13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
The only hope for race, cultural, and economic reconciliation is in Jesus. This is the repeated theme of the New Testament. Only in Jesus are all the barriers eliminated. So why is Sunday morning so divided? Just think about it for a minute. Separation is not just on Sunday mornings. We live in different neighborhoods, style our hair differently, have different tastes in clothes and music, and speak slightly different languages. But is that bad? Is different bad? Does everyone have to be like us in order to get along, for there to be a mutual appreciation for the values of the other? No! God has created some of that variety. It is His doing. Sin has often used those differences to create unhealthy divides. But those differences can create fullness and strength. Every part has value, is needed for the full functioning of the whole. We have been privileged through the years to be members of some very mixed churches. Those have been the best experiences. Rich & poor, black & white, Italian, Puerto Rican, Egyptian, English, Mexican, Romanian, French, and lots of other flavors all joining together in a common purpose of worshiping and working, blending and molding, all preparing for eternity. I just can’t understand why anyone would want just one flavor when God had created a wonderful variety. I don’t like salad with just Iceberg lettuce, I like lots of other things in my salad. I like a body of Jesus-followers that looks like my world, multicolored, multilayered, multilingual, and yet all moving in the same direction, toward Jesus.
The Arnold Journey 