The Holiness of Difference

I read something recently that made me sad.  It was a magazine or newspaper article about how the Japanese are growing square watermelons to accommodate limited grocery shelf space.  It made me think of other ways we have manipulated nature and God’s natural order of things:  binding feet to make them smaller, spraying pesticides to eliminate natural pests, blasting our tomatoes to turn them prematurely red. We even manipulate our bodies into girdles or body suits or whatever so that we can squeeze into too small clothes to make people we may not even know think we’re something we’re not.

Our manipulations blind us to the beauty of difference.  What makes you different from me fills part of me that my created being isn’t able to fill.  And vice versa.  God made us - all of us - different for a reason.  Difference is holy; difference adds beauty and spice and variety and life to … well, to life.  Let’s embrace it.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to fit neatly onto shelf space with a clone next to me.  And I want my watermelons to be fat and long and round, spotted and striped, dark green and light green and juicy - with seeds and without!

Let’s embrace our differences and bow in gratitude for the Grace of our own particular uniqueness!

Are you are being called to grace us with your life … to join your unique being with each of ours – together building a more holy and just Church and society?

Kathleen Flynn, Candidate

Madison, Wisconsin