Hi everyone,
So just before I had a bit of lunch right now, I checked to see what my boys were doing. Sure enough, they were on their screens either playing a game or watching a video. I looked at the game that one of them was playing, and man alive I was blown away.
The graphics were brutal (it was Roblox, not Minecraft, as you keen eyes might have noticed in the banner picture… but they both have equally awful graphics), and the game he was playing just ignored that as you had to get your character to climb what seemed like the equivalent to 30 stories up a very intricately laid out obstacle course. There were ledges that were less than the width of the character’s feet floating around not attached to anything but needed to get to the next platform and there was even this invisible block that I could barely see. This is just to give you an idea of how hard this level was. But this kid was expertly jumping and climbing and maneuvering around like a pro. I was really impressed that this guy inherited my video game skills.
Actually, I’m sure he is better than I ever was. His brother watched for a while and gave him props and we all just marveled at his gaming prowess.
But hey, my other kids are good at things too. One can draw like the dickens and the other can eat like no one’s business (handy when we have leftovers). Actually the eating one is very encouraging and helpful when he wants to be, more so than his dad, that’s for sure. Together, they are a great source of entertainment and story-telling fodder. But with their different skill and talent set, it would be interesting to see where life takes them together and apart.
Here are the readings for next week:
Exodus 19:2-8a
Psalm 100
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35–10:8
These readings remind me of the different gifts God gives to us all, and while they sometimes seem so different and contrary, they can be used together to bring out a better world. So often it seems that we tend to belittle the talents of those “lesser” than us. Sometimes we feel that when someone isn’t as important or as high up in the ranks or aren’t paid as much as we are, then they have less value. There are times we we measure a person up to our own standards of productivity and assume that they are just in the wrong.
But I think God says different, and Jesus shows it in the people he chose to surround himself with and the task he gave them to do. There has to be a level of trust when giving someone a task. A trust that they will complete it, even if that means they will complete it in a way that you didn’t expect. A trust that goes beyond someone’s qualifications and experience. A trust that an individual’s value goes beyond what we might attribute to them.
God trusts us, as well. We’re entrusted with this planet, with this church, and with the very good news that fuels our faith. We are given different talents and skills that allow us to do the work that God sets in front of us, to act as God’s hands and feet in the world, and to proclaim the love and grace that God shows all people, through our actions, through our words, through the very unique skills that we have.
We have the good news of our uniqueness. We have the blessing of diverse identities and gifts. We have the invitation and welcome to be part of Christ’s universal and eternal body, with many functions but serving the same goal not in spite of our difference, but because of it.
As we continue to reimagine society and the world in light of the racial tensions we see in our continent and abroad, may we lift up all who are different from us, value what everyone brings to the table, and recognise the beauty in the diversity of God’s creation.
Thanks be to God. Have a great week, everyone!