“Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also
accepted us to the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)
Throughout the 1960’s and into the early 70’s, my family lived in a racially, ethnically and ideologically diverse neighborhood within a large city. We were black and white (both Protestant and Catholic), and we were Semitic (both Jewish and Islamic)—all living on the same urban block. Nonetheless, at least among the children in our neighborhood, there were really only two distinct groups:
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(1) those who were bound together by their allegiance to a perceived uniformity; and . . .
(2) those who chose to form an alliance and unite despite their diversity.
My brother, sister and I comprised one of the minority groups. We three were the only white Protestant children on the block, and we attended a public school. The other children who looked the most like us were Irish, Catholic, and they attended a parochial school. Skin color is about all we had in common.
Of course, children like to play. But on our block, there was no
choosing up sides for a ball game or for a
war waged with garbage can lids and sticks. The parochial school kids were already all on the same team, shouting, “We’re Notre Dame!” That left my brother, me, and our Jewish, Arab and black neighbors on the opposing team. Let the games begin—uniformity versus unity.
The other “white” children in the neighborhood had been born into a tradition they had not chosen for themselves. But they certainly chose to make the most of their perceived uniformity. They opposed all others who were different, simply because as the majority they could get away with it and because the rest of us were, in a myriad of ways, not like them. But uniformity is a far cry from unity. Their loyalty to family, school and religious traditions did not keep them from fighting among themselves. In fact, they fought each other far more often than they fought any of the rest of us. So I learned by observation at a very early age that uniformity is a superficial and contrived form of bondage, not true unity. They looked alike, sounded alike, and played on the same team. But their infighting proved they were not really united.
Please understand that by sharing my perception of this situation I am not launching an assault on the religious system of my boyhood playmates. Rather, I am illustrating the difference between uniformity and unity. All that held them together was a stifling expectation of sameness, which at the time they probably did not even understand. But the rest of us—through both necessity and choice—accepted each other despite our differences and consciously united.
Jewish children. Muslim children. Black and white Protestant and un-churched children. We were so very different from one another that, as children, we could not begin to understand our diversity. But our differences paled in comparison to what we held in common—we were all members of minority groups in our neighborhood.
In the first and second grade, I pondered why I was not Jewish like my friend Hal who was excused from school on days that the rest of us could not consider holidays. Why couldn’t I celebrate Yom Kippur? And in December, when we exchanged small dime store Christmas / Hanukkah presents, I really wanted to be Jewish when he told me that his holiday lasted for eight days.
Not long after Martin Luther King was assassinated my elementary school class (which was even more diverse than my neighborhood) performed in a school assembly—holding hands and singing “We Shall Overcome,” as though if we sang it loudly enough . . . the rest of the world might
get it.
By the sixth grade, my best friend in the whole world was Michael. We did not have the same skin color, and we did not share the same athletic ability. But we were so in sync that we even had racial nicknames for each other (and only for each other) to show that we accepted and approved of our obvious differences.
Among the minorities on my block, uniformity was not remotely possible. But unity was possible, desirable and even necessary for any of us to survive socially in that urban neighborhood. And we were a much more peaceful group than the uniformity majority which polarized us. Fights between those of us who were in minorities were rare prior to high school, when my family moved away from that neighborhood.
From what I see in the Scriptures, God has never commanded uniformity for the church. Unity, yes—uniformity, no. In fact, we could point to numerous passages and early church examples which contradict and even oppose the notion of uniformity. The New Testament presupposes the existence of diversity and declares liberty in regard to the disputable matters which arise in areas of Divine silence. And we who follow Christ, though incredibly diverse, are called to accept one another and remain united despite the various ways in which we are not uniform.
As long as Christians extend fellowship to each other based on the condition that they must all agree with a contrived system of human religious thought, they will only produce and polish and protect their own sectarian uniformity—a form of spiritual bondage for those who conform and a means of excluding all who differ—a stifling sameness which is defined by a narrow set of temperamental preferences, philosophical opinions, inductive conclusions and institutionalized traditions of human origin, not Divine authority.
Such superficial uniformity is a far cry from the nonjudgmental and non-contemptuous acceptance that is necessary for true unity to thrive.
However, when Christians extend fellowship to each other based solely on the condition that they must all agree with God’s revealed will despite their obvious personal differences in areas of Divine silence, they will be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace—a form of spiritual liberation for those who love one another and a means of including those who differ within God’s will—an exciting variety of preferences, insights, methods and possibilities accepted within true spiritual unity, which is defined by Divine authority alone, not by ideologies of human origin.
In the real world of real people and real religion, the conscious choice to embrace diversity within the will of God is the only true unity. God calls us to harmony, not homogeneity. God calls us to preserve the unity He has provided for us through the cross of Christ, not to produce loyalty to our own brand of uniformity.
In the church today, there are really only two distinct groups:
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(1) those who are bound together by their allegiance to a perceived uniformity; and . . .
(2) those who choose to form an alliance and unite despite their diversity.
Perhaps we could learn a few things from the children in the old neighborhood. They might lead us closer to the will of God for His church.
Brian Cobb has served the Manhattan, KS, Church of Christ and Cats for Christ at KSU as preaching minister since March 1994. He functions as editor for the Kansas Directory of Churches of Christ, a publication he started in 1988. As CCW web designer, Brian usually writes code for this journal. But his passion for biblical authority and the restoration of unity moved him to words for this issue.
