It is interesting to notice the differences between people from different places. Take language for instance. My daughter loves the way one of our resident Brits, Richard Oxford, greets her at church with his distinctive British clip: "Hello Miss Mary." Even regional differences are interesting to discern. I grew up thinking Gahanna, Ohio people set the standard for the English language. Only people from other places spoke with an accent. That all changed when I met Nancy, who grew up across Big Walnut Creek in Mifflin Township.

She informed me that Gahanna people were a bunch of rednecks who spoke like rednecks. First of all, "colorful language" had been developed to an art form. Sometimes folks around here let loose with a little colorful language before they realize that a man of the cloth is within earshot. Then they will excuse themselves saying, "Pardon me, Reverend," as if they have just stuck a hot poker in my ear. Believe me, these ears were desensitized to that sort of thing a long time ago.

I guess we also had a bit of a lazy tongue in Gahanna. Instead of saying something was like this or like that, we would say it was "ligis" or "ligat." Or we complicated things by putting "at" where it did not belong. Instead of asking, "Where is my hat?" we would say, "Where is my hat at?" Then my Mom would say, "Behind the "at," which I never did figure out until I went to college and learned proper. That is where I also figured out something else she would say whenever she dropped something or bumped it over—"Whoops, tilt." It wasn’t until I was playing a pinball game in college and bumped the machine too hard and lost my turn. "Whoops, tilt," I said, and then I knew what she meant by that.

I could digress like this a long time about the idioms we used, some of which were probably not unique to Gahanna. For example, if one asked another which of two routes to take to get to a given location, the answer might be, "Six one, half a dozen of the other." Translation: each route is about the same distance and will get you there in the same time. Another idiom used to give the same answer was: "Same difference." Again, there may be a difference in the routes, but it will take the same amount of time either way you go.

The title of our message today is, "Same Difference." People are different, that is a fact. They talk different, they dress different, they eat different foods and they act different. But beneath the surface of superficial differences people are pretty much the same wherever you go. They laugh when they are happy and cry when they are sad, they love their kids and they ponder the mystery of the great grand scheme of things with whatever religious language/framework they happened to be given growing up.

But just like people from one side of Big Walnut Creek think that people from the other side speak funny, so do some people who speak one religious language think that people who speak other religious languages are funny—not funny "ha-ha," as my mother would say, but funny "peculiar." If you are not Roman Catholic and you happen to go to a Catholic Mass with its wafted incense and ringing bells, you are probably going to think it is peculiar. Or if you do happen to be Roman Catholic and you find yourself in a down-home Baptist church where everybody is jumping up and "getting happy," you are probably going to think that is peculiar.

God, in his wisdom, has provided for a rich variety of religious expression so that there is a house of worship that feels like home for everyone. A problem arises, however, when an adherent of one faith tradition regards a person of another as not only peculiar, but as heretical, dangerous and a suitable target for some kind of jihad. That is when the children of God commit all sorts of ungodly things against one another in the name of God. It is pretty weird if you think about it.

And so it was that Jesus, just before some self-righteous, excessively judgmental religious nuts nailed him to a cross, prayed that those who would believe in him through the preaching of the Gospel might be one. Did he mean identical? Not at all according to our text for today, where Paul reconciles our very real differences with our essential sameness. He writes: There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men (Verses 4-6).

As usual, our text can only be properly understood in its larger biblical context. Paul is writing to a Christian congregation in Corinth which is divided over many differences. Paul sets the stage in the opening chapter where he writes: I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one anther so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos..." (1:10-11).

One of the differences with which the Corinthian congregation has to contend is religious leadership. Some of them relate more to Paul’s leadership while others relate more to Apollos. This is understandable and even okay. But it is not okay for it to lead to contention and strife within the body of Christ. Paul asks: Is Christ divided? (1:13). He and Apollos both serve Christ, albeit with different spiritual gifts. Paul continues: What , after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants , through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow (3:5-6).

