Staying the Course: A Holy Community
As I dictated this greeting, Siri understood me to be saying “difference” instead of “dear friends.” Immediately, I remembered the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, the founder of deconstructionism. Derrida’s entire project focused on the importance of difference or diversity, and one of the things he noted was the ambiguity that can arise from words that sound the same but are written differently. I’m not about to get into a long discussion of Derrida or deconstructionism here, but suffice it to say that the hyper-exaggeration of difference that has emerged in our society stems directly from his influence.
God is the creator of diversity, and no one can doubt that diversity brings beauty to the world. Ethnic diversity, for example, forms an important dimension of God‘s mission in creating human beings, who from every nation, people, tongue, and tribe will one day dwell together with God in the New Jerusalem. But not all diversity springs from the original creation. Some forms of diversity result directly from sin and its destructive effects. For example, not every morality is equally beneficial to human life and not every form of life reflects the holiness of God.
As I reflect in my recent videos about Northwest University’s commitment to “Stay the Course,” we have long ago, and from the start, committed ourselves to living under the authority of God’s Word. We will never vary from that commitment, even as time and circumstance hone our understanding of what faithfulness requires.
In today’s video, I reflect upon what it means to be a holy community. As an expression of the Holiness-Pentecostal tradition, Northwest University believes that our lifestyle must be informed by and consistent with the holiness of God. Moral effort matters in our walk with God. That’s why we have a clear code of personal and community standards by which we live. I hope you’ll take time to hear more about our convictions in the video below.