Monday, December 16, 2013 [One Culture]
"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, "Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!"
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God…These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white" (Revelation 7:9-11, 14).
There are more than 7 billion people living on this planet right now; just over 300 million of us live in the United States. There are so many different people, so many different nations, tribes, languages, and cultures throughout this world. How does God view all of this difference?
I have good reason to believe that God loves our diversity. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him [the Son] may not perish but may have eternal life (NRSV). To love the world is to love it in all of its different-ness. But, God did not send a different Son, one of every culture, to each nation, tribe and language – He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus. This shows me that even though He appreciates all of our diversity, God is determined to bring us together in unity through the Son (see John 17:21).
I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood. As a kid, my birthday parties looked like a meeting of the United Nations. As a choir student in high school we sang the songs of people from every continent. I simply love experiencing different cultures! And, I believe that God loves culture, because people are tied to culture and, God loves people. When we arrive in heaven and raise our shout together before the throne of God our voices may sound different; our accents may be apparent; and, some of us may use different words to say it, but we all will shout in unison:
"Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!"
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21 That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
(John 17:21, NRSV)
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