http://consumingjesus.org/2009/04/22/a-diverse-celebration/ Beyond Race and Class Issues In a Consumer Church Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:25:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://consumingjesus.org/2009/04/22/a-diverse-celebration/comment-page-1/#comment-400 Rachel O'Brien Thu, 07 May 2009 03:51:22 +0000 http://consumingjesus.org/2009/04/22/a-diverse-celebration/#comment-400 "It is my desire that we make beautiful music out of the prism of differences in the world, music that inspires and liberates the church to be a diverse people centered in Christ." I was struck by this sentence because I do not see that the church, me, you, my congregation views its own lack of diversity as a lack of liberty. On the contrary. My understanding, or the one which is most easily swallowed based on my churching and upbringing, is that I am most free with others most like myself. I would not say that I was raised in a particularly homogenous existence prior to seminary, but I would not say I valued other cultures. They merely existed parallel to my own. I was free to wander up and down the corriders of my own culture, in and out of its caverns and halls, yet was not truly told that other worlds, even other ways of seeing the world, existed beyong my own. I wonder if the church is any more guilty than any other structure in creating these parallel and untouching realities? I wonder if we understand our own slavery to our myopic culture? “It is my desire that we make beautiful music out of the prism of differences in the world, music that inspires and liberates the church to be a diverse people centered in Christ.”
I was struck by this sentence because I do not see that the church, me, you, my congregation views its own lack of diversity as a lack of liberty. On the contrary. My understanding, or the one which is most easily swallowed based on my churching and upbringing, is that I am most free with others most like myself. I would not say that I was raised in a particularly homogenous existence prior to seminary, but I would not say I valued other cultures. They merely existed parallel to my own. I was free to wander up and down the corriders of my own culture, in and out of its caverns and halls, yet was not truly told that other worlds, even other ways of seeing the world, existed beyong my own. I wonder if the church is any more guilty than any other structure in creating these parallel and untouching realities? I wonder if we understand our own slavery to our myopic culture?

]]> http://consumingjesus.org/2009/04/22/a-diverse-celebration/comment-page-1/#comment-394 Ben Malick Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:53:57 +0000 http://consumingjesus.org/2009/04/22/a-diverse-celebration/#comment-394 Great post Kelsi. There truly is no unity without diversity. Otherwise it's simply conformity. Great post Kelsi. There truly is no unity without diversity. Otherwise it’s simply conformity.

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