by Wayne Bridegroom

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. Colossians 3:11

I would suggest to you that one of the reasons for the Apostle Paul’s letters to various churches was because of the great diversity in those congregations.  We all, quite naturally, tend to associate with those most like us.  It is our circle of comfort.  But not so in the early church.

It is hard work to adjust and learn from brothers and sisters in Christ who are, culturally, very different from us. If we are willing to engage in that hard work, the benefits are great.  I am reminded of Lucy’s second trip to Narnia and meeting Aslan again.  How much “larger” he had become.  Indeed, Jesus becomes “larger” as we travel from our comfort zones to a Narnia experience.

I grew up on a dairy and my wife, Beth, grew up the daughter of a highly skilled carpenter.  Our two families were different but we were both white, middle class.  Then came marriage and almost 50 years of pastoral work on what most people would call “the wrong side of the tracks.”

Our childhood and teen experience in regard to music revolved around the radio and a record player inside the house.  In our church neighborhood, white middle class folk were passing away and people of color, primarily Hispanic families, were moving in.  As you may know, Latino families tend to play their music outside, whether over the car radio or via a boom box, and at a very loud volume. Granted, it took a while, but we made the adjustment of going to sleep at night via Spanish music.

Twelve years ago, in our mid 60’s, we decided to downsize.  In other words, the less house work and yard work, the better.  We weren’t getting any younger!  We found a small, two bedroom house in an older, but well maintained area of town.  My, oh my, what culture shock.  It was middle class and overwhelmingly Anglo.  How in the world could we possibly sleep?  It was too quiet!  Again, it took a bit but we made the adjustment.

May I suggest that we can make appropriate adjustments in life when we become willing to spend time with dear neighbors who are culturally different from us.  As some of you who are already familiar with my Central Baptist Church background know, I, and the members of CBC were the prime beneficiaries when we chose to share our facility with 7 different congregations,   Five of those groups spoke “broken” English at best.  But they loved Jesus and taught us more than we would ever learn from those like us.