The Health Care debate is still growing teeth and ones which are aimed in the direction of legal immigrants in some quarters. An odd (in my mind) argument has been voiced that only citizens should be allowed to pay for health insurance - I am not sure whether this was a slip of the tongue or just plain strange - but legal immigrants - we legal aliens - who work and pay tax, and currently pay the exorbitant premiums for our health care like many folks, would be cut out.
Hmmm......
Then there is Nigeria which is all out of sorts over the new movie District 9 which it claims portrays Nigerians and criminal and even cannibals. The gang leader just happens to be nicknamed Obasanjo - somewhat unsubtle as the last president of Nigeria was called Olusegun Obasanjo.
Hmmm.... again.
Sometimes it seems that folks just are not very careful with other folks and that, no matter what your credo, does not make for a better world. When we turn our fellow human beings into a block of pseudo-people about whom we make assumptions, and to whom we attach labels, we are creating in our own minds a separation of humanity, often a tier system which humanity is not meant to contain.
The economics of this world already have us fooled into thinking - even unconsciously - that people "elsewhere" feel things differently from us. True, cultural and religious interpretation of events might be different but pain is pain and not fair is still not fair.
If we believe, as Christians, in any sort of equality then we have to dig deep inside ourselves and root out the voices which still claim that our particular subset of humanity "should" have or "just does have" and pray that our "there but for the grace of God go I" moments can be transformed into walking beside those for whom we express this sentiment - and as equals.
We have to know our world and know the people in it - both locally and on a bigger scale. Pretending that something is not true does not make it go away - in fact it usually makes it worse as frustration grows into anger and unvented anger can lead to more problems than we want to deal with - and when it does we simply point the finger and say "I told you so...., see they are different."
God does not have we and they, read John 16 and 17 and see how bound up together we are meant to be - in each other, in Christ and in the whole company of those who take Christ as Lord. This does not solve problems of political polity or ignorance but surely it makes a difference. So much about a person's true character and real heart is shown in small ways - if we want to welcome people into Christ we have to allow Christ to transform our hearts so that what we say and do comes from a place of peace and welcome. From a place of accepting the other.
Who are "those people", what do they think and hope and dream? When we bring people to the table of our homes we often as "What do you like to eat, is there anything you cannot have?" When we bring people to Jesus' table we must ask the same questions not only of our community but of our world - what do you need, what do we need, what do I need - laying these homestly and openly before the table will make our feast and welcome and a joy.
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