From Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation:
THE BODY OF CHRIST
Question of the day:
What would change if we truly valued diversity?
“If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body—every one of them—just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body”
(I Cor. 12: 17-20).
Why do we want to deny diversity? Well, the ego is threatened by diversity. The ego wants everything to affirm that it alone is center stage and the only reference point. For some reason, there are individuals who think that “all serious people should be white and American and Catholic and male, and are unsure about anybody outside that circle.” This manner of thought has clearly represented most of our history, with very sad results. What narcissism! What self-centeredness!
Paul is warning us against all of this in his beautiful formulation of the doctrine of the Body of Christ. He gives us a lasting and brilliant metaphor that keeps unity and diversity in ideal balance. We settled for cheap and forced uniformity instead. Superficial uniformity is what we settle for when we have not experienced our radical unity in God.
From The Cosmic Christ (CD #2)
Suscribe here.
14 comments:
So you value diversity-but you're 98% white and mosly middle to upper middle class?
This is like me saying I like women and then going to live in a monastery.
Thanks Ann,
Diversity has always existed. Sometimes it has existed even when being persecuted. Certainly diversity exists at The Anglican Church in Uganda and Nigeria even though the lives of LGBT are made difficult to unbearable by ignorant bigots, or worse, exploiters of negative ¨opportunities¨...Clearly the WORLD has always been a better place when respect for one another takes the place of fear, loathing and hate...the ¨hate¨ that is currently running riot at every level of U.S. Society is truly a segment of a vile National character brought into full view...this is good. No longer the Rumsfelds, Roves, White Supremacists, Falwells and the rest of the extremist puritan zealots hiding beneath self-righteous bigotry are hidden...they are on display for us all to see...sometime they bring out the worst in some very ugly fellow citizens...it´s a starting place when we get to see the depth of the dishonesty being portrayed as self-evaluated ¨honorable/conservative¨ citizens (who are driven, by greed, DIFFERENCE, exploitation, fear, EXCLUSION and hate).
Exposed daily for us all to see.
Brad -- pretty much what Paul did re: women. Richard Rohr is RC - which is pretty diverse although not ruled with that in mind.
No. I believe that, for the most part, we do not value diversity in this country. We want others to be more like us.
You value it as a side dish.
The right has its expectations; the left expects that its client groups will vote and live as they do.
When the left's client groups don't behave as expected, the left claims that they're "victims of false consciousness"; Spong once went on TV and said that rightwing bishops from Africa had been "bribed by some chicken dinners" to vote the way conservatives wanted them to vote.
You can talk all you want; if people don't see you doing it, nobody will believe you.
I did a nice stir fry tonight with carrots, broccoli, tofu - we were out of onions so I used garlic and 2 pequeno chilis -- still my husband added more Tabasco!!
Ann, your husband is right. Remember: Tabasco makes perfect!
pequeno chiles? I thought I was relatively good chile wise....What are those?
they are little hot red dried chilis -- I think that is just a brand type name - I always have to remember not to rub my face after chopping them up.
Ah, okay. I haen't seen that name.
yes, it's wise to wear gloves when dealing with capsaicins! I bring boxes of gloves home from the lab for the purpose. We are fond of hot peppers .
Pequeño, it means small.
Everyone witnessed it! IT just confessed to thieving office supplies.
Ha! Actually, Dahveed, I am frequently given free boxes of gloves by vendors. They also hand out t-shirts, sodas, and i-tunes cards to tempt you to visit their tables at the vendor shows and part with your email address. (When the economy was good they used to give REALLY cool stuff).
A box of gloves at home lasts us for years.
A box of gloves at home lasts us for years.
I had actually heard otherwise about lesbians!
Dahveed, please remember this is a family website! ;-)
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