a diverse christainity

in the years following the crucifixion of jesus, the disciples of jesus were a diverse group.

there are numerous appearances of the resurrected jesus documented in the new testament. one refers to a group of 500.

those followers did not immediately form a unified church. those followers were still primarily jews.



it was peter and paul and others of the new testament writings who begin to welcome non-jews into the community of believers, but it was jesus himself who commanded his disciples to go unto all the world.....

it was jesus who broke down social barriers throughout his ministry, opening the door of salvation to sinners, to lepers, to women, to samaritans, 

... to pharisees. 

he did not neglect them. 

it was only that they were mostly satisfied with the salvation they had carved out for themselves.




it was only that they wanted to be exclusive. 



we are still a diverse world of followers today that share a joy in jesus.

i have found the book of common prayer for ordinary radicals a very inspiring daily devotion.

a recent reading talked about the sacrifice of praise.

what an odd term. how can praise be sacrificial?

the reading suggests that praising in a way that is not comfortable, or even meaningful to you, is to be embraced because of the way it inspires and comforts another believer.

it reminded me of how important it is to share in the christian traditions of others, how important it is to know that our traditions and cultural experiences are not the only way to serve god.





it is so hard to divide culture from commandment.

the greatest commandment is to love god and to love others as we love ourselves.

if we want others to respect our culture, we must respect theirs.

i know believers that would never say amen in church.

i know believers who praise jesus throughout the service.

i know believers who find great comfort in liturgy.

 i would argue that we have to look for the good they find there. we have to look for the need it meets for them.

because our concern should always be, first and foremost, the needs of others.

the needs of others are to be equal to our own needs.






for myself, i have found that i have much to learn from the worship of others. in my family, we say we are fluent in denominations. we have been baptist, presbyterian, lutheran, united methodist, rock 'n roll and non-denominational homeless serving church. as a teenager, i also attended a house church.

i have found good in all.

i have found the most good in those that took me out of my comfort zone.

my guess is that if you have a comfortable walk with jesus that you are ripe for temptation.

the hard times test our faith.

but those are not the times we are complacent.

those are the times when we recognize the needs of our brothers and sisters the most.