There are a lot of buzzwords in our culture today around "diversity." Actually, if we're being honest, "diversity" itself has become a buzzword. Sometimes, we mean it in the purest sense of the word, to reflect the coming together of things that are not alike in some meaningful ways, but whose differences create something beautiful when put together.
Sometimes, we mean it in a less-than-pure way, such as when we identify something as "diverse" that is actually just different. I have heard persons refer to that "diverse church down the street" when what they really mean is that it's a Black church. It's not diverse; it doesn't hold within itself things that are beautifully different; it is singularly Black and therefore just different from the white church to which they belong.
It's challenging to talk about because everyone seems to be on a bit of a trigger when we try to talk about what diversity does and doesn't mean. Some of us are afraid of stepping on toes. Some of us are afraid of offending. Some of us are afraid of being offended. Some of us are afraid of looking like some kind of bigot that we aren't.
None of these things have ever scared me.
The first thing we have to realize that is that even though we talk about diversity primarily as a race issue, most likely because that is something that is plain to see, true diversity is not just about race. Diversity is everything that makes us beautifully different from one another in meaningful ways that cultivate a richer experience for all of us when we come together.
Diversity is race, yes. But it is also sex. It is also economic status. It is also employment status. It is also political affiliation. It is also denominational affiliation. It is also personal experience and the background that each of us has. It is rich, poor, smart, dumb, literate, illiterate, those who can dance, those who can't dance, those who love being outdoors, those who are allergic to the sun, introverts, extroverts, white collar, blue collar, Black, white, brown, western, eastern, southern (shout out to my southern folk), those who love math, those who have to take their socks off to count to 20. It's all of us in exactly the unique forms that we have.
I have always said that every human being I meet is a person created in the image of God and therefore has something to teach me about who God is and how He loves me. I have something to learn from literally everyone I ever meet. And I learn those things best when they are contrasted in differences - when I can learn from them things that I would never understand in my own flesh if they weren't generous enough to share it with me.
I will never know what it's like to be male. I will never know what it's like to be another race. I will never know what it's like to not like math. I will never know what it's like to be an extrovert. I will never know what it's like to not have rhythm. I will never know what it's like for the outdoors to love me back (ugh, allergies). There are bounds around my flesh that limit the things I can understand in this world, and I am dependent on God's other persons to teach me. To show me. To set an example so that I can expand my understanding, even if I never get to experience these things first hand.
That's why I love that the Bible constantly tells us that God is drawing us all together from all over His creation, that He gathers His people from everywhere. (Isaiah 11:12) That the lines between us aren't really what we think they are. That in Him, our beautiful diversity reveals His glory in all the ways that I always dream that it will.
There's something special about being drawn together in God, being gathered together across all the lines we have created for ourselves...for whatever reason we think it's been important to do that. There's something about erasing those lines and turning them into learning curves instead, and I think that's why God is always reminding us that we are all - today and tomorrow and forever - drawn together in Him.
It's beautiful.
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