No one was the same age.
Different races were represented.
Make that different cultures were represented.
We all came from different places but I saw over the course of one hour that we had the same destination point: the grace of God.
For the month of September we have been focusing on the journey of Moses and the Israelites in church. From Egypt to the Promise Land, we have seen their movements. Their ups and downs; hills and valleys. It is a story I am all too familiar with, but now looked at with a different perspective. I looked beyond the elaborate miracles to the common core of community.
It is this point that Pastor Donna has discussed in depth in her past few sermons. She has pointed out that some of these miracles had a similar origin of divinity, but the concept of the experience of the community of Israelites together and with God...that was the true miracles.
With these thoughts swirling through my mind, I sat in our Discipleship Small Group this morning ready to discuss prayer. As I shared with the group, this is a side of my faith I'm working on. When I pray sometimes I get caught up in my overloaded mind of the checklists I'm mentally checking or the worries in my heart. I struggle to focus on my conversation with God, then I worry that I'm doing it wrong.
Yet God spoke to me profoundly this morning. A repeated lesson He is teaching me about the beauty of diversity and where I fall among that. Today was no different. In the course of an hour, I saw God show me that there are many paths on this faith journey we all take, yet each ending point leads to Him. Pastor Donna says, "Faith is a journey, not a destination point. We benefit when we are looking at the good of the greater community than our own personal interests." Much as with the story of the Israelites today had a greater miracle of their staying together. Despite the issues, problems, hardships, starvation, and LOTS of dust they faced, they did not separate.
Why do we not mimic this in our own faith communities? What profound difference would we make if we lived by this and never gave up on our brothers and sisters in Christ? No matter what they do. No matter what they have failed to do. No matter who they love. No matter how they hurt us. No matter who they are...we don't give up on them. We accept that sometimes difference does not automatically be bad. That outside our comfort zone and in a space of questioning who God is, where our faith is, who we are called to be-we meet God.
In the conference room I learned about a Native American woman who wakes up at five am to pray to her Creator for those around her, for nature and first and foremost to praise the Creator for all the good. She does not pray for herself because she knows that someone else is covering that in prayer themselves.
In the conference room I learned about a man from Vietnam who practiced English by reading the Bible. A text he had not been allowed to read himself in his Catholic church back home. A new blessing he found in the gift of immigrating to America. His mother was a woman who taught us what true appreciation for living in a country where we are free to express whatever our faith is.
I am not the same person now, a month into DC, than I was when I first arrived. Through experiences such as this morning, God is teaching me about how there is a world beyond myself. Diversity is beautiful. We all are the same, not matter our background or who we are. All are beautiful in what makes them unique. We must embrace this instead of trying to change someone to who we are comfortable with. Let's be uncomfortable and see what we can learn!
This is true community. A community we all need. We need the company of others to experience this life with. Whether this is a stranger in a Krispy Kreme or a new dear friend in your program, we live this life alongside each other. Not separating into the boxes we deem "comfortable" by those who are just like us.
I now hunger to learn more about what God can teach me through this realization in my heart. This new area outside my comfort zone that I'm now comfortable in. I hunger to learn more from a faith community that I feel so at home in, with a budding spiritual role model.
We all come from different directions.
Yet we all head towards a God whose grace is extended to all. Even if that looks different from you, you can connect in the commonality of longing to love a Being greater than ourselves.
May we all rejoice at sunrise to a Creator who painted a beautiful world around us with all different colors, textures, and life.
