A church in Georgia that formerly had an all-white congregation now finds its pews filled with people from such far-flung places as Togo, Libera, Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and the Philippines—fifteen different countries in all. Formerly known as the Clarkson Baptist Church, it's now known by its new name: the Clarkson International Bible Church.
Such diversity in a congregation is great. But what's even better is realizing that, despite such human diversity, everyone is really God's spiritual expression.
Peter, Christ Jesus' disciple, put it very well; drawn into a group of people, he said, "Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). Through Jesus' works and his own growing understanding, Peter had come to realize that, despite human differences (including differences of opinion and theology), we're all actually God's spiritual children; no one is "unclean."
And there's no better place to learn and practice this than church. Mary Baker Eddy defines church this way in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 583):The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
This structure of Truth and Love is the structure of God, who is Truth and Love. As such, it should—and actually must—express the spiritual truth that, as the opening chapter of the Bible says, we're all made in God's image and likeness (see Gen. 1:26, 27)—an image and likeness that must be completely spiritual because God is completely spiritual without any material component. And since it's the structure of divine Love as well, there's nothing of any sort to cause trouble among all the expressions of God.
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.
Such spiritual understanding can do much to elevate the race. It rouses us from the material belief that we're all limited mortals with our own limited and varied opinions, traditions, and ways of doing things—mortals who won't mix well together. Understanding that we're actually entirely spiritual casts out such erroneous thoughts and allows healing to occur. As the Bible says, the leaves of the tree of life are "for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). Living a life full of spiritual understanding allows such healing to occur, bringing people together instead of spreading them apart. And it leads to all sorts of physical healing too.
We all can make such a church our church, whether we congregate at a particular structure or not. We can take this structure of Truth and Love with us everywhere; we don't ever have to leave it. We can do our best to see everyone not as mortals but as immortals, expressing God and His goodness. As we do, we're likely to find people of all nationalities and ethnicities who appreciate such an outlook—and who wouldn't?—congregating in our lives and in our physical churches.
We can be more than international or multinational. We can be spiritual, fully enjoying all the diversity of God's spiritual creation. That can really transform a congregation of any sort.
Link
The New York Times — "The World Comes to Georgia, and an Old Church Adapts" (registration required)
