Eric commented on the post below that includes the section on Extreme Diversity. re-reading it once again, it is truly an important section of this striving to be and to embody authentic church.
Movable Theoblogical: The “Basics”
The world has told us that we are “opposed” to one another because of our differences, but this is an illusion. We are liberated as we come to know each other more deeply and are able to transcend the illusion of “opposites.” Reconciliation requires finding common ground on which we can both transcend and embrace our differences. The authentic church provides that common ground.
The “pieces” that make a whole people are found scattered amongst us, it seems. This is what I gather from the message of the above. The idea that we cannot do it alone is to bring home the truth to us that we not only need companionship and support, but those “other” experiences that bring us closer to knowing all of God’s family; all of God’s people.
Reconciliation requires finding common ground on which we can both transcend and embrace our differences. The authentic church provides that common ground.
I think the only clarification I would make to that is that it is not we who transcends our differences, but it is Jesus Christ the mediator who transcends our differences for us, as all difference is in God.
Peace,
Eric
Certainly, and I think that this is probably meant to be implied in that the “we” is the church – the body of Christ— which , by its attributes as that body, include and affirm and are moved by differences. The theology of the Church of the Saviour over the years has always stressed the “in Christ” aspect of what makes the people of God a chosen people.