I pulled up in the “Diversity” parking stall at the church this morning (created by our children), and couldn’t help but reflect that valuing diversity is something so needed in our society today. A few years ago, our congregation reflected on our values as followers of the Way of Jesus, and the four values that we named as most important to us in living together as a faith community are: Compassion, Diversity, Respect & Courage.
I believe that we, as faithful people, whatever faith group to which we belong, are called to live these values more than ever in our society. In the midst of hateful rhetoric and violent actions aimed at certain faith groups, cultures, genders, and communities, we need to be living and saying that we value Compassion, Diversity, Respect and Courage.
Right now, anger seems the norm. There is so much anger in public discourse, anger than divides groups of people, anger that draws a line in the sand and allows for no creative and courageous thinking. Anger is not courageous. Anger is destructive. Anger harms people and our planet. Anger in the end achieves nothing worthwhile, in our own lives or in our world. While we naturally may experience moments of anger and frustration, anger is not a good guiding force.
In the face of anger, we must choose to live with compassion, respect and courage, valuing the diversity of people and perspectives around us. It is what Jesus did.
Jesus was all about valuing other faiths. The Samaritans were people of another faith group, with the same roots as Judaism, but on a different path – the same relationship that Christians and Muslims have. Jesus used the example of the Good Samaritan to speak of what it means to love your neighbour. Jesus engaged a Samaritan woman in a theological debate as they met at the well to get water for the day. Jesus valued other faiths – he didn’t set out to destroy them.
Above all, Jesus valued and respected the people in front of him. Especially, he respected and showed compassion to those who lived on the fringes of society, who had been deemed “outcasts” or second-rate by society. He interacted with lepers, women who were shunned by their families, tax-collectors, and those living in destitute poverty, treating each as a child of God, not a second class citizen. Once, he stopped in the middle of a journey and spotted a man named Zacchaeus, a tax collector, perched in a tree. Jesus called Zacchaeus down and invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner. As they share in the meal, we learn that Zacchaeus is not the “evil” tax-collector that everyone assumes. The story actually says that Zacchaeus is already sharing his earnings to help those living in poverty and paying back anyone who feels they have been cheated. (Most English translations use a future tense when the Greek uses a present tense – the Greek says he is already doing these things.)
Jesus lived with compassion, with respect, with courage, welcoming a diversity of people to journey with him and be part of his team. His group of followers included many that no one else would have included. Only once did he let anger take hold, when he drove the money changers and merchants from the temple, but that was not how he achieved what he sought to achieve in sharing the love of God. Love, not anger, was the guiding force in Jesus’ ministry and teachings.
Neither will we achieve what we need to achieve in our world by letting anger be the guiding force. We need to listen compassionately to one another, we need to treat each other with respect, valuing the diversity of genders, faiths, cultures, and sexual orientations around us. We need to do this with courage – a word which means “with our hearts.” Ultimately, it is the love of our hearts that will create the society we desire, where everyone has meaningful work and a living wage, and good accesses to health care and education, where people can worship as they feel called to worship and love who they feel called to love without fearing verbal or physical attacks, and where our children and our children’s children have a clean and healthy planet on which to live because we have cared for it now.
To achieve these goals, we must listen compassionately to each other, not attack one another. We must speak with respect and value the diversity around us. Mostly we must have courage, speaking up and speaking out of the love in our hearts so that everyone can live in safety and peace, unafraid.
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