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A Close Knit Group



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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