So we are several days into the Beijing Olympics, and by now you have probably seen the sepia/gold-toned Visa commercials with Morgan Freeman's voice guiding us to cheer "Go World"....  Morgan Freeman always sounds so wise (and hey, he's out-acted George Burns' version of the Almighty) so I pretty much melt by the sound of Freeman's voice.  And he's onto something... we all need to be a little more "Go World" and a little less "us" centered.  ("us", "me", "u.s.", etc.)

To be "Go World" means that we all need to realize we're all on the same planet, and this is it folks... what we do with God's creation matters. Where and how much we think we "need" to drill for oil matters.  How we share resources with all of humanity matters.  How humanity fights for land grabs such as South Ossetia or power grabs in Mauritania or power/control/security grabs in Iraq or Afganistan or Pakistan matters.  Human Rights travesties hidden behind makeshift brick walls and thick smog in China--all of it matters.  How might we be more "Go World" as people of faith speaking and working for justice and hope and freedom and love and grace in all the world?  ... and not just cheering the wide-angle-flat-HD screen from the comfort of our crumb covered couches and our air-conditioned perspectives on how the rest of the world is "going".

 Last night, (yes--from my couch) I watched the showdown between the female gymnasts from China and the USA, with a few glimpses of Romania tossed into the coverage.  As we watched some amazing and disciplined atheletes, we heard commentary on the differences of their lives and the cultures they were raised in--some atheletes taken by their government at age three to live regimented lives, other atheletes with the desire, and the privelege, to choose the life that led them to this moment--and the Romanian girls, who began years ago in a communist system and now, having been "westernized" struggling within the structures and systems of two worlds.... In this glimpse into these young lives in the spotlight of the world, we saw grace and strength and beauty and determination.  We also saw stumbles and balance problems and pain and regret and sorrow.  We saw joy and pain.  we saw a glimpse of life.  We saw our differences--vast differences.  And we also saw the humanity... at the heart, we are very much the same. 

We are all about "go out into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...."  Yet it is amazing to me that those who are out and about preaching and teaching and evangelizing are so wrapped up in their own cultural bias and competitiveness that they forget just how "Go World" Jesus and Jesus' commission was and is...  Our culture's nature (in politics, business, and competition) is to be "us" versus "them", and our churches are the same way, competing, and pointing out the "thems" rather than cooperating toward a more loving and just world--living in such a way that encourages all to walk together in the way of Jesus.  It is not assimilation that we need to be about--authentic community embraces diversity and finds commonality in our human-ness as we grow in relationship, and transformation is the work of the Spirit.  "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."(Gal. 3:28)   That does not mean that there are no differences, but instead that they don't matter for we are one in Christ--in Christ we belong--even in our human-ness and differences, we are embraced, and we can be transformed.  Everybody wins... that is something to cheer for.  Go World!