Celebration of Diversity

March is a month, like every month, with celebrations up-the-wazoo. Last month we observed Black History Month, a celebration that helped us focus on the contributions that people of African descent have made to the United States’ culture and heritage; no one can deny that we would not be the people we are today without the contributions of Black people in American society. However, usually people respond to this observance with the question: But how about Italian, Irish, German, English, etc., heritage months? Well, what about it? Let’s see. In March we celebrate:

• Irish American Month
• National Irish American Heritage Month- designated by Congress in 1995.
• National Women's History Month

Just to name a few of the things we celebrate.

You see, the fact of the matter is that many groups have had celebrations during different months of the year for many years, we just hardly ever hear about them. So besides January, February, and March, which we know what is celebrated in those months, we have April as Scottish American Month, May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (as well as Jewish American Heritage Month), June is Caribbean American Heritage Month, July is American Heritage day, a day to celebrate all the people who have made the United States the place it is. From September 15 to October 15 is German Heritage Month (as well as Hispanic Heritage Month), October is Italian Heritage Month as well as Polish Heritage Month, November is Native American Heritage Month, and December is the month to celebrate human rights around the world.

If there is something you can see from this list of celebrations/observances is that we already are a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural people. Some of us want to maintain ethnic and cultural supremacy as if that is a positive thing. But the reality is that in this shrinking world we have to come to terms with the reality that we all come from so many backgrounds, from so many different places, some of us have been in this country longer than others (although longevity has not been a guarantee of acceptance, as is the case with African Americans, Native Americans, and others). Some of us have always been here, some of us just got here, but what makes us all special is that we are all together under the same “roof.” We must come to terms with the reality that unity is possible in diversity. As Michael Novak stated some years ago: “Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust. (Michael Novak, epigraph opening Unity in Diversity: An Index to the Publications of Conservative and Libertarian Institutions [1983]).

This idea of unity in the midst of diversity is one of the most significant messages that the Gospel presents to us. Indeed, although we come from every possible place on the face of the earth we all share the household that God had built for us. As in American society, we, in the church, also struggle with our own issues of inclusion and exclusion. We in the church also struggle with issues of acceptance and rejection. We have been struggling with who is in and who is out, who is one of us and who is not.

Notwithstanding, the liberating agenda of the Kingdom of God help us understand that under God’s roof, in God’s household, “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another (Rom. 12:5). Indeed, even when there was a time when we had been divided/separated, that ought to be no more, for Paul reminds us that:

“at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”— remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” “In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (Eph. 2:11-14, 21-22).

Indeed, my beloved, ALL of us are a part of God’s arrangement. We are called to welcome each other (Heb. 13:1-3), to work with each other, to love each other, to help each other until WE ALL come to “the stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This is why Paul would say to the Church in Ephesus:

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,³ making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (4:1-3).

This is not something we work on our own, the Holy Spirit has empowered us, has gifted us to achieve this unity, unity in diversity of languages, cultures, and ideologies; as Paul states:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-13).

Therefore, let us celebrate each other’s histories and heritages, let us celebrate those who are different, let us in love build each other up, enrich each other, be a blessing to each other, for that is the will of God for all of us under God’s roof.