In our small group, we are using an advance copy of Ross Cochran's small group 'curriculum'... it is a collection of case studies intended to cause discussion and reflection and deeper study into our daily walk, and includes real-life situations which we must deal with as we grow.
We are finishing up the first case after 3 or 4 weeks of really good discussion and study, and I am really enjoying the depth of thought it has provoked among our group. The one we started with is entitled 'can I be a member of your church?', and explores the minefields which we humans lay down with regard to 'joining a church'...
(Incidentally, for clarification, we agreed early in the study that this 'case' deals with how an individual 'officially becomes' a part of a local congregation... further, we discovered that there is a distinct difference between God 'adding the saved' to His Church [Universal] and a person 'joining' a local congregation)
anyhow, if the definition of exercise includes 'stretching', then this has been a worthwhile 'exercise' indeed!
As we closed our time last night, Kelly reminded us that much of this discussion revolves around how we treat the marginalized... what do we 'do' with the people whom we perceive as different? What actions do we take toward those whom society has defined as 'lesser'?
the homeless, the divorced, the orphaned, the widowed, the bi-polar, the imprisoned, the poor, the - well, let's be honest - weird people!?!??
what do we do?
I know it has become cliche... heck, it's a slogan on a bracelet... but what WOULD He do? What DID He do...
...with the blind man....
do we have some idyllic Dickensian vision (no pun) of this scene? one where the sightless guy was dressed nice with a white cane and the dark Stevie Wonder/Ray Charles glasses on... one where he smelled good and spoke properly and acted right?
...with the Samaritan woman...
do we imagine she was a woman just like our momma? dressed in the latest crop pants and flats and cute top? ...with a fresh layer of makeup and perfume applied for her trip to the city well?
...with the lepers or the Centurion or Peter's mother-in-law or the demon-possessed or the paralytic or the woman with the 'issue of blood'... yeccchhhh!
these people represented the ugliest side of society. Not really fit for our 'churches'.... not really welcome in our homes.... not particularly well-suited for our institutional theology...
but Jesus treated them every one with respect and honesty and dignity and... most of all... compassion and love.
dare we treat them any differently?
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1 comment:
we back row them and disinvite them from any duty service--oh yeah and talk bad about them behind their backs--After all, we're better than them right?
WRONG!
I feel priviledged to belong to a congregation that practices/ believes/teaches God's plan for salvation---it is his righteousness that saves us---nothing more---nothing less. My salvation was taken care of thousands of years ago on an old wooden cross---let me/us never forget that! esc
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