BEAUTIFUL DIVERSITY

A few months back, the organization of which I’m a part gathered together in the Philippines from Asian slums and Western communities. We gather every so often in order to seek God, fellowship, celebrate together, lament, rest, pray and try to envision where God may be leading us. These are times of refreshment, encouragement and reflection.

There was a particular discussion in which our ethos and incarnational approach to working with the poor was being affirmed and commended (we all believe this approach to be a good one).

However, one of our leaders brought profound and timely insight by saying something to the effect of...

“We must be very careful to not confuse ourselves with God’s kingdom.”

Let me explain.

We do believe God is using us to do his work. But we are broken people who God has chosen to work through despite our inadequacies. And in our work we hope to be reflections of Jesus and his kingdom ways - mere glimpses of what has begun, but has not yet fully been established.

Jesus showed us how to live in his footsteps. But he has given all of us diverse experiences, realms of influence, gifts and passions. We are all called to seek God regarding how exactly this looks wherever we are. We’re not necessarily all called to live in slums, but we are certainly called to follow Jesus in what often seem to be, let’s be honest here - illogical ways. An undeniable part of following him is to show concern for justice and compassion for the poor.

As I meet more and more people who are serving Jesus in diverse ways, I become increasingly grateful for the array of approaches that exist.

I want to affirm the diverse ways of serving the poor and the creative ways that people in all lines of work live out their faith according to their gifts and calling. There are people called to bear witness in corporate America, the inner cities of the West, as baristas, musicians, engineers, nannies, politicians, teachers, parents and friends. No matter what sector, we have opportunities to represent the downtrodden, show compassion to the neglected and encourage the broken in Christ’s name.

Through prayer, we must listen to and respond to where God is leading us. We need grace and humility as we learn to follow in the most faithful way we know how while also encouraging others who are doing things in slightly different ways. And along our journey, we can celebrate our diverse and unique callings that are unified in Christ. Only together are we one body.

May we be challenged and encouraged by one another as we discover how to be faithful with our diverse gifts and callings.