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 I was a minority in my own car. Two African-Americans and an Asian student were riding with me through the backwoods of Tennessee on our way to Pickett State Park for InterVarsity's Fall Conference. Throughout the state, InterVarsity® had arranged for white students to carpool with black students. Why? Because backwoods Tennessee is not a place African Americans feel comfortable driving alone-something I would never have thought of as a white male. The repeated display of Confederate flags along the road symbolized something to them that I had never really thought about-it was the banner of those who fought and died to keep them in slavery. 
A significant phrase in InterVarsity's vision statement is ".
. . to engage the campus in all its ethnic diversity with the
gospel of Jesus Christ." The group at the conference was
very diverse. Our speaker was African-American. About a third
of the students were African-American. There were also international
students from all over the world. I experienced worship with new
vitality. I could have listened to the speaker for hours. I was
blessed not because I had a sense of "we are doing
the right thing by being diverse," but rather because diversity
enriched my experience of God.
Scholars says the Romans were repeatedly perplexed by the diversity
of the early church-Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, people
of all shades of color coming together in spite of a very segregated
culture. My understanding of the call to become ethnically diverse
has usually been that we need to be diverse to impress the world
and obey God. During that weekend conference, however, I experienced
a new twist: diversity brings me joy as I walk with God.
It shouldn't be news to me that obedience results in pleasure,
but it does. I wonder how many of God's blessings I miss because
I see obedience as "carrying my weight" rather than
recognizing that it is living the life God created me to live.
Obedience isn't easy, nor does joy always follow immediately,
but the life devoted to obeying God leads to joy and peace-something
I experienced more of with my diverse brothers and sisters in
Christ.
Don Paul Gross, staff member with I-V's graduate student ministry at Vanderbilt U. |
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