| Lately, I’ve been pondering this: “We depersonalize people by stereotyping them. We depersonalize God by generalizing Him.” First – Other People With the flick of a word, one can stereotype a person and from there, it is simple to not love them. This is very easy to do. In the span of one day, I heard many examples. Perhaps the most known label of Jesus’ day was Samaritan. Once labeled, it is easy to ask the same question as the expert of the law asked of Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10). Obedience to God’s command to love our neighbor is easier when we exclude people from the command by dehumanizing them. It narrows the pool to only the ones we want to love. Yet, the Parable of the Good Samaritan re-humanizes people. In a sense it re-neighbors people and our neighbor becomes every person. Second – God If God is always a spiritual principle, an ethical or moral cause, or a mysterious feeling, then we fail to comprehend how He has revealed himself. In Jesus, we see God personally—a living body that ate food, drank wine, spoke to people, and listened to people. Jesus was born into a family, had a childhood, got angry, wept, and lived and walked among people. The reason this is important is that we can’t become more like Jesus by divorcing our humanity. We don’t grow in grace by becoming less human. We aren’t more spiritual by being less human. It is in our humanity that God seeks to redeem. It is our humanity that God loves, and it was a human that God humbled himself to become in the person Christ Jesus. So, again, ponder with me: “We depersonalize people by stereotyping them. We depersonalize God by generalizing Him.”  This Week’s Readings: *Monday – Revelation 18 *Tuesday – Revelation 19 *Wednesday – Revelation 20 *Thursday – Revelation 21 *Friday – Revelation 22 Prayer Requests: *Families traveling to and fro this holiday season. *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC. |
| “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 |