Barriers To Peace & Unity
As we begin the season of Lent with the new experience of the ashes sprinkled on our heads instead of a cross marked on our foreheads, let us prepare for something NEW! Conversion, change, turn around, renewal, transformation, etc., for Christians, means that we desire to become better examples of Christ. God’s invitation in Jesus to full participation in the Kingdom of God, must be matched by our efforts to live with greater kindness, honesty, charity and generosity.
In real life this means that we must cease with the off-color jokes and the demeaning words and phrases directed at others because of race, gender or because of sexual orientation, etc. The Christian message does not approve the discriminatory or power-abusing words or actions used by supervisors or co-workers. Online speech, too, must be purified. We are too quick to call someone a mean or racist name because of the relative anonymity of the internet.
Let this Lent season begin a life in which we are quicker to forgive and just as quick to seek forgiveness. We must not let difference to bring division. God created all people with unique identities, and at the same time with equal dignity or value. Because we belong to God’s Kingdom, we must come to recognize how we are more united by our Creator, than we are divided by any of our differences which are also created by God.The sins of racism, prejudice, unjust discrimination, gender bias, ageism, sexism, etc. have no place in our Christian lives. There is no justification for such divisive thinking, acting, or general attitude. Again, Jesus is our example. In the short period of public ministry described in the Gospels, Jesus interacted with many different people. By doing so he demonstrated the wideness of God’s embrace.
Jesus own apostles and the early church communities continued that outreach as they spread the Good News to distant lands among Romans, Greeks, Ethiopians, Indians, other Africans, other Europeans, and other Asians and beyond. In a short time, the Christian message had been shared widely, and INCLUDED many and diverse peoples. We must not let divisive movements, discriminating speech, or any form of condemnation based on race, ethnicity, or gender or other distinguishing characteristics to overtake the charity and inclusivity of the Christian message.
May this Lent season be remembered for the barriers to peace and unity which we identified and overcame.
Peace, Fr. Andy