They are all different, yet they are the same. They have some different beliefs, yet they all claim to be Christian. They don't all get along, yet they serve the same God.
How can that be?
One of my youth pastors encouraged us to separate issues and beliefs into two categories: salvation issues and non-salvation issues. Obviously, the salvation issues are the important ones, the ones that matter. Believing in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and acknowledging that Jesus is the only true God are salvation issues. The style of music (or even the presence of music) during a service and the color of the carpet in the sanctuary are not salvation issues.
I thought I had this idea down, my faith squared away and divided into nice little categories, until I went to that fancy Christian university in Texas. I quickly found out that they believed that you are not truly saved until you are baptized. Well, I wasn't baptized. I was raised in a church denomination that encouraged baptism, but did not view it as a requirement for salvation. Two of my professors, in particular, made sure that I knew that I was going to hell if I did not get baptized immediately. One of them was so concerned that he gave me a book that he had written on the subject.
This is how thousands of denominations are formed: disagreements about what truly matters to God.
I'm in the middle of the book An Unquenchable Thirst by Mary Johnson. It is a memoir in which Ms. Johnson recounts her experiences as a Missionary of Charity, a nun, under the leadership of Mother Teresa. I have really enjoyed the book thus far. It's awfully interesting to get a peek into the life of a nun. And to be honest, it's not quite what I expected.
But talk about an entirely different sort of denomination. Maybe everyone else is wrong and the convent is the place where Christians should be.
I'm not convinced that is what God desires either.
However, through the pages of this book, I have been reminded of one thing that I think God desires. He wants us to become immersed in the struggle. I'm convinced that this Christian life is primarily about a refinement through the process of our individual struggle to find, understand, and hear from God.
The internal battle to continually live a life of which God is pleased. The push for a faith that is not arrogant and allows space for change. The struggle to distinguish God's voice and not remain stagnant.
Even though she was a respected nun and well-versed in tradition and obedience, Ms. Johnson experienced this struggle of determining what is important to God and what is not,
"I had no trouble convincing myself that I lacked refinement--that was obvious. It was harder to shake the feeling that the Lord stood far less on ceremony than Sister Priscilla did, that the fuss about the right words and the proper gestures was a huge waste of energy, that the Church had room for both the refined and the common."
May we not blindly follow the lead of man, but may we have the courage to engage in our own struggle. And may we treasure the process.
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