November-December 1997

• What Canst Thou Say?
• An Innocent Abroad:
  Rediscovering the Silence
  K.R. Maddock
• Celebrating Unity:
  the expression of Christ's
  love among us
  Susan Smith
• Diversity:
  Do we really want it?
  Vanessa Julye
• A Sojourn with Mount
  Airy Friends Church
  Jane Stokes
• Journey of a Pagan
  Quaker
  Susan Dew-Jones
• Quakers in Britain
  Alastair Heron
• On Identity
  Harvey Gillman

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Susan Smith - Ohio Yearly Meeting, Conservative

I do not celebrate diversity. That statement comes close to heresy in many Quaker circles, and I am hesitant to admit my deviance. I do not want to be difficult or disruptive, but I must clarify that I do not celebrate diversity.

I celebrate unity - the Lordship of Christ. I celebrate knowledge of God's Word within our hearts, and faithful responding to that Word. I celebrate humble seeking for God's Power and Truth, and I celebrate the wonder and joy of finding the One, even Christ Jesus, who speaks to us with authority and love.

I celebrate the expression of Christ's love among us, individually and corporately. I celebrate the unconditional love which God sends through me to so many weary people who are testing whether and how God can be trusted. I celebrate the bond of the love of Christ which draws together strangers and lets strong people with differing opinions find unanticipated common ground. I celebrate the private acts of faithfulness, of setting aside self while upholding Truth, on which corporate action is rightly based. I celebrate willingness to yield and to give.

What does diversity offer, compared to the one God who is Father of us all? (Eph 4:6) When we celebrate diversity, we celebrate ourselves. Are we not called to focus beyond what God has created, attending instead to the glory and wonder, the love and the commandments of God himself, and thus being brought "to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height" of the love of Christ? (Eph 3:18-19)

May the love which is opened in us for each other be used in the encouragement of our mutual faith and faithfulness, "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of man and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." (Eph 4:13-15)