Bob's Blog

While hard to admit, my early years were ones that regarded outsiders with great suspect. ‘Othering’ was a way of life, and people were never just people; they were non-Christians, non-Catholics, and non-Italians. Blacks were inferior. Mormons were lost and confused. And anyone who didn’t measure up to my family’s standards were to be avoided. 

But what was most insidious about those years was that we were still called to be ‘nice’ to everyone, even though the niceness was disingenuous, condescending, and superficial. We weren’t mean to people . . . in fact the exact opposite – we were taught to be kind to everyone . . . but while we were respectful to your face, inside we knew that you were less. You were inferior and didn’t measure up simply because you were unlike us! You were different: and different, meant deficient! So you needed to be avoided at all cost! “Be careful of the company you keep!” “Oil and water don’t mix!” And “choose your friends better than yourself.” These were just a few of the mantras that I heard again, and again, and again; mantras that still today, I have to work hard to silence!

Sadly, the church, and the spirituality that surrounded me, only magnified these messages. “Don’t be contaminated by the world!” “Be holy, and set apart!” And “what fellowship does light have with darkness?” It was a terrible place to live; and while I was often attracted to that which was different, and that which went against the flow, I was usually made to feel that such attractions were unGodly, and contrary to Spirit’s desired work in my life!

Needless to say, when I left home for college in the big city – Washington, DC – my narrow and naive worldview began to disintegrate. Brick by brick, the wall between me and the world, began to rock! My roommate, and the fraternity that would eventually elect me president, were Jewish! My advisor was a Black man who eventually became a good friend. And my new buddy from one of my “International Relations” classes (who just happened to have a really nice Chevy Camero!) was Iranian – and this was during the Iranian hostage crisis! 

I loved listening to the Black women who taught my “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” class; and was fascinated by a Syrian professor who was constantly trying to get us to better understand the Arab-Israeli conflict, and from the perspective of the Palestineans. As far as church goes: I went to Roman Catholic mass for over a year; but then began attending a large Presbyterian Church near campus, and before long began calling it home! The people that had become part of my world were unlike any I had met before, and I learned very quickly that they were ‘my people!’ I had found ‘my tribe’ and for the first time began to realize that indeed, sometimes, things are not wrong, they are just different! And that difference is not something I need to fear or avoid! The very people I had been taught to always view with suspect, were people who bore the image of the very same God that could be found in me!

Then, as if my worldview hadn’t been blown up enough, I took a semester abroad; and Copenhagen Denmark kept me moving forward down that road upon which Washington DC had set my feet. Halfway around the world, things began unraveling more quickly and more completely than ever! Everything was new, and different, and it was all pushing my buttons. 

But by the time I returned home, I realized that there was more than one way to dress, eat, speak, think, behave, and live; and there was immense beauty in these differences! In fact, I began discovering that perhaps diversity was a very intentional part of God’s plan for creation. For just as all things exist in God, God exists in all things. Each of us bears the imprint of the Divine, and while we are certainly incomplete, each of us gives one another a glimpse into the character and nature of the Holy. And what that means is the more we are able to embrace and appreciate all the diversity in this world, the broader and more complete our image of God becomes! Which is why today, I continue to be drawn to those who are not like me: because more often than not, they reveal God to me in new, fresh, and important ways!

As different and diverse as human beings are, we have far more in common than we are different from one another. And that which we have in common, especially people of faith, is the foundation upon which God’s coming kindom is being built! This world is simply too big, and my world is still too small, for me to think that I do not have much to learn from people unlike me. And when it comes to matters of faith, and God? . . . well, how dare I ever think that I can put God in a box, and have holiness, and divinity all figured out. How dare I believe that I am always right, and that everyone else is always wrong.

The world in which we live is vast, complex, diverse, morphing, growing, moving, shifting, transforming, and varied. But it’s nothing to fear. Rather, it’s to be appreciated, and celebrated!