String cheese. Brie. Cheddar. Sharp or Mild. Aged or Not. Mozzarella. Colby-Jack. Provel. Swiss. Cream. Monterey Jack. Pepperjack. Brick. Shredded. Wheel or Pie Wedge. Sliced or Sandwich. Goat cheese. Cow cheese. Not head cheese.

Some folks say, “Cheese is cheese; they are all the same.”

Others disagree claiming that the flavor of a two year-old aged sharp white Cheddar is all the rage.

Those holding wine glasses yell, “Don’t forget the Brie and Triscuits!”

Don’t forget the people holding their nose and running from the sight of cured milk.

Very few people enjoy the breadth of them all.

Yet, each cheese is made with for certain purpose. A fine Brie is not struggling to be a Peperjack; Nor is the sliced Monterey Jack trying to be a Mozzaralla cheese stick.

Why then do we try to paint all Christian movements as the same?

In doing this, we remove the eloquent aromas and flavors crafted into each movement by the Master Craftsman.

Instead, I feel that we must celebrate the beauty of difference. We must recognizing that there are differences between the Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Vineyard, Independent Charismatic, Assembly of God, Church of God (Tenn and Indiana), etc.

By recognizing and celebrating the differences, we can then learn from each other while being the best Colby-Jack/Swiss/Cheddar/Whatever we can be. If we deny the differences or belittle them, then we will fail to see the breadth and scope of God Almighty.

St. Paul says it this way,

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 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 placed 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, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)