We live in a world of many cul­tures, creeds and cus­toms. No mat­ter how much we probe our par­tic­u­lar back­ground and be­lief, we have to re­alise that we are in­hab­i­tants of one plan­et, ex­treme­ly rich in va­ri­ety and di­ver­si­ty. As fel­low hu­man be­ings we share in the re­sources, the ben­e­fits and dis­as­ters of our earth­ly dwelling places. There is no ex­clu­sive se­clud­ed cor­ner to which we can es­cape. Our du­ty is to live in uni­ty and har­mo­ny with each oth­er, learn­ing from one an­oth­er, do­ing our best to­wards greater un­der­stand­ing and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. This is a more pro­found du­ty than sim­ply tol­er­at­ing the "oth­er."

It is iron­i­cal that what was de­signed to pro­mote uni­ty and fel­low­ship of­ten pro­motes big­otry and dishar­mo­ny. We pro­claim God is Cre­ator, Ruler and Fa­ther of all peo­ples every­where but we are well aware that de­nom­i­na­tions or re­li­gious groups can soon be­come so ob­sessed with cer­tain doc­trines or tra­di­tions, that they see them­selves as su­pe­ri­or mem­bers of the house­hold of God. We can­not ex­pect all peo­ple to think and act ex­act­ly as we do, or to agree with our po­si­tions, but we cer­tain­ly must keep build­ing bridges of un­der­stand­ing rather than ex­pand­ing walls and fences. Je­sus' min­istry was one of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. This task is al­so en­trust­ed to us. Paul wrote to the Corinthi­ans "And God has giv­en us the task of rec­on­cil­ing peo­ple to him." (2 Cor 5:18-19).

There were sev­er­al ar­gu­ments and dis­sen­sions in the con­gre­ga­tion Paul su­per­vised. He had to keep on em­pha­sis­ing uni­ty in di­ver­si­ty, re­mind­ing be­liev­ers there is one body, one Spir­it, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one bap­tism, one God and Fa­ther of all. (Eph 4:3-6). If we are to be called am­bas­sadors and fol­low­ers of Christ, our mis­sion must be to make peace and find means of rec­on­cil­i­a­tion. We must not let ha­tred, ar­ro­gance and deep-seat­ed prej­u­dices pre­vail. Je­sus had to con­front ques­tions sim­i­lar to the ones which chal­lenge us to­day. Who is my neigh­bour? Who is the fam­i­ly of God? In which tem­ple or sanc­tu­ary does the full­ness of God dwell? Je­sus be­friend­ed sin­ner, sick, Samar­i­tan, al­ways demon­strat­ing in word and deed that the love of God and neigh­bour is the great­est oblig­a­tion placed on us.