of his will to humans
  2. a: an act of revealing or opening to view:  the disclosing or discovering to others of what was before unknown to them*

What has God revealed to us? How open are we to revelation? Have we had an Aha! Experience lately? Ever? Communion with God is two ways. We must take the time to understand God’s responses.

I must confess I am stubborn. I usually wait until I am at my wit’s end before I seek the insight I need to deal with a complex issue. The most complex issues usually involve people. God created an interdependent world and expected us to develop it in such a way that we maximize the contributions of each of its citizens. A large variety of people with a diversity of skills are necessary to attain that purpose. Getting a large variety of people with a diversity of skills to work together productively is rather like herding cats. I have developed a great appreciation for really good coaches. They possess a keen sense of not only each individual on their team but how they can meld them together to win games. They are open to the revealing of each person’s talents, ways of communication,  etc.

Investing our energies in getting angry at another because they do not do things the way we do them never helps. Using that same energy to seek revelations about others with whom we work to identify ways to work with them can result in the more productive use of our time.

Prayer: Lord, open our hearts to revelations that will enhance our ability to work as one with all your children. Amen.

* http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/revelation

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Race

Eastertide
June 2, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3-13

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
–1 Corinthians 12:12-13

One body including all people was the world view followed by Paul. He picked it up from the teachings of Jesus. Paul’s list of groups differing included Jews/Greeks and slaves/free.The first two came from tribes. The latter two resulted from cultural distinctions sometimes resulting from tribal discord. One tribe would steal members of another tribe whom they enslaved. Slaves referred to as servants or bonded also were created within the Hebrew tribe often the result of impoverishment. Such practices are recorded early in the Hebrew Bible* and continued into at least the 18th century among Christians. My five generations back English grandfather at the age of 15 was indentured by his father in 1783 for seven years to learn how to operate a forge. Also during that period his master, also English, was to teach him how to read, write, and cipher. Apparently, it worked. My grandfather labored successfully at a forge for many years and signed his will so I know he could write his name. His younger brother signed his will with an X witnessed by others.

What is not present in that discussion is race. Race is a relatively new cultural classification appearing first in the same century my ancestor was indentured**. Was it created to support the economic need for relatively free labor? I find myself more and more identifying greed and lust for power as the primary sin-drivers in our world. We justify both by projecting them into other more exploitable issues like race. Race is one thing I do not think we can justify by Biblical quotes as it did not exist at the compiling of the Bible.

If we drink of the same Spirit of God, we cannot uphold such distinctions. After years of being carefully taught, it is hard to erase its stain from our beings. I doubt that we can without the power of that same Spirit to heal our souls. Let us drink deeply until we are cleansed.

Prayer: Lord, renew our hearts so that we can be one with all your children. Amen.

*Leviticus 25:39-40
**http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-09.htm
***Picture above is Greek painting of three Chaldeans with captive Hebrews see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrews

All scriptures are quoted from the new Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.