Sin Vergüenza: Finding a Home in the Tensions of IdentitySýnishorn

Day 4: Decolonizing Your Faith Journey

I want you to grab a coin from your pocket. On any American coin, you will see a Latin phrase: E Pluribus Unum. It means “out of many, one.”

It’s the American motto. The motto that has given birth to one of the most diverse societies in the world. The motto that has created the perception that since we have diversity we have unity and equity.

But does diversity guarantee equity?

As a native born Latino in this country I’ve wondered what my journey with Jesus should look like. Perhaps you can relate. Maybe not as a member of the Latino community, but as someone whose life doesn’t neatly fit in the prescribed cultural categories. And honestly, you’re just trying to make sense of yourself and your faith. 

In Ephesians 4 we read: “There is one body and one Spirit ​— ​just as you were called to one hope at your calling ​— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

“Oneness” is a significant theme. It sort of reminds me of marriage and how the two become one flesh. But I assure you, after 13 years of marriage, our individual personalities aren’t simply erased when we say “I do.” 

But as the two become one, do we ever ask: which one? Which one of the two do we become more like? 

As the global Christian community journeys toward unity we must be careful that we do not settle for a cheap version of it. Oftentimes, our attempts to unify a group of diverse people, comes at the expense of the minority, the weaker and the stigmatized of the group. Maybe you, like me, have been on the short--and often painful end-- of unity. Because often in our attempts toward unity, we conform to the dominant. This is true in marriages, friendships and nations. But unity is not sameness.

We all have dark pasts we’d rather not talk about, but we know now more than ever that it’s important that we learn to talk about it. This is true of societies— American society especially. The history of the U.S. runs parallel with the history of our expression of Christianity as we now experience it in the country. Sadly, that is not often something worth celebrating.

Paul is writing this letter to the Ephesians for the very same reasons that many of us are raising our voices so that our stories would be seen and celebrated, not neglected, washed over and erased.

The gospel of Jesus is good because it creates a new heart, while not destroying your body.  It’s good news because His Spirit enters our lives, without erasing our lives. The Spirit of God becomes one with us while still remaining distinctly the Spirit of God.

Earlier on in his address to the Ephesians, Paul reminds them that Jesus is “our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.” Jesus isn’t simply a bridge connecting us to the Divine, but a sledgehammer destroying the hostilities between the ethnic groups of our global community. 

If, as Revelation 7:9 reminds us, we take our ethnicities into the kingdom of God, then we must be careful to not flatten nor erase them on earth and disillusion ourselves.

Hermano, today I encourage your alma! Jesus is good news because in him we don’t lose ourselves, we find ourselves.

Reflection: 

• Where have you exchanged your authentic ethnic expression for a shallow form of community and unity?
• Where have you felt shame or even anger when it comes to the uniqueness of your family story? Why? 
• Identify one way you can begin to celebrate the differences of your story in comparison to others rather than suppress them.