The God of diversity

As I write this, it is Pentecost Sunday in the Christian church. It is a day that is commemorated in the Book of Acts chapter 2, when 120 believers in the resurrected Jesus gathered in Jerusalem together, and the Holy Spirit empowered them to step out into Jerusalem and begin telling people about God and God's plan through Jesus.

Acts 2 says that this was prompted by a miraculous gift that allowed them to communicate the message of Christ with all kinds of people in the language understood by these various groups (see Acts 2:7-11). At least sixteen different groups are mentioned, most of whom did not speak the language of the 120 who were speaking. Yet, according to the account in the New Testament, they were given the ability to communicate in such a way that all who heard them understood them in their own language.

Many were added to the Church that day. In fact, according to the Book of Acts, thousands were added, from all over the world. Most of them went back to their portion of the world, where they then helped bring others into the ways of Christ and to the Church.

So, instead of God limiting his love and grace to a small cluster of people from a village outside of Jerusalem, God demonstrated a bigger vision: God and his message of compassion became diverse. As the Christian Church developed, this diversity became part of the basic confession of faith, as each week churches in virtually every country and language confess that the Church of Jesus is "one, holy and catholic" -- with catholic literally meaning "worldwide and without borders."

This means that people of faith, regardless of what some program or group may say, are called to embrace diversity. We are called to go outside of our own comfortable places and customs and trust God to help us introduce the Good News of Christ to everyone -- even those who may be different from us.
The challenges of language, custom and culture are challenging to overcome, that's for sure. But, that's where faith comes in and where trust in the overall mission of God to love and redeem the whole world comes in. Anything less is not the ultimate goal of God and misses the point. We are called to diversity, because we serve a God who calls us into all the world.