Epiphany
February 6, 2020
Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 2:1-12
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. –1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Paul describes himself in 1 Corinthians 9:21b by saying, I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. That is not being two faced, it is recognizing that when we encounter others where they are in their lives, we will most likely have better success in communicating with them.
White privilege is taken as an insult by some, but it is a reality with which those of us who are white must deal. I frankly think we need to face any privilege that sets us apart from others. Anytime we are conditioned to think that our group’s way of being is the proper way of being we have boxed out many people with whom we need to work to fashion a world ruled by God’s love that is indeed our primary mission. When we feel a need to judge whether we will interact with another by whether that person is wearing the right clothing or hair style, speaking the way we were taught to speak, possessing the same type of education we have, or even loving the kind of people we think they should, we are practicing privilege. What we often end up doing is causing people to focus on changing their lives to be like ours or turning them off from any good news we might share. Our goal is not to make others become more like us. Our goal is for us together with others to become more like Christ.
Prayer: Lord forgive us when we work harder to make people become like us rather than work together for all to become more like you. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.