One of the abiding understandings of our Lutheran church is “unity, not uniformity.” It is a practice that allows each congregation flexibility within a particular framework.
We celebrate a pattern of church seasons; we mark those seasons with particular colors for banners and altar cloths; we have a recommended three-year cycle of scripture readings for Sundays and a collection of hymns and an order for worship.
On June 5, we celebrate Pentecost, the day God gave the whole Church the Holy Spirit. While the banners and altar cloths will all be red, they will be different, particular to each church. We’ll sing hymns about the Holy Spirit, but there are a lot of them, so churches will make varied choices. Some congregations read scripture passages from one Bible translation, some from another. We’ll celebrate the day as one, but as many — an expression of unity, not uniformity.
The idea of unity, not uniformity is what holds us together. It is a useful idea, and one that is often lived out beyond church.
Unity is a way forward as a whole, without having to be in lockstep with one another. We don’t always have to agree, but we can work together.
In Wrangell, we work together to launch our high school artists into national finals in a shoe contest. We pull together to bless our fleet, to celebrate July 4th in all its activities, to support KSTK and Girl Scouts and sports teams and city cleanup days. We act together when someone’s house burns, or a boat is in trouble. We don’t inspect your voter registration card before you can participate. We don’t make people who prefer IGA stand in one line, and people who prefer City Market in another.
Some call this celebrating our similarities, not our differences. However, that starts with the idea that there are differences, ways of separating ourselves into categories of otherness.
There is so much talk of how divided we are today, a laundry list of issues and bubbles and silos that make us forget the very foundation of our country: e pluribus unum — out of many, one. Unity, not uniformity, starts not with difference, but with the idea that we are meant to be together, bound together, working together, acting together, with variation.
It is a way forward, and a blessing for a church, for a community, and for a nation.
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