Thought for Today
Genesis 4:26 To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord.
Psalm 36:7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Matthew 4:19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."
Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
I remember as a young child how we used to put one fist inside the other, interlacing our fingers, and recite, “This is the church.” Then we would ‘tent’ our index fingers and say, “This is the steeple.” Finally, we would open those closed hands, inverting those interlaced fingers and say, “Look inside and see all the people.” The word ‘people’ appears more than 2000 times in the Bible. Sometimes it refers to “the people of God,” sometimes it is used to refer to everyone on earth other than the Jews.
The population of our planet is estimated to be 8.1 billion people. It is estimated that about 60% of them live in Asia. Two countries, China and India account for about 36% of that total figure. Despite how it may seem to anyone in our area when driving on Rte. 128 (any time of day or night!), only about 4.15% of that world population lives in the U.S.A. That is still a lot of people!
Over the last 15-20 years, we have read and heard much about the immigration policy of the U.S.A. Recently, we heard that during the past year, 1 million immigrants were allowed to settle in the U.S.A. pending action on their requests for asylum, while 2 million were returned to their countries of origin.
Lost in all the discussions about immigration policy or the lack thereof, lost in all the talk about overtaxed local resources, lost in all the political posturing is the fact that all of those ‘people’ are children of our Creator God. They are all the sorts of ‘people’ for whom Peter, Andrew, James and John were called to fish.
The apostle Paul wrote, “Romans 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.” “Galatians 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” “Colossians 3:11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”
Before anyone takes off on a diatribe, accusing me of championing an ‘open borders’ policy, that is NOT what I am saying. I believe every nation has the right to control its own borders, to determine who may and who may not enter and/or settle, to have its own rules about citizenship.
But it is also important in all of our discussions and in all our rhetoric to never lose sight of the fact that Christians must always remember that they and we are equally children of God. When I went through that exercise with my fingers as a child, my opened, interlaced fingers, the ‘people’ inside that church represented by my closed fists were equally both immigrants and citizens. People are people.
I thought about all this last evening as we held our monthly church Council meeting. Some of us were attending via computer, some were at the church in person. Each of us in attendance had a specific area of interest and responsibility. As we reported on our area, others listened and questioned, always respecting the one reporting. Despite our specific area of interest and responsibility, each of us also made our best efforts to support the other. As members of that church Council, we jointly work to facilitate and ensure that our church works to serve the will of God, to worship God, and to take our place in the worldwide community of God, Christendom.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that same sense of cooperative effort, of consideration and concern for the greater good extended throughout our nation? Is it too much to hope for that even nations could work together for the greater good of humanity?
One of the greatest things Christ brought to Creation is hope. Hope is an integral aspect of the gospel, the good news of God’s love and God’s grace. As we go about our daily lives, may we always be motivated by “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” We are not saved by our works, but our works must reflect our faith.
Stay safe, love your neighbors, trust God,
Pastor Ray