A Community of Diversity

As our church begins the process of searching for a new rector, one of the steps in that process is to document who we are as a community. To accomplish this we are meeting in small groups to solicit input from all segments of the community. As I recently participated in one of these sessions, it was clear to me that we are a very diverse community. (In Sun Valley, Idaho maybe not ethnically diverse) We had people who would reject a new rector who would support participation by persons with alternative sexual preferences and people who would support the blessing same sex unions. We had people who thought the liturgy and music was the best part of the community and those who would change them completely. We had people who thought the church had too many programs and those who had ideas for more. People took both conservative and liberal positions; sometimes the same person in different places on different issues and sometimes husband and wife in different places. I realized that we can be diverse even as individuals. I was reminded of a conversation that we had at the Wi’am Peace Center in Bethlehem. We were discussing the importance in conflict resolution of knowing who the interested parties are. A very thoughtful young Palestinian woman pointed out that a person can be many different things at the same time. A person can be father, son, grandfather and uncle at the same time. She was Christian, Palestinian, Arab, woman, and teacher and sometimes had difficulty deciding in what order. She had concluded that what category she was first depended on where she was and who she was interacting with. One part must come first but they are all part of who we are. When we lose one part we are losing part of who we are. When both my parents die I will no longer be a son. I will lose part of who I am and that will be sad. We need to celebrate the diversity of individuals and of our communities. People outside of the US seem to celebrate our diversity more than we do. Our Jordanian driver told us his story of coming to the US on a tourist visa and overstaying his visa to work as a taxi driver in Queens. The pay was so good because of the danger that it was worth the risk. While doing that he fell in love with a beautiful black woman. He said “We were considering making the relationship more permanent, except when we went to consummate the relationship, she turned out to be a he. I love America”.