For the love of people. . .

Its that simple.

And that hard.

I've spent a  lot of time contemplating the future of the church.  For years now I have stood in the pulpit and looked out at aging congregations.  Probably the most alarming experience was while I was supply preaching.  I went from congregation to congregation and saw that the graying of our membership was not an isolated instance,by far.  And so I wonder what the church will look like in a decade or two.

I must confess.  As I look back too often I have feared membership loss to the extent that I coddled behaviors and attitudes that deep within my soul I feel are contrary to the Gospel.  The intolerance and judgmental attitudes that have prevailed in many a conversation hardly reflect the love of Christ or the compassion of our God and Father.  Yet in many instances they tithed.

To coddle attitudes because my financial security depends on it is not the most defensible witness to the Gospel.  It may in fact be sinful and so I confess.

One of the core tenants of my faith that has emerged more and more over the years is that if we would know the Creator we ought start by observing the creation for it is near to the heart of God.  And if we do that there is one thing, one very BIG thing that is undeniable.  God loves diversity.  From the landscapes that dot this planet (and the universe) to the flora and fauna of every corner of our world.

And one of the most regrettable tendencies of our human spirit is to limit this diversity and opt for a controlled uniformity.  Nothing is farther from the Spirit of God.  Yet we persist.

You see this in many ways.  Bananas for example.  Worldwide there are about 1,000 different varieties.  And only one that is exported, the Cavendish.  One.  There was a crisis among banana producers in years past.  The one banana that they focused on for production became diseased.  The lack of biodiversity meant that crops worldwide were at risk.  I digress.  If God went to the trouble of creating a thousand different types of bananas, God obviously loves diversity.

And humans also excel at diversity.  A few different varieties. And that makes us uneasy. 

One tendency of education is to impose conformity as opposed to encouraging diversity.  This is especially true of religious education where we are too quick to assume a common path to the divine and a homogeneous human experience.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  When God created us it was not with the intention that you would be me.

Human sexuality is one such example of the diversity of creation.  We are not all the same.  And no one experience can be applied universally without reeking havoc on the individual.  And yet we try.  Perversity is the condition of being different than me. . .

Back to the original point.  Will the church chart a future that imposes conformity or which celebrates the diversity of God's creation? 

Kennon Callahan, a church growth consultant, talks about the 'principle of homogeneity'.  "Birds of a feather flock together."  If you desire to successfully grow a congregation focus on one type of people because few truly can handle diversity. 

What is more important?  To have a successful congregation or to be faithful to the Gospel and the Love of God?

Dare we live in a world in which the Cavendish is not the only  banana and "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" is not the only hymn?  Dare we love each unique individual without the expectation of conformity to a universal norm?  And to be clear, it's not that the Cavendish is a bad banana.  It's just not the only banana.  It's not that being a blond haired, blue eyed, balding and aging man of Norwegian descent is bad.  It's just not the totality of the human experience. 

I wish my church was more diverse.  But I also acknowledge that my church will never be able to be home to the full spectrum of human religious conviction.  There is a place for Baptists, and Pentecostals, and Orthodox, and Catholics, and Jewish people, and Hindus, and Buddhists, and Muslims, and even those whose experience of the divine is at best a question mark. 

What I know is that I can no longer define my faith against others.  It is for the love of people that God brought us forth in all our diversity and one cannot love God while despising those who are created in the Divine Image.