Issue 1504 – Black and White – July 22, 2024
While in Alberta last week, we watched pelicans fishing at a little lake near Lacombe. On Saturday, we saw flights of double-breasted cormorants off one of the beaches at Point Roberts.
Both species are fish-eating birds, but that’s all they have in common. The pelicans are large, full-bodied white birds. The cormorant is tall and very slim. The pelicans swim and grab whatever they can eat by dipping their big beaks in the water. Cormorants are divers, often going to great depths to catch a meal. You would never confuse the two.
Seeing the two species reminded me of something I saw some years ago at the little lake across the street from our home in Sherwood Park.
I took Genni the wonder dog, for a quick walk around the lake across from our house in Sherwood Park. The rain was coming down in buckets, but that doesn’t negate the need to walk the dog.
As we rounded one of the bends, I was blessed to see half a dozen or so pelicans hunkered down together against the storm. I could have taken some interesting photos if I had been carrying a camera.
To my surprise, a cormorant was settled down with the pelicans. The double-breasted cormorant is not a small bird, but he looked like a little black spot with hairy eyebrows amongst the much larger pelicans.
The scene reminded me in many ways of the church. It is unfortunate, but in many churches, anyone who looks slightly different often sticks out like a black cormorant in the midst of white pelicans and feels about as comfortable as a thumb that has had a high-speed impact with a hammer.
The church was designed to be a place for people of all colors, races, and cultural backgrounds. All people who are seeking the Lord are welcome to gather.
Style of dress should not matter. The length of hair (or lack of it) should make no difference. Whether you agree with them or not, it should not be uncommon to see tattoos and piercings in church. The fact that someone wears (or does not wear) a head covering is immaterial.
Too much makeup and too short a skirt shouldn’t keep them away, and different languages or worship styles shouldn’t exclude anyone. Nor should being too young or too old.
The body of Christ was designed to be diverse. We are not to judge one another based on appearance.
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. James 2:1-7
God does not play favorites.
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Acts 10:34-35
If everyone in your church looks like you, perhaps there is some work to be done in the larger community.
Now, it is true that no one congregation or local assembly can be all things to all people, But I cannot imagine that there is a church out there that perfectly reflects the community around it.
Let’s remember that the gospel and worship at the local assembly are for all types of people and celebrate the diversity that God has created in His infinite love and wisdom.
We can practice loving our neighbor inside and outside the walls of our local assembly. What an opportunity and blessing.
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)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)