Hi everyone,
School’s out for the summer! Well, sort of, at least. Two of our kids are starting summer school, and I’m not sure I’d call this weather “summer”. I talked a bit about the weather in worship this morning, because really, it’s all kinds of wonky.
Some blame climate change, others say that it’s just natural progression of the earth maturing, still others say that everything is a hoax and we’re living in the Matrix. There are almost as many opinions as there are people, and sometimes it’s really hard to sift through all the arrogant certainties and pompous know-it-alls out there.
It’s hard because people can be overconfident in their beliefs. People can be rigid in what they see at truth. People are offended when there is even a hint of a suggestion that they could be wrong.
I don’t know if any of us are free from that mentality to a certain level. Like I’ve said many times in the past, we believe what we believe and think what we think because we are who we are. We will always be right in our minds, or we wouldn’t really believe what we believe or think what we think. And changing that narrative changes our worldview. And changing our worldview can be painful.
So we resist and hold onto our opinions all the stronger. Because thinking we’re right is easy and admitting that we’re wrong is difficult. It’s a conundrum that isn’t easily overcome, that’s for sure.
But maybe we’ll get there if we are acutely aware of it, sort of like a thorn in our sides…
Here are the readings for next week:
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Psalm 123
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
These texts to me speak about humility. A humility in seeing how we might not have all the answers, a humility in recognizing our own faults and failures, a humility is accepting the fact that our initial reactions and opinions might be a bit misguided.
It’s important to have this kind of humility, because without it, it’s really difficult to see others as us. In that, as different as we may seem to be from others, they too are sinners redeemed by God’s grace, just like we are. But if we don’t strive for that humility, we will continue to see the other as “the other,” and shoehorn them in this irredeemable box of non-redeeming, and forever see them as wrong while we are right.
But in that, we fail to see the value of the other. We neglect to see the worth in them. We will be unable to see God’s love and grace residing on them as much as it is on us. We won’t be able to see Jesus as Jesus is, in that Jesus is specifically for the other, for the marginalized, for those who have typically been seen as wrong.
Just like how Jesus’ own hometown couldn’t see him, how his own family couldn’t accept him, how his disciples may not have understood him. Let us strive for the humility that allows us to see Jesus as Jesus being Jesus for us and all people!
Thanks be to God! Have a great week!
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash