{"id":1489,"date":"2009-06-30T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2009-06-30T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2018-08-31T21:40:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T21:40:15","slug":"sermon-together-in-unity-though-uniquely-diverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2009\/sermon-together-in-unity-though-uniquely-diverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon: ‘Together in Unity Though Uniquely Diverse’"},"content":{"rendered":"

223rd\u00a0Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren
\nSan Diego, California — June 30, 2009<\/h4>\n

Scripture readings:\u00a01 Corinthians 12:4-14, 27-31; 13:1-2<\/h6>\n
\"\"

Pastor Jaime Diaz of Castaner (P.R.) Church of the Brethren was the preacher for the closing worship service of the 2009 Annual Conference, on Tuesday morning, June 30.<\/strong>
Photo by Glenn Riegel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLas cosas viejas pasaron; he aqui todas son hechas nuevas.\u00a0 <\/em>Y todo esto proviene de Dios.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

No, \u00a0I am not going to deliver this sermon in Spanish, although I should.\u00a0 Why not? Why do I have to go through all the trouble speaking to you in English when it is not my native tongue.\u00a0 I should let you struggle a little in trying to understand me in Spanish.<\/p>\n

But that indeed would be a very selfish behavior on my part.\u00a0 Let\u2019s do it my way because my way is the right way.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure what we mean when we say: \u201cWe need to get out of our comfort zone.\u201d I don\u2019t know if when we say \u201cwe\u201d, we are including ourselves, or are we actually saying: \u2018everyone else, except me, should get out of their comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, today, I will get out of my comfort zone, since all of my sermons back in Puerto Rico are done in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Too many times we want others to do things our way.\u00a0 To speak the way we speak.\u00a0 To think the way we think.\u00a0 To walk the way we walk.\u00a0 To worship the way we worship, because our way is the right way!<\/p>\n

Walking the streets of my hometown, I saw this young man wearing a t-shirt that said: \u201c I don\u2019t care what your opinion is, I<\/strong> am always right.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 And this sounded very familiar.\u00a0 I knew I had heard it before.\u00a0 I heard it from my wife the day of our wedding.\u00a0 I thought she was kidding\u2026soon enough I learned she wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

During the first week of just being married, one night, as we went to bed, I could not go to sleep.\u00a0 Mrs. Diaz would not stop swinging her legs back and forth. \u00a0\u00a0I told her, honey, you are not letting me sleep! \u00a0To what she answered: \u201cWell, this is the way I have always fallen asleep, rocking my legs\u201d\u00a0 I respectfully begged her to stop.\u00a0 And once she said: \u201cno!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

“But sweetheart, I can\u2019t sleep!<\/p>\n

\u201cToo bad!\u201d<\/strong> Was her last response.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God\u201d I said to myself.\u00a0 Lord, I thought you said when you created man that it is not good that the man should be alone.\u00a0 But I think I was better off single.\u00a0 So, I got up and told her: \u00a0\u201cAll right, so that\u2019s the way it\u2019s going to be?\u201d\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m sleeping in the couch! But as I laid down, it was almost as if I could hear the voice of the Spirit saying:\u201dWhat are you doing?\u201d\u00a0 You know, like he asked Adam when he sinned taking from the forbidden fruit, \u201cWhere are you?”<\/p>\n

I guess like Adam ,I was afraid\u2026 and I hid.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s all about fear.\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to just run away than to have to face a difficult situation, in my case, to deal with differences that I wasn\u2019t used to.\u00a0 However, I thought to myself, this is foolish!\u00a0 My behavior is not acceptable in God\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 So I went back to bed with my wife.\u00a0 She was no longer swinging her legs.\u00a0 She was already asleep.<\/p>\n

The following day, we had an interesting conversation.\u00a0 We decided to work things out.\u00a0 We agreed That I would go to sleep first.\u00a0 Being a heavy sleeper, she could rock all night; it wouldn\u2019t bother me!<\/p>\n

Recently, we celebrated our 18th<\/sup> anniversary.\u00a0 It has been wonderful!\u00a0 We are<\/em> still different.\u00a0 I mean I love coffee, she hates it.\u00a0 I enjoy the cold weather, she prefers hot weather.\u00a0 And the list goes on and on and on.\u00a0 Yet we have lived a happy and successful life together\u00a0because we have learned one thing:\u00a0 We have learned to engage our differences, and this has made our relationship stronger, and together, we have accomplished many things.\u00a0 We figured that love conquers all and brings unity in every circle no matter who you are and where you are coming from.<\/p>\n

