Pigeon Holes?
(Posted September 5, 2024)
“Jesus didn’t die for His people to protect their exclusivity, but for His people to proclaim and demonstrate the inclusivity of the gospel—that Jesus is for all mankind.” – Josh Paxton, pastor
As we look forward to Homecoming Sunday on the 8th – when we celebrate the return of Jim Moriarty and our incredible choir – we do so while carrying the heaviness for yet another school shooting. After watching the news these last few days, I became aware how much we see the same old mistakes humanity has made for eons. We pigeonhole people because of what they look like.
A Horrible Error
As the actual details were slow to dribble out from the officials in Georgia, one of the first things released were pictures of the two teen victims killed in the shootout. Everyone was waiting for a picture of the 14-year-old shooter, but instead, they were sent a picture of a slaughtered African American special needs boy and a young white girl. The press jumped the gun and declared that this young boy, the only black child in the release, WAS the shooter. It’s not hard to see that this innocent child was convicted by the press of this atrocity as soon as they saw his blackness.
A Flawed Human Side
Call it what you will – pigeonholing people, or prejudging them – we human beings too often default to only being comfortable with people who resemble our own “tribes” rather than seeing ourselves as brothers and sisters of one another in the family of God. Not only, as we would expect, do we hear about this from Jesus this Sunday when he shows his flawed human side. We get to hear from another voice: Jesus’ own brother, James.
Now like other families, Jesus and James seemed to be quarreling siblings very often, until the day James understood just who his weird, preachy Brother really was. It was then James became one of the pillars of the fledgling Church, writing eloquent letters to the early church members as they dodged persecution from Rome.
James addressed them: “My brothers and sisters, do not claim the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory while showing partiality. For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here in a good place, please,’ while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’ or, ‘Sit by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
As we come together for the beginning of our Fall season, it will be with love and acceptance to everyone who gathers with us and shares the Bread of Heaven. Please come and enjoy the serenity of being with the people you love and who love you, just for this hour of peace.
The last rose mallow of Summer from my garden.