A Different Difference
I woke up early recently thinking about the people with whom I worship. I do that a lot more often than many people might imagine. One reason for that has to do with the gratitude I feel for them for being a real family to us when none of our physical family lived near us. These good people have been with us through many good times and times that were not so good.
I also have these people on my mind a great deal of the time because I try to serve as one of our elders. The responsibility that goes with that means that I don’t always get the sleep that I might want to get. Shepherds sometimes lose sleep because shepherds care.
However, what I was thinking about as I awoke early on this particular day had nothing to do with either of these things. I woke up thinking about how diverse our group is. When we all assemble to worship, there are a little over two hundred of us. It is almost unbelievable how diverse in so many ways such a relatively small number can be.
The type of diversity I was thinking about does not fit neatly into the “normal categories” (race, economics, education, age, nationality, etc.). While we are, in fact, diverse in all of those ways, I was thinking about a different way in which we may be different.
Without giving too many details, here are some of the people you could see if you would walk into one of our assemblies:
- Men who are either retired, current, or in training to become local police officers
- Some men and women who go to our local jail weekly to teach the Bible to those who are incarcerated there
- Men who have been incarcerated in various institutions
- People who have family members who have been or who are currently incarcerated
- A man who retired from a civilian job in a state prison
- Some people who have never even had a speeding ticket
How diverse is that?
At this point, a couple of questions may be going through your mind. You may be curious and may be thinking, “I wonder who those people are?” You could be wondering what my motives are and might be wanting to ask me, “Why are you ‘airing your dirty laundry’?”
Those questions have nothing at all to do with what I was thinking about. I was thinking about how a relatively small group of people is a modern example of what we would find among first century Christians.
They, too, were different in a lot of different ways. Some of them were even different in the way in which our congregation is different.
Do you remember what Luke wrote about one meal that took place?
Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household (Acts 16:34, NKJV).
The “he” in that verse was a man who was a prison guard. The “them” are two men, Paul and Silas, who, until shortly before this meal, were incarcerated in the “inner prison” where this man worked.
Now, after the jailer’s baptism, all three of these men were brothers in the Lord. They were sharing a meal together. They were a visible example of the principle of “unity in diversity.” In one act in one location, they were an answer to the prayer of Jesus that all who believe in Him “…may be one…” (John 17:11).
I hope that you will believe me when I say that the reason I wrote what I did had nothing at all to do with piquing somebody’s curiosity or “airing dirty laundry.” It was my attempt to express just one way that I’m pleased to be a part of a group of people who are so different in what I think is an unusual way, but whose differences would be difficult to detect by somebody who would happen to walk into one of our worship services or one of our opportunities for fellowship.
What I think that person would see is a group of people who love the Lord and one another. At least I hope that would be their impression.
Here’s one thing I know that a visitor would not see. He/she would not find the law enforcement officers sitting together; the “offenders” sitting together; the families of those who are, or who have been, incarcerated in yet another area; or those who have never had any trouble with law enforcement sitting all by themselves.
Let me share with you just one example of something I see on a regular basis. I’m thinking about a small group of men who are enjoying the time together. I see them standing or sitting together and sharing in the lives of one another. I know that, from time to time and maybe not all at the same time, they spend time together when they are away from our building as well. This group of men includes a former policeman, a couple of former inmates, a former employee in a prison, and a couple of men who, as far as I know, have never had any trouble with the legal system.
In addition to that, an observer might think that these men have known each other for most of their lives. That is not the case at all. With one possible exception, these men did not even know each other until they began worshiping and working together where I am privileged to worship and work.
It is interesting and rewarding to be a part of a family that is different in a lot of ways. It is also interesting and rewarding to be a part of a group that is different in a different way.
Maybe the biggest difference in what seems to be an increasingly divided society the people with whom I worship includes special people who are…
……eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3, ESV).
Is that the way it is where you worship?
Are you doing your part to make it that way?
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
