On Wednesday morning I had the joy of leading communion at St Paul’s church and to preach on how Jesus could not be accepted by his own town, because they knew that he was the carpenter’s son, they knew his brothers and sisters, so how could he be someone so special. Even though they had heard of all the things he had done, they could not accept him as the son of God. They rejected him. They could not see past their way of seeing things.
And this is so easy for all of us, we are tempted to see people as certain types, people are put into certain categories and in a way it’s a necessary thing to do in order to navigate the world to keep ourselves safe. But the problem is, if we are not aware that this is what we are doing we fail to see God. We fail to be compassionate to others who perhaps we don’t like the look of, or sound of. We fail to notice that they may be able to teach us something amazing about God. That sometimes our prejudices, will block our ability to love our neighbour as ourselves. Will block our ability to reach out and encourage another. In Hebrews we are told “To pursue peace with everyone. So that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble”. Let’s pray that God shows us when we fail to love another, and helps us to overcome our assumptions and presumptions. Amen