And it is the unity <\/strong>with which we live that draws people to Jesus.\u00a0 In John 17:20-21, Jesus is praying to the Father and saying: \u201cFather I ask\u2026that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you\u2026so that the world may believe that you have sent me.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 From this prayer, we understand that as a result of our living in unity, people will come to Christ.\u00a0 This is Jesus praying, and I know his prayers are always answered.<\/p>\n

We have so many good\u00a0 reasons to celebrate 300 years.\u00a0 We Brethren have come a long way since Schwarzenau. Yet, we are faced with a reality.\u00a0 There is a growing concern that our membership has not increased as you would expect, we may have decreased instead.\u00a0 So we try to understand what it means to do evangelism and we explore and examine those places that are <\/strong>experiencing growth and not only in numbers.<\/p>\n

As a Brethren, I would feel uncomfortable\u00a0 saying that I am proud to be a Brethren.\u00a0 But I am very happy about it.\u00a0 I discovered I was Brethren even before joining the denomination. But I will confess, \u00a0I still don\u2019t understand why after 300 years, we are still trying to figure out what it means to be Brethren.\u00a0 And although it is extremely important to have and understand our own identity, we should be careful not to preach the Church of the Brethren, but, instead, \u00a0preach the kingdom of God., and let our neighbors know the good news, that \u201cGod so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes may not perish, but may have eternal life\u201d (<\/em>John 3:16).\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

However, preaching his kingdom is not enough, if we don\u2019t live according to His kingdom.\u00a0 \u201cMay they be one as you and I are one so that the world may believe.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>You see!\u00a0 Unity<\/strong> is part of the equation.\u00a0 So how are unity and mission tied together?\u00a0 How can we coexist when we are so diverse?\u00a0 Are we going to let our government show us how to do it? \u00a0Or is the church called to model to the world how to live in unity because Christ is in our midst?<\/p>\n

Those who know us, \u00a0know we are a church of peace. A church that opposes all war and violence.\u00a0 But we should ask \u2026are we in peace with ourselves?\u00a0 Are we in peace with those among us that look different or think differently?\u00a0 Are we comfortable joining in worship with someone with a different worship style? \u00a0Or holding hands with someone with a different skin color, or working with someone from a different ethnic background?\u00a0 Because if this is not the case,\u00a0 then all we are doing is creating division and encouraging a non-inclusive environment which to my understanding, can only be found in the old way of thinking.\u00a0 And as we have heard thoughout this week, the OLD IS GONE!\u00a0 THE NEW HAS COME!\u00a0 Paul writes in Colossians 3:9-11 \u201c We have put off …the old man with his practices\u2026and have put on the new man\u2026where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised\u00a0 nor uncircumcised\u2026.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0So if the old is gone and the new has come, why is it so difficult to work together in such diversity?<\/p>\n

A\u00a0few weeks ago, I heard a \u00a0story of a man who spent 23 years in prison although he was innocent.\u00a0 DNA tests proved he was not the man who committed the crime.\u00a0 So he was set free.\u00a0 He will be compensated with $80,000 for every year he was in jail.\u00a0 During an interview, he was asked: \u201cWhat will you do now that you are free?\u00a0 He hesitated, and simply said: \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d He would have to learn how to live in a free world again.<\/p>\n

When we come to Christ, we become a new creation, and we have to learn how to live as men and women who were once in the prisons of sin but have been set free.\u00a0 Paul in his letter to the Galatians says: \u201cFor freedom Christ has set us free.\u00a0 Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0Division, hatred, prejudice, racism cannot reign in the freedom for which Christ has set us free. Yes, we have to be intentional in learning to live in that freedom and enjoy the blessing of being God\u2019s people, one<\/strong> body, living in one Spirit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In Psalm 133 we read: \u201c How very good and pleasant it is when brethren live together in unity!<\/strong>\u00a0 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.\u00a0 For there<\/strong> the Lord ordained blessing, life forevermore.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

But does living in unity mean that I have to stop being myself in order to please others? Not at all! Better yet, the more we understand ourselves and accept ourselves just as we are, the better we can understand and accept others who are different.\u00a0 Being uniquely diverse doesn\u2019t make us less of who we are\u2026 it enriches us.\u00a0 We are not to let differences divide us, we are to enhance our abilities to engage our differences.\u00a0 We are not to give up the things that make us unique, we are to learn to adapt to the differences of others.\u00a0 As Paul said to the Corinthians in the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0letter (9:20-23), \u201cTo the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.\u00a0 To those under the law I became as one under the law ( though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law\u2026 to the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak.\u00a0<\/em>I have become all things to all people that I might by all means save some.\u00a0 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessing\u201d (1 Cor. 9:20-23).<\/em><\/p>\n

S<\/em>o, shouldn\u2019t we, for the sake of the gospel, work to build unity as we do to seek peace? After all, it was Jesus\u2019 intention for the believers to be one, as He and his Father are one.<\/p>\n

