February 7, 2018

Are We Honoring God?

And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. – Deuteronomy 10:19

They came again today. Loud honks penetrated the sky, announcing their arrival. They were majestic in flight.

My geese didn’t think so. Their angry squawks met the Canadian geese as they landed. They hadn’t issued any supper invitations and they were not planning to share.

It didn’t matter that there is plenty of corn for everyone. I make sure of it. No matter how much I try to reassure the geese, they simply don’t want to share. At least not with the Canadian geese.

We have lots of wild ducks who hang out around the pond. I don’t allow hunting so they know they’re safe.  The geese rarely have an issue with the ducks. Maybe it’s because they are smaller and, thus, less threatening. Whatever the reason, the geese tolerate the wild ducks even as they hate the Canadian geese.

We aren’t much different, you and I. There are some people we welcome into our midst. They are the ones who look like us and act like us. They are people we can relate to, people we are comfortable with.

And then there are those who aren’t like us at all. Maybe they are a different color. Maybe they work outside with their hands rather than in an air-conditioned office. Maybe it’s their politics, their religion, their attitude. Whatever it is, we just don’t like them.

People who are different than us make us uncomfortable. In a ridiculous way, they threaten us. Not because they’ve done anything specific. It’s just that we don’t want to face our differences.

It wasn’t like that when our country was founded. Out great nation was once known as a melting pot. Not anymore. We forget that it is God who calls us to love foreigners. We somehow think the fruit of kindness only belongs to those like us.

It’s amazing how we can twist God’s words to fit our own desires. We are just so righteous in our minds. It’s easy to believe that fallacy when we’re surrounded by like-minded people. It’s easy to hate when it seems as though everyone else hates too.

I read the Facebook posts of some of these people. They loudly proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ, even as they spew hatred at those made in God’s image. The saddest thing? They don’t see the hypocrisy in it all.

I wish I could convince my geese that their home is safe. I wish they could understand that they will all have plenty to eat, plenty to share with these visitors. But they are so busy feeling threatened and territorial that they will never know what might have been a great friendship.

The same is true of us. Everything we have, whether it be possessions or this great land of ours, belongs to God. Are we honoring Him with our choices, our comments, our laws?

February 5, 2018

Reach Across the Aisle

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. – Romans 12:16 (NIV)

Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all. – Romans 12:16 (NLT)

Oh, my. I just had to share two translations of this wonderful verse. Chances are you’ve all been in a position before where you were excluded because of your station in life or you didn’t want to associate with someone because of theirs.

I was never the popular kid in school. How about you? I had my own set of friends and we were not part of the “it” group. That was okay then. It’s more than okay now. I just wasn’t interested in being like everyone else.

Of course, I had my moments. I wanted one of “those” shirts with the correct label. I laugh at myself now. It was a nice shirt but status and labels just don’t matter. They’re just surface frivolity.

The really sad thing is when we see it in our churches. We gossip about the kids, and sometimes adults, who don’t wear a “new” outfit on Easter Sunday. We look down on the parents who don’t host pool parties or expensive birthday parties for their kids. And, my goodness, can’t we be critical of clothing and manners and performance of those who attend our worship services?

 All in the name of Jesus, of course.

One woman was obsessed with perfection. She was always beautifully dressed. She used china and crystal when she hosted the neighborhood card parties. She was really particular about who she invited. Maybe she thought all that would make her happy. It didn’t. She lost her mind. How sad.

Others believe they should only socialize with people who are “like” them. They want to surround themselves with the same economic class, the same ethnicity, the same denomination. They create an insulated world that helps them hate what they don’t understand.

Several years ago our pastor urged us to sit somewhere different on Sunday morning. He helped by having all the seats in our contemporary service rearranged. It was certainly uncomfortable. It was also eye opening. When we left our comfort zone, we were more open to others. We laughed with people we’d never met. We shared conversations with people who were way different.

Maybe that’s why we’re so hateful and angry these days. We have no tolerance for differences. We insist that we are right all the time in all things. We’ve forgotten what it’s like to reach across the aisle and genuinely greet someone who is different in temperament, color, religious traditions and political views.

We don’t have to always agree in order to live in harmony with one another. No one is better than another. And none of us know everything. We need to get over ourselves and learn to live with our differences. We’ll all be happier for having done so.

