by Scott Sutton

These weeks, as The Grove has been studying the text of the Apostles’ Creed, I have been so struck by how in proclaiming the Trinity, we also proclaim a beautiful picture of unity and diversity. We proclaim the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – completely distinct persons who share the substance of God. They were like this before a single human walked the earth, before the earth even existed. Then, now, and forever they are perfect in their love and their relationship with one another.

God created a world teeming with life as diverse as fireflies and jellyfish and duck-billed platypuses. He created a human race of many splendid colors. And seasons. And galaxies. And all the notes of the musical scale.

Truly our God is a God of diversity.

And as his people – his Church – we are his ambassadors on earth. We gather multitudes of diverse backgrounds and ideas, celebrating the full array of gifts and passions and abilities. The world would tell us that diversity threatens our identity, but we won’t hear it because we know that diversity IS our identity.

We must reject the world’s philosophies that seek to drive wedges between us. We must reject the world’s philosophies that seek to either degrade or elevate any person. We must reject every effort to label any person or persons as “other” or to deny the image of God placed within them.

And with our multitudes gathered, we must press toward unity. Not to stifle diversity, but to focus it on worship for diversity’s author, awesome God. We must press toward the kind of unity that Jesus prayed on the night before his death for his church to have in his absence. The kind of unity that Paul writes about when he compares the church to a single body with many parts which work together to allow the body to function. The kind of unity that John saw in his vision of heaven – every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered to worship their Savior.

Truly our God is a God of unity.

Where are we divided? Where are we our own worst enemy in fulfilling God’s calling for the church?

The next time you recite the words of the Apostle’s Creed, allow yourself to be struck by the unity and diversity of the godhead. Praise Him for it, and pray that your life would be a model of those attributes, drawing hearts from every walk of life into restoration of relationship with Him.

Welcome to Church. You belong.