After the resurrection, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he gave his disciples some last instructions.\u00a0 He told them in Acts 1:8, \u201c But ye will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the world<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay!!!\u00a0 It\u2019s fine to go to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jerusalem was home.\u00a0 It was a place they knew very well, as well as Judea, but\u2026 SAMARIA?<\/p>\n

You might recall that when the Jews traveled from Judea down to Galilee, they didn\u2019t want to go through Samaria, they would rather go around it (even if this meant that the trip would be longer).\u00a0 The Jews and Samaritans did not get along!\u00a0 However, in John we read that Jesus (a Jew) \u201chad to go through Samaria.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 And he did.\u00a0 And when he got to Jacob\u2019s well, he sat down, tired and thirsty.\u00a0 Then came a Samaritan woman to draw water and Jesus said to her: \u201cGive me a drink.\u201d\u00a0 To what the Samaritan woman said: \u201c ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ ( Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)”<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t we find ourselves sometimes saying the same thing? \u201cWe\u00a0 don\u2019t share things in common.\u201d<\/p>\n

But isn’t it interesting that Jesus said to his disciples: \u201cYou will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and<\/strong> Samaria and the ends of the world\u201d? <\/em>He said: \u201cYou will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, then<\/strong> you will be my witnesses<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 But, before the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them in the upper room, something very important was with the disciples. There was a sense of UNITY.<\/p>\n

The book of Acts 2:1-2 says: \u201cWhen the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together<\/strong> in one place.”\u00a0<\/em>The King James version says, \u201cThey were all in one accord<\/strong> in one place.\u201d And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. How much we need that rush of a violent wind filling our house today. Oh, Spirit of the living God, come with POWER!<\/p>\n

So it was the Holy Spirit that led the disciples through places and to peoples with whom they might not have had so many things in common.\u00a0 It was the Holy Spirit that moved the church across the Mediterranean, across Europe.\u00a0 It was the Holy Spirit that led\u00a0eight people to be baptized in the Eder River in Schwarzenau.\u00a0 It was the Holy Spirit moving Brethren from Germany to a place that later would become a country richly diverse\u2026AMERICA.<\/p>\n

My dear Brethren, let us seek common ground.\u00a0 Let us try to find things in which we can agree.\u00a0 Let us not put aside our differences though, let us engage them. We are not to let\u00a0fear stand in our way in becoming a more powerful and living church enriched with great treasures of diversity where we share our different gifts.<\/p>\n

FEAR interferes with FAITH.\u00a0 Repeatedly, we find in the Old and New Testaments the phrase, \u201cDo not be afraid.\u201d I understand this phrase occurs in the Bible 365 times.\u00a0That\u2019s one \u201cdo not be afraid\u201d for every day of the year.\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 John 4:18 says, \u201cThere is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 When you come to think about it\u2026LOVE is the answer!<\/p>\n

Brethren, go out and LOVE somebody.\u00a0 Go and love somebody who\u2019s different.\u00a0 Go and love somebody with whom you might feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 Before you leave this convention center, greet somebody different.<\/p>\n

Of course, it would be just a beginning. But continue on back home and in your neighborhoods.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be intentional about it!\u00a0 I challenge each and everyone of you delegates, youth, young adults, and those of you in leadership that by next year when we meet again\u00a0 in Pittsburgh, we can share powerful testimonies of how God is working with us, and how we are working with each other, \u201cTogether in Unity, Though Uniquely Diverse.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

–Jaime Diaz is pastor of Iglesia de los Hermanos (Church of the Brethren) in Casta\u00f1er, P.R.<\/em><\/p>\n

—————————————————————-
\nThe News Team for the 2009 Annual Conference includes photographers Glenn Riegel, Ken Wenger, Kay Guyer, Justin Hollenberg, Keith Hollenberg;\u00a0writers Karen Garrett, Frank Ramirez, Frances Townsend,\u00a0Melissa Troyer, Rich Troyer; staff Becky Ullom and Amy Heckert.\u00a0Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, editor. Contact <\/em>cobnews@brethren.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

223rd\u00a0Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren San Diego, California — June 30, 2009 Scripture readings:\u00a01 Corinthians 12:4-14, 27-31; 13:1-2 \u201cLas cosas viejas pasaron; he aqui todas son hechas nuevas.\u00a0 Y todo esto proviene de Dios.\u201d No, \u00a0I am not going to deliver this sermon in Spanish, although I should.\u00a0 Why not? Why do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[89,234,3,14],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brethren-annual-conference","tag-castaner-church-of-the-brethren","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-puerto-rico"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions\/1493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}