January 20, 2018

Embrace Our Differences

Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. – Isaiah 64:8

The tiny rockers were all lined up in a row. They were the perfect size for a toddler to scoot a diapered bottom into the seat and use chubby little legs to rock to and fro. They had never seen a rocker just their size.

Each rocker varied by color and design. One rocker was shades of blues and sported a sailboat. Another was deep red and had a tiny brown horse. There were white rockers with flowers and pink rockers with butterflies. Lots and lots of different combinations.

And then there was the green rocker. Not the pastel shade you might be thinking. It was vibrant. Acid green, I called it. I was amazed at the children who gravitated toward it. The color drew them.

The color repelled most of the parents. They were horrified that a bright green rocker might make its way into their sedate homes. They immediately encouraged their children to like the white one or the blue one, even the pink or red one. Just not the bright green rocker.

It was comical. It was sad. The children were barely walking and already their parents were pushing them to fit into a mold. I understand matching décor and color combinations – I’m an artist – but I also understand that God didn’t create us to be like everyone else. We are made in His image, not the image of those in the world.

We’re uncomfortable with that notion. We gravitate toward people who are like us. We want to surround ourselves with the predictable, the boring, the safe. We’re afraid if we try something new it might bring on disaster and – gulp – change. Most of us really don’t like change.

We also get caught up in the exterior and miss so much of what is on the interior. We judge someone with tattoos or someone overweight or someone who wears a suit every day. We label others and act accordingly. We give priority to those who have wealth and look down on those struggling to get by.

Somewhere along life’s path we’ve decided that it’s better to surround ourselves with people who are like us. We try to train our children up to follow that path. No, not the green rocker. You can choose any rocker you like, so long as it fits in with what we think you should have.

When Jesus chose the twelve disciples, He didn’t choose 12 men who were just alike. What does a fisherman have in common with a tax collector? So why do we think we must surround ourselves with people just like us? Why do we believe we must raise our children to fit an exterior mold we have created? God is the potter, not us.

We could learn so very much if we would just take time to look beyond the surface and really get to know someone. We could grow so much more in Christ if we allowed ourselves to love people who don’t always agree with us. We could become so much more like Jesus if we accepted people as they are rather than trying to remake them to be like us.

One fortunate child went home with that green rocker. His parents laughed as he tried to “help” his dad carry the purchase. What a happy little boy! His parents didn’t try to mold him to be like them. Instead, they were encouraging him to be who he is. There’s a lesson for all of us in that.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Reach Out To Others

“I will be merciful only if you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are fair to others; and if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; and if you stop your murdering; and if you stop worshiping idols as you now do to your own harm.” -- Jeremiah 7:5-6

How many friends do you have who are of a different race? How many people do you know who are of a different religion? How many people do you see regularly who are in a different economic bracket than you?

Yeah. I know. You’re either defensive or apologetic about now. Maybe both. There’s no need to be. We tend to hang around people who are like us. There’s nothing wrong with that -- until it turns us against certain segments of our population, until we become blind to others, until we use differences to justify our own abominable behavior.

The media has shown repeated stories about a Florida shooting that cost a young black man his life. The police have refused to arrest the neighborhood watch volunteer who fired the fatal shots. It likely will be a long time before we know the full story, if we ever really do. But it sure has ignited yet another debate.

Do we automatically fear someone who is different from us? Had this young man been white, would he still be alive? Had the shooter been black, would he have reacted differently? We don’t know. We only know that differences heighten the emotions of conflict.

How do we change? How do we see others as God sees them? How do we look beyond the differences while not being sucked into places we really shouldn’t be? There is a line. We know that. But how do we find it?

Prayer. And by loving people where they are. A woman recently talked about how her elderly mother has befriended her gay neighbors. Her mother doesn’t approve of homosexuality but she has decided to love them anyway. Her attitude is slowly changing one of the men from anti-Christian to someone with a more open mind. Love is that way. It brings out the best in all of us.

Every day each of us is faced with potential conflict. We can look the other way. We can be kind even when we disagree. We can show people Jesus in the midst of our differences.

So reach out before you reject. Take a step back before you attack. Try kindness instead of rejection. The results might amaze you.