Did you enjoy the different sounds of the choirs? What more did you learn about your own cultural identity as you listened to them? I hope you were able to truly appreciate and accept the differences of both seeing how these choirs are certainly gifts to their faith communities.  

Accepting the gift of cultural differences is not a new concept for disciples of Jesus. This concept may be new to us for many reasons. Let’s walk together through the scriptures as I provide us with a theological foundation for accepting cultural differences.  

Creation and the new creation (Genesis and Revelation) 

The creation story in Genesis gives us a brilliant, diverse picture of all God had created. Speaking the natural world into being, God made the seasons, the skies, waters, separation of day and night, various plants yielding seeds and trees bearing fruit, wildlife, sea animals, birds, and human beings. And it was and is all very good! When God engaged in the action of creation, the Divine did not create everything the same and everything else. There were beautifully different creatures and plants in the natural world. Likewise, in the new creation in Revelation 7 – the apostle John’s vision of heaven – people from “every nation, tribe, people, and language” were standing before the throne of God and the Lamb of God. This diverse multitude was standing there praising God. And, again, it was very good! It is also God’s divine design for us to accept one another’s cultural differences so that the risen Christ is reflected in public witness. 

Radical Hospitality: A Kin-dom Ethic  

As disciples of Jesus, when we accept one another’s cultural differences, we demonstrate one of the central ethics of our Christian faith and witness – radical hospitality. This ethic is not new. It came from God’s command to the Israelites in Leviticus 19 to care for the poor, the immigrant, the lame, and those who were strangers in the Israelite community. God tells them: “Also, do not pick your vineyard clean or gather up all the grapes that have fallen there. Leave these items for the poor and immigrant; I am the Lord your God (19:9-10). The Israelites were to care for those who were culturally different from them to demonstrate their love for God and themselves, and welcome them as a child of God.  

Loving Fellowship: A Kin-dom Ethic 

As Jesus’ disciples, wholly and dearly loved by God, we are called to accept others’ cultural differences to enter and remain in loving fellowship with our neighbor. If we say we accept another person’ cultural differences, then the best demonstration of this is that we break bread together and do life with them. At the Last Supper – Jesus’ final meal with his disciples before he was handed over to be crucified – Jesus and his disciples were as culturally different as they could possibly be. Jesus – the Divine Other – eats with his disciples showing his loving fellowships with them by washing their feet – even the feet of his enemy, Judas. It is at this first Communion meal that Jesus hands down a new commandment to his disciples – Love one another. Scot McKnight, author of A Fellowship of Differents talks about loving fellowship in this way: “The church God wants is one brimming with difference, and that will mean the Christian life is all about loving whoever happens to be with you in this fellowship of differents” (p. 63). So, what do you say? Are you, as a disciple of Jesus, ready to answer God’s call of accepting cultural differences the other as God’s good gift? Remember, it is God’s grace that allows us to see this gift and love the way Jesus does.