Honey
By Rev. David Wilson Rogers | May 16, 2015
Not all honey is the same. Manufactured by the bees using the pollen they collect, all honey is going to take on the distinctive characteristics that are brought to the honey by the pollen.
Consider alfalfa. Its beautiful blue flowers produce a very light colored honey with a subtle flavor. In contrast, a buckwheat honey will be dark brown and carry a very strong, distinctive flavor. Even the very popular clover honey can come in a variety of different characteristics depending on the quality and species of the clover that is used.
Literally, there can be a distinctive variety and quality of honey for every pollen producing plant that the busy bees seek to exploit for their precious sweet honey. Some flavors may take on characteristics not everybody will like, but they’re still just as much honey as any other form of honey. It is not even so much the bee that makes the difference. But the flower.
The flavorful diversity of pollen, flowers, and honey within the realm of the bee speaks to a similar form of diversity in Christian experience. Just as there are many variations in honey, there are many expressions of Christian faith. The fundamental difference is the cultural environment in which the Christian faith develops.
Part of what has made the Christian faith so dynamic for the last 2000 years is its incredible ability to adapt to its environment. Appropriately, such adaptation must always be carefully prayed through and scripturally evaluated. In no way is Christianity and anything goes religion. Yet, it is also not a rigid, inflexible religion that is incapable of expressing itself with the beautiful diversity of the cultural environments in which it lives.
What makes the expression of diverse Christianity so beautiful is the reality that no matter what the legitimate expression, the flavor of the faith may seem remarkably different from others and still be completely legitimate as an expression of faith in Jesus Christ. Fundamentally, it remains a faith grounded in relationship with the Lord and Savior, God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ.
What is it that makes your church uniquely special and beautifully sweet as God’s honey? The question may be asked simply by asking yourself what it is that makes your church the place that you want to be at home in God. The reality is, that very characteristic did not drop out of the sky as some absolutist a degree from the Almighty. Rather, it developed within the cultural heritage and the traditions of your particular congregation. It has ebbed and flowed with time. It has stood the test of prayerful discernment and worshipful praise. It reflects the character and the flavor of the culture from which it has arisen. It is God’s word lived in the world. It is sweet as honey. It is a beautiful expression of faith.
Celebrate your faith. Rejoice in the unique properties that makes your experience of the divine presence so wonderful in your family of faith. Learn your heritage. Understand why your church believes and practices as it does and then celebrate those beliefs as the expressions of divine praise that they truly are. Yet also recognize, the Body of Christ is far larger than any given tradition, congregation, or expression of Christian practice. In upholding the unity of the Body of Christ. It is essential that we also uphold the validity of its beautifully diverse expressions.