[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during May 2022]
Have you ever gazed up into the heavens on a clear night and marvelled at the extensive array of lights? How wonderful it appears, myriads of stars in faraway galaxies sending beams of light directly to you. Meteorites, satellites and aircraft all contribute to the spectacle of heavenly lights. But all may not be as it seems. A recent report suggested that there might soon be so much discarded space debris floating around that it becomes too dangerous for humans to continue to venture into space.
Can you recall setting out for a quiet walk in an area of natural beauty? You hear the babbling brook and the birds are singing but as you look down you see that other people have been here before you. The evidence suggests that the maxim about leaving only footprints has not been heeded. It all started when Adam and Eve discarded a pile of fig leaves on their way out of the garden of Eden.
Of course, we are talking rubbish, but we are in good company. The apostle Paul was also accused of talking rubbish. He was explaining his Damascus Road experience to king Agrippa, with whom he shared a cultural heritage, when his discourse was interrupted by the Roman governor who was probably struggling to understand the relevance of Paul’s account. He dismissed Paul’s words as spurious rubbish resulting from Paul’s over-developed intellect[1].
To what extent are we, too, liable to dismiss as rubbish those things that people tell us and we don’t understand, especially if matters are complicated by cultural differences?
Paul wrote extensively about many aspects of Christian behaviour but, like the other New Testament authors, he was writing as a man of his time. Paul’s letters were composed in a different age and cultural context, and we might argue that times have moved on. To what extent are we tempted to dismiss as irrelevant those passages of scripture which seem to be pertinent only to a different time and culture?
It is a small step from discarding people’s words to discarding the people themselves. Both in our secular society and in our community of faith we have people who represent different backgrounds, different understandings, different ambitions. The extent of the diversity is such that everyone is