“other” or “us”
The world ≠ sinners,
These words, these entities, they are not synonymous.
“The world will hate you,
but know it first hated me,”
He said.
He did not say
the people in the world will hate you,
even though that’s sometimes what it looks or feels like.
Sinners did not hate Jesus,
The sick did not hate Jesus
And Jesus did NOT hate them
Nor did he shun them –
He sat with them
Loved them, fully.
Pharisees hated Jesus.
The religious and pious
The ones confined
And controlled by societal structures
Hated the freedom he offered
To all.
They hated the inclusivity,
Thinking it meant no one was special
Just because no one
Was excluded.
They missed it.
Everyone is special
And every part
Needed for the whole
To be just that –
Whole.
We cannot stand, divided
Only stumble
And yet we ask ourselves
Why so much division
Why so much dissention
Why so much chaos
Why so much ABSURDITY in our midst ?
We cannot be one
While preaching
Separation
Segregation
We cannot be one
While living
Division
Rejection
Judgment
War
Condemnation.
One is United
All or nothing
No lukewarm
No in-between
Can exist in this space.
How could we dream of
Being United and
Unified
As the church if we create
An ecosystem upon the idea
Of us and them ?
If there is always an
“Other”
There can
NEVER
Be an “us”
Because us is fullness
Wholeness
One.
