For Christians, ethnic* diversity is not the end of the thing, but the beginning. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we see walls coming down and Jews and Gentiles all coming into the family of God through, and in, Christ. In the book of the Revelation of the Lord Jesus to John we see a great multitude that no one could number from every tribe and language gathered in glory to God -in unity.

So, while ethnic diversity is nice in so many ways (and I have enjoyed living in Africa among Zulus etc., the Caribbean among Puerto Ricans, and in West Virginia among Appalachians), I am more thrilled by the astonishing unity we have in Christ and shall have forever in him. Maybe if we focus more on unity in Christ, we’ll more eagerly throw off the stupid and sinful things that divide us along ethnic lines.

Just as an indication of great art is its diversity and unity, so it is for the Church. We are the masterwork of God.

*I am not real fond of the term “race” as it is usually used. “Ethnicity” is, I think, a more accurate term. There is only one race, and we’re all in it. Adam’s race. God has made of one blood all the people of the earth.