Why is it that we seem to focus more on how things are different than how they are the same? In teaching a new concept, one of the things teachers do is to relate it to something pupils already know. How is it the same and how is it different? In this way students expand their knowledge. In our learning, whether at school or life, we naturally want to know how something is the same and how it is different.
A real problem arises when we focus too much on how things are different than how they are the same. In politics we want to know more about the differences between candidates than how they are the same. In our diverse culture we tend to focus more on how the races are different than how they are the same. At work we focus more on how management is different from labor and not how they are the same. In health we focus more on the disorder than on what is working. In religion we focus more on doctrinal differences and not on how our beliefs are the same. With gender issues we focus more on how men and women are different than how they complement each other.
Being different is ok. It is only when we apply value judgements to differences that we get into serious trouble. White is better than black. Rich is better than poor. Young is better than old. Healthy is better than sick. Catholic is better than Protestant. High IQ is better than lower. Non-handicapped is better than handicapped. American is better than unamerican. Democrat is better than Republican. Women are better than men. Trouble comes when we focus on our differences as something negative. I like to think being different is ok. All are gifted in some way. Should we not be focused on our giftedness and sharing our gifts.
One of the things I like about Eucharist is that we can leave our differences behind.
In receiving Holy Communion, we escape our differences, even if just for a moment. When we come together before our Creator, the One who loved us into existence, our differences disappear. We become one with our God and one with each other. We are all naked when we stand before God. No one is rich and no one is poor, age doesn’t matter. Race, intelligence, status, gender, and nationality are insignificant. In Eucharist we are the same in everything that matters. In Eucharist we are affirmed, validated, have dignity, and are respected as God’s children. Eucharist is more than symbolic. Eucharist is Jesus continually giving himself to us and we giving our selves to him and to each other, unconditionally. “Come together, and eat.”
“May the Lord bless and keep you. May he let his face shine upon you, be gracious to you and give you his peace.”