Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit. – Exodus 26:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 5, 2018): Exodus 26

Mahatma Gandhi commented that “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” The words were never so appropriate than now. Societies argument is that we need to become like each other. It has been put forward that reading and writing in English should be part of the immigration procedure in the United States and Canada. That customs of other nations need to be discarded whenever you move into the New World. We don’t want police officers in turbans or members of the military who worship Allah. Race divisions still haunt our social interactions. The dominant majority, or more likely the vocal minority, seem to want us all to look and act the same. No diversity. Just us. And if you do not look like us, don’t worry; when we are done with you, you will.

And yet philosophers through the ages echo the opinion of Gandhi; there is beauty and strength in our diversity. In North America, originally Canada and the United States took two very different approaches to diversity. In the United States, there predominate method of integration was that of the “melting pot” resulting in the argument that that said that we would take all cultures and melt them into one. In the end, we will all look alike. Canada, on the other hand, was originally designed to be a “mosaic;” a nation that welcomed diversity and mended that diversity into the fabric of the country. If there is a place on earth that should welcome police officers in turbans, it should be Canada.

But that is not true. Canadians are highly influenced by the southern neighbors. The culture of the United States is invited into Canadian homes in the form of Television shows, movies, music, and even the news. And so it is probably not surprising that Canada has begun to leave its original idea of a cultural “mosaic” so that it can adopt the “melting pot” of the United States.

But even the Bible seems to argue for the Mosaic. And it is illustrated in the building of the Tabernacle. According to God’s instructions, the walls of the Tabernacle were not to be made of one piece of cloth, but rather of many pieces linked together with gold clasps. Each piece of cloth was to be individually crafted. No two would look alike. And yet, in the end, this diversity would be joined together to make one Tabernacle. Out diversity would come unity, beauty, and strength.

Paul continues the illustration in his letter to the Romans.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Romans 12:3-5).  

The beauty of the Tabernacle and the church is its diversity. Hiding in echo chambers where we are never challenged with different ideas only means that we grow weak. In diversity, we are made strong.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 27