Issue 1306 – Same but Different – November 25, 2023
Dark-eyed juncos are one of the most common birds at our backyard feeders. They are friendly and social, seeming to get along with most species of birds their own size or smaller. Juncos are cautious about people but not overly fearful.
Juncos are small sparrows found across most of North America. While there is only one species, they are categorized into 15 or 16 subspecies based on variation in colouring. The various slightly different subspecies seem to be regionalized, but where they interact, all can crossbreed, blurring the lines.
The juncos may look different based on their region, but they are the same except for appearance. That holds true for humans as well.
We often speak of people of differing colours as being of different races. That isn’t true; we are one species with different regionalized skin tones and appearance features.
The Lord created Adam and Eve, and everyone has the same ancestry. We may look different and have differing cultural attachments, but we are all related.
Now, in a supposedly enlightened society like the one we live in, we shouldn’t be surprised at that truth. It ought to be blindingly obvious. Yet, discrimination of various forms, overt and more subtle, continues.
We make value judgments based on appearance or country of origin. We make value judgements on personal choice.
I’d love to say the church is immune, but even in the church, we often tend to congregate with others who look like us or have similar cultural heritage.
We have all done it at some point in our lives. In some ways, we have progressed. We seldom tell ethnic jokes anymore, but the pendulum has swung so far the other way that people can scream discrimination over the slightest or even imagined situations.
Christ offers us unity to restore what was lost in the fall.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:26-29
That verse doesn’t mean that Jews and Gentiles have ceased to exist or that there is no only one gender. It means that despite superficial differences in colour or culture, we have unity in Christ.
We are called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to love our neighbours inside and outside the church.
There isn’t a proviso that says, “Love them unless they look different or believe differently than you do.”
I am blessed to attend a church that has morphed into one that generally represents the diversity of our community. The congregation ranges from newborns to those pushing their centennial anniversary. The colour spectrum ranges from the fairest of pinks to the darkest of blacks. There are new converts and people who have been believers for most of their lifetimes. There are well-educated people and immigrants with little if any formal schooling, professionals and part-timers, enabled and disabled. There are friendly people and cranks. People I like and others that God keeps reminding me to love.
Could some groups be better represented? Of course, it is always a work in process. Are there any prejudiced people attending? Of course, we, too, are works in process.
The body of Christ is a beautiful thing. So is the larger world we have been called to be part of. The world is broken but sin, but still filled with people created in the image of God.
May we learn to look at others with eyes that see them as people first and secondary characteristics a distant second?
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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