UNITY IN DIVERSITY

READINGS: SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

The first reading of this Sixth Sunday of Easter, year C (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29) highlights the difficulty ethnic diversity can cause in a Church. As could be seen in our passage, the Gentile converts to Christianity were being told by some Jewish converts that they had to become Jewish in tradition and rituals to be accepted into the household of the redeemed. Jews and Gentiles have so little in common: different histories, traditions, practices, customs, cultures, and languages. This is no different from the United Nations, which is our parish, a mixture of Caucasians, Filipinos, Africans, Indians, Haitians, Hispanics, Portuguese, etc. The challenge for the early Church, as it is for us today, was how to take such diverse groups and make them one in the vineyard of the Lord?

One temptation is to think it is impossible and prefer to leave the groups to segregate, isolate, and separate, overtly tolerating each other while covertly disdaining each other with ignominy. There is no gainsaying that such a solution is profoundly negative and affects the effectiveness and attractiveness of a parish, creating, as it were, a snobbery and judgmental atmosphere that betrays Jesus's prayer, “That they may all be one.” Another temptation is to attempt to force everybody into one mode, as was the case in our reading—requiring Gentiles to become Jewish in culture and tradition. But the apostles and the early Church leaders knew better. Unity in the Lord is not about uniformity but unity in diversity, the Trinity of Three Distinct Persons in One Godhead.

The Jesus way is for us to surrender our prejudices, presuppositions, and diversity to God's greater purposes by loving, understanding, and accepting one another in the one Lord, Jesus Christ. As believers, it is the will of God for us that we celebrate, not tolerate, each other. Nothing gives greater glory to God and provides a more compelling witness to our faith than when we, as a diverse community, come together, in faith and love, to worship and honor our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Each of us is a different manifestation and expansion of the Supreme Godhead. 

So, my friends, is it incumbent upon us to find ways to integrate our differences and turn our diversity into strength. We cannot, because of our diversity, be separated in interests or divided in purpose. Ours is to stand together to pursue our parish goals and vision because, as the saying goes, “The strength of the wolf is in the pack.” Our diversity is not a call to segregation but an invitation to congregation, greatness, and togetherness. May God give us the grace to see the strength in one another and celebrate our diversity, Amen!