One day, in an elementary school art classroom, the art teacher seated her students around large tables. She provided them with stacks of thick, white paper and boxes of brand new, sharpened, unpeeled crayons (isn’t that really the best kind?). The assignment was for the students to work together, to share the crayons, and use their best effort to create colorful drawings that would be hung in the hallway outside the classroom for the other students and teachers to admire. She thought that other students might be inspired to join the art class if they saw demonstrations of her class' work.
Her students generally enjoyed art class, so they eagerly opened up all the new boxes of crayons and began working on their projects. One child grabbed the red crayon, held it up, and announced, “This is the best color in the entire crayon box. If you don’t like red, then you don’t know anything about colors or about art.” Some of the students ignored him, but others began fighting for their own favorite color. Another child grabbed the yellow crayon and announced, "Yellow is the best color. It’s the color of the sun, which gives us light. If we don’t have light, then we can’t see anything, so yellow is the best. We don't need any of these other dumb colors."
Several students tried to ignore the fighting and keep working together, but it was difficult in the midst of all the chaos. It didn't take long before the class was divided and the kids who only liked red were in one corner of the room, and all the kids who agreed that yellow should be the only color had sequestered themselves in another corner. The yellow group surrounded themselves with chairs so other students couldn't reach them or take their yellow crayons. A few students collected all the blue crayons, told the other students the teacher hated those who didn't use blue and then tried to break the other colors so that everyone would have to color with just blue crayons. Their final act was to turn their backs on the other groups of students and pretend they didn't exist.
The situation quickly devolved into a session of name-calling, tears, and a few pushes and shoves. The teacher desperately tried to regain control of her classroom. She ended up calling the principal and was contemplating calling the police if the situation didn't diffuse soon.
We can look at this art classroom and acknowledge the obvious immaturity and ignorance of children who think that everyone should have the same favorite color and who are willing to fight those who have a different favorite color. We might be saddened that the vision of these art students is so narrow that they can’t see the need for any other color apart from their personal favorite. We might sympathize with the frustrated teacher who tried unsuccessfully to teach her class about the beauty of working together.
While this exact scenario may not have really happened, similar situations happen all the time. In so many social media “discussions,” I read comments from “children” screaming that they, and all those in their particular camp, are the only ones who truly know what the best color is. They spew hatred for those who like and use different colors. They repeatedly argue all of their tired reasons why their color should be the only crayon in the box. And I think they truly believe their viscious arguments will bring someone over to their side.
Why is the body of Christ so divided? Why do some camps still like to sit in their little fenced-off corner of the art room, rolling their eyes and spewing hatred at the “ignorance” of those who are not like them? Why can’t we acknowledge each other’s differences and celebrate the beauty of the unified body of Christ together? “Unity” does not equal “uniformity.” A crayon box filled with red crayons is not more beautiful, more useful, or more unified than a box filled with a variety of colors. It's actually more boring.
Yes, there are certain non-negotiables in the Christian faith. Jesus is God in the flesh. He lived a perfect life as a man, died a sacrificial death for our sins, rose victorious over death, and is coming back for His church, His bride. He is worthy of all our praise, our worship, our very lives. We are saved by grace. We cannot work our way into a relationship with God. Aside from this, pretty much everything else is just a slightly different shade or color in the crayon box.
We do not all have the same learning styles or personalities; the same favorite Bible verse, song, or method of praying; the same experiences, bents, or preferences; or the same way to interpret certain passages of Scripture. And yet, we tend to want everyone else to look like us, learn like us, think like us, sing like us, and experience like us. Why should every church body look exactly the same when all the individual members do not look the same? Look at the great variety in God's creation. Why do we insist that all our crayon boxes contain the same color? He has created us differently, but we are all beautiful crayons, lovingly made by the Creator, all gifted and tasked with blending our colors with others to create a wonderful picture of praise to the Creator.
In this art room scenario, I imagine the apostle Paul saying, 'If the whole crayon box were a red crayon, where would the blue crayon to color the sky be? If the whole crayon box were a blue crayon, where would the yellow crayon to color the sun be? But in fact, the Creator has placed the colors in the crayon box, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.' (1 Cor 12:17-18, Art Class Version).
I like red. It’s my favorite color. I have a red Keurig, a red toaster, red dishes, a red sweater, red shoes, and a couple of red purses. You might think that is too much red, but I like it. However, it would get extremely tiring and boring if everything around me was red and I refused to use or look at things that were not red. I wouldn’t have many friends if I refused to associate with people whose favorite color was not red, or with those who didn’t even like red. I'm grateful to have friends and loved ones whose favorite color is brown, purple, maroon, burnt orange, or even 'Kentucky Blue.'
When social media “discussion” posts are filled with hatred and accusations like the art classroom described above, it causes me great sadness and a few of them have brought me to tears. Not because I’m offended that they don’t share my particular point of view, but because these spiteful discussions and hateful comments continue to reinforce the fences that have been erected in the classroom.
Of course, the saddest and most upsetting aspect of these "discussions" is the loss experienced by the other students in the school who may not have another opportunity to see beautiful expressions of art hung in their hallway. What they have witnessed is ugly, monochromatic scrawlings and the sound of hatred and fighting coming from inside the art room. They miss out on the opportunity to see works of art and on being invited to join the art class. Or sadder still ----maybe they were invited to be a part of the art class but declined the invitation because they didn't want to join all the fighting coming from the art students who professed to love art and to love the Creator.
In the words of another great artist, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!" (Ps 133:1 NIV).
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