My wife and I had a conversation the other day. She was
telling me of a knitting site that was really well done (Ravelry for you knitting junkies out
there). Anyway, she was telling me that
although the site has millions of followers, there are groups that you can join
within the site. Some are for people who prefer wool and some are for cotton
lovers. Some are for people who knit for children and some are for people who
knit for charity. Her viewpoint was that in such a large sample of people from
all over the globe, it was natural to group up along likes and dislikes.
Then she said something pretty deep. She compared it to the
body of Christ. We have one belief in Christianity, that God loves us and sent
His Son to die for us. But in that large group we have many different groups of
preferences and beliefs. Some prefer casual church and some prefer liturgy.
Some are comfortable following strict rules and some are more relaxed. There is
nothing wrong with variety. God’s creation is full of variety.
The problem is when battle lines are drawn, when the wool
lovers look down their nose at the cotton knitters. Both are knitting. Both are
making cloth. Both are performing a constructive task.
I often wonder if God really doesn't care about our
groupings. It really is a simple Gospel. To belong is to believe (Acts 16:31)
and our only commandment is to love (Luke 10:27). Let’s stop looking down our
noses at people who have different preferences than us. If we can look beyond
our comfort zones, we could learn a lot from each other.
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