It is the very diversity of their spiritual gifts which make them such a great ministerial team. One does not duplicate the efforts of the other. Rather one’s strength compensates for the other’s weakness. Neither does one diminish the other’s work. No, both are working for the same end—the best interests of the church which is the body of Christ. Therefore Paul and Apollos are not divided among themselves. Quite to the contrary, they get along famously. Why then should anyone else be divided because of them?

This is the larger context of Paul’s letter which helps us to understand the portion we are reading as our text for today. Here Paul is expanding his reasoning to include the many and varied spiritual gifts represented among the congregation at Corinth. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

The same God, Lord and Spirit--some have found in this text one of the few biblical references to the Trinity. Others consider that to be a stretch but still, if God can express himself differently as Father, Son and Holy Spirit why shouldn’t the body of Christ on earth express itself differently through the gifts, service and working of its many and varied parts? Does being different have to mean only one is right and all the others wrong? Might not diversity be complementary as with the layering of flavors in a well-prepared dish? Might not diversity be absolutely essential for the proper functioning of a complex organism such as the body of Christ, or any body for that matter.

Indeed, Paul continues with a body metaphor. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable (112:17-22).

Just as some in the church of Corinth favored one pastor over another, I suspect that the pastors were tempted to favor certain parishioners over others. Do I sound like I speak from the voice of experience? There are always members of the church who are consistently affirming and constantly helpful. But then there are those who never seem to be satisfied and are always complaining and obstructing. Sometimes a pastor wonders if the church might not be better off if they just went away. Sometimes even pastors are inclined to think "I don’t need you."

But Pastor Paul is a wise and discerning pastor and he reminds us that those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. As one who has lost the tip of his thumb, I can tell you that a thumb tip is indispensable for all sorts of things—things that cannot be done by an ear or an eye or a foot. To be healthy and whole, the body needs all of its parts functioning in harmony with one another, for that is why God brings them together in the first place. As Paul concludes our text: Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (Verse 7).

Everyone here has been given a manifestation of the spirit in the form of spiritual gifts. None of us has all the spiritual gifts, but none of us is without any either. We all have our own unique constellation of gifts which equip us to fulfill a part in God’s plan like no other. If we do not do our part the body of Christ suffers, which is why you will find in your bulletin insert a reference to another spiritual gifts class being offered soon. However our focus today is upon recognizing others as equally parts of the body of Christ—and equally indispensable—even though they are different than we.

Tomorrow is the first day in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This annual observance goes back over 100 years, and its precedents go back much further than that. It is an observance that is sanctioned by Roman Catholic and Protestant churches alike. Indeed, in a moment we are going to offer a prayer with congregations around the world who are observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There are also daily texts and reflections and prayers that may be found by a simple search on the web.

Jesus prayed that we would be one, and so we should pray for our unity as well. We may reflect different gifts for ministry, but it is the same Lord we serve in our respective ways. We do not have to demonize others who are different. We do not have to judge. We do not have to arrogantly exalt ourselves at the expense of others. We can humbly use our gifts for the common good and encourage others to do the same as the good Lord leads them through the framework of faith they have been given.

Tomorrow is also Martin Luther King Day—a national holiday. He is quoted at the top of our bulletin reconciling the paradox of Same Difference. "We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now." We are all Americans, and in American "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Not just white men, but black men and men of all colors.

Indeed if we can step out of our culturally conditioned male-dominated language for a moment we can affirm that all people are created equal—male and female alike. We are at a watershed moment in American history right now. During 2010, for the first time, women will comprise over 50% of the workforce doing all sorts of jobs that were previously thought to comprise "men’s work." This social transformation has required the abiding commitment of several generations of women and supportive men, and the work is not yet done. Certain glass ceilings have yet to be broken—especially in most Fortune 500 companies--and equal pay for equal work remains an unfulfilled dream.

So no more of this "I don’t need you" because you are a woman or a person of color or a Roman Catholic or somebody who is otherwise different from me. The Creator has created us with our differences so that we would need each other. Otherwise, we are all the same—we are all God’s children. As for the tens of thousands of Christian faith traditions in the world today, I suspect God would say, if he spoke like someone from Gahanna, "Same Difference."