From Other to Another

Jesus weeps. 

We all weep because of the two recent, horrific mass shootings, one in California and the other in New York, where people were murdered because they were the Other.

In one incident, victims were targeted because of their political ideology; in the second, because of the color of their skin.  

Both instances stand in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus. 

Jesus, God as a human being, came to us, the Other, and loved us, even sacrificing his life on the cross to show us that love is more powerful than the hate and violence that nailed him there.

On Sunday at St. James Episcopal Church, Springfield, I heard a powerful sermon by theologian Dr. Chris Dodson based on Peter’s vision. In it a piece of sail cloth descended from heaven. It teemed with all manner of unclean creatures, which faithful, law-abiding Jews were forbidden even to touch, because these animals were deemed to be the Other.

And yet, in the dream, God tells Peter to take up and eat, because there is no Other in the eyes of our loving, creator God, and in a further message from God to Peter, the Gentiles or non-Jews, who were once anathema to the faithful, are to be welcomed fully as members of Christ’s body.

For me, the message of Jesus’ Gospel is that God loves everyone. No exceptions. 

And his ministry, which is described in the Gospels, shows him always reaching out in saving love to Others: foreigners, tax collectors, sinners of all kinds. 

In Christ the Other is simply Another—another fellow human being; another child of God; another brother or sister in Christ; another to be loved. And love is doing the best for the full flourishing of An-Other. 

Hymn 529 from The Episcopal Church Hymnal puts it this way: “In Christ there is no east or west. In him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide world.”

Christ suffered for all. He died and rose again from the dead for all. And through us, his followers, and our ministries, he serves all, alive in us and through us in our acts of unconditional love. 

I give God thanks for communities of faith, agencies and ministries throughout America and worldwide that express God’s love—welcoming, respecting, valuing and serving all human beings. 

Jesus weeps at the hatred and violence in the world, and he suffers with the victims, but he rejoices when we love, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, tutoring a struggling student, supporting the vulnerable young and elderly. 

In these tangible acts of service, we advance  God’s kingdom of love and light against the forces of evil, sin, darkness and death. And with them, more of God’s kingdom emerges in this world. 

Thanks be to God.