DELIBERATELY DIVERSE | Rev. Terry Pierce
Deliberately Diverse represents the individual
thoughts of Taylor friends who never completely agree about anything but enjoy diverse discussions. “Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.” — Exodus 24:15-16, about 1,400 years before Christ “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. … While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
— Matthew 17: 1-2, 5; early in the first century of the common era “Well, I don’t know what will happen now.
We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.
And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” –– Martin Luther King Jr., April 3, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee Fifty-seven years later, we find ourselves in the midst of another chaos of human-making. It is a chaos born of racism, injustice and our hardened hearts toward our brothers and sisters.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the mountaintop where we are called to stand in the presence of the glory of God; where Moses stood and where Jesus stood.
Jesus didn’t call us to spend our lives being good so that we might die and go to the Promised Land.
Jesus called us to spend our lives bringing the Promised Land into the here and now for all of God’s creation.
Jesus told us to love God and to love our neighbor.
He did not say, “Love your Christian neighbor” or “Love your neighbor who lives in a house like yours and has the same skin color and agrees with your politics.”
Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.”
Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
Pierce is the vicar of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Taylor and can be reached at [email protected].
