The Walls we Build

"I love my Roman Catholic friends, and my faith is richer for listening to them share their experience of the Eucharistic mystery and the traditions of their church. I have deep respect for my Orthodox neighbors and feel a sense of mystery and awe when I worship amid the aroma of incense in their church. I love my Southern Baptist colleagues, whose love of the Scriptures and preaching of conversion have left their mark on me. And my Pentecostal friends have reminded me that the Holy Spirit continues to work in unexpected ways. While I’m drawn to the United Methodist Church’s attempt to hold together the evangelical and social gospels, and to stand in the center of the theological spectrum as a bridge between the left and the right, I don’t believe all Christians should be United Methodists. In fact, I think Christianity would be the poorer if they were."
-Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White

My pastor preached on Christ's oneness prayer last Sunday, and one of the more depressing facts he pointed out is that "anyone trying to find middle ground nowadays just gets shot at from both sides."
Especially in America, where "compromise" equals "surrendering to the enemy," the enemy in this case being everyone who doesn't believe exactly as "we" do.

Us vs. them all over again.

I was raised to believe that agreeing to disagree agreeably (i.e. set aside issues which aren't critical when they put our relationships in danger) was a sign of high maturity.
But even in my most intimate circles, there are several who now say that any such arrangement is heretical, once again treating compromise as complete surrender.

I think this quote from John Wesley sums up the solution well, and interdenominational charity work, mission trips, etc. demonstrate the validity of his statement.

"Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences."