May we be people of faith first, before we are people of factions.
May we not react to our relatively small differences of opinion with fear or hostility.
“Love one another as I have loved you.”
Many of you may know that I worship in two churches – each with a different language and church “culture.” In one, I enjoy more people my own age and I keep up the language God graciously allowed me to gain while on the mission field far from home. In the other, I worship in English and enjoy a range of ages and folks. These churches are on the same (short) continuum of theology but have different focuses. As I travel a short geographical distance between the two, I anticipate how rich and interesting the worship will be.
Recently, one of these churches experienced harassment – not from the other one, but from somewhere inside the larger “body of Christ.” The congregation had to call for police presence – thankfully only a squad car parked in the lot – while service was going on. Details aside, please know that our world is desperate for examples of love and generosity and sisterly/brotherly love. If we Christians have “back-stage hostility”* to each other inside the church, we must resolve to work on that while putting stronger emphasis on God’s mission of love/ sanctification for the many.
*Nouwen, Henri. (1986). Reaching Out. New York:Doubleday. p. 70
Susan Olmstead Wang 