Can't we all just get along?

In combination between my summer at Napa State Hospital and my recent reading of my friend Jonathan's blog I have something to say to the world!

Why can't we all just get along?

It seems to me that we live in a society that is doing everything it can to separate itself and divide itself and find more and more excuses to say, "this is why I'm not like you." Even in my devotion this morning, the topic surrounded this idea of how we have this tendency to find ways to exclude the people around us.

Here's an example from my week at Napa State Hospital. I wear a badge that clearly identifies me as a "Chaplain Intern" so often the first question that I get when I talk to people is, "are you from the Protestant or Catholic chapel?" (I think they assume I'm not Jewish for a multitude of reasons). I always politely answer their question, but lately I have learned there is a follow-up quesiton that comes, "So, what's the difference between Protestants and Catholics?"

My answer has quickly become, "I prefer to focus on how we're similar rather than how we're different, afterall God doesn't care what we call our faith tradition." In most cases that will make the questioner say, "you make a good point" and that will be the end of that line of questioning.

I don't think we even know we're doing it, but we're asking quesitons like this to establish whether or not someone fits our "mold" and is similar enough to us for us to spend time with them. The darkly comedic (I can't use funny, though that was my first thought of a word to use) thing about this is that if we are the one being excluded, we get up in arms and chant "that's not fair, you shouldn't exclude me!" But too often we turn right around and do it to others.

I don't recall Jesus ever separating people into categories. When he was teaching and someone asked a question he didn't say, "now, you're a Levite, right? I can't answer that question for you." Nor did Jesus say, "I'll feed the 5000 as long as there are no Pharisees or tax collectors in the group." It sounds silly, but that's what we do.

Yes, there are things that make us different, but shouldn't we celebrate our diversity? Yes, we have similarities that make instant connections with some, but does that mean we will never get along with others? I even recall some guy named Paul who said something like, "there is no distinction any longer" (my paraphrase)