Unity in diversity

My faith tradition has several enduring principles…short statements that try to catch up in a nutshell what our focus should be as we attempt to live out our faith.

One of those principles is unity in diversity. That’s been a challenging one for many who wonder how there can be unity if we accept diversity in various forms. This is especially true when there are widely divergent views on some issues based on culture and geography.

I thought of that this morning when I read the morning sharing from Steven Charleston on Facebook. For those who may not be familiar with him, he is an Native American elder and a retired Episcopal bishop. Each morning he spends time in meditation and shares the thoughts that come to him in a way that allows people from a variety of traditions to find meaning in them.

This was what he shared this morning:

We are one in heart and many in mind. Spiritual unity is possible when people do not have to agree with one another to love one another. Our kindness, compassion and support come from the heart as we live together in peace. At the same time, our ideas, visions and opinions may vary widely as we continue our creative work together for the common good. We are one in heart and many in mind.

We don’t have to think alike. We don’t have to act alike. We don’t even have to believe alike to have unity if we truly love one another.

Since I am a follower of Jesus, that is where my perspective comes from…and I believe that was the focus of Jesus’ response when he was asked what the greatest commandment was. He said that the greatest one was to love God with all our being, but he didn’t stop there. He went on to say that the second one was similar–to love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves.

We can delight in our diversity…and at the same time we can also live in unity. It’s not necessarily going to be easy–but it’s the only way.

The Ten Commandments…or Beatitudes…or something else?

Many of us grew up seeing the Ten Commandments posted in various buildings–especially government buildings–and probably didn’t think that much about it.

But I’ve been pondering that since the rise of Christian nationalism, and it raises a couple of questions for me.

Why the Ten Commandments? I have nothing at all against them; in fact, I think they provide a good moral foundation. However, they come from the Jewish tradition–and since Christian nationalists seem to be so adamant that the country they want should be based solely on Christian beliefs, then why the Ten Commandments?

It would seem much more logical to demand that the Beatitudes be posted. Those are definitely Christian…

Can you imagine the difference that might make to our perspectives? Rather than so many “Thou shalt…” and “Thou shalt not…” statements, what if we read “Blessed are…”?

Or, from my perspective, there are couple of options that would be even better. If you’re going to insist that what is posted has to be from Christian beliefs, then why not choose these words from Jesus?

 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40

Or even better (from my perspective), since we are a nation comprised of individuals from a variety of religious traditions, why not post this?

This “rule”–that many of us learned as children–can be found in some form in all the major world religions and non-religious philosophies. And if we lived by that, just think how different our world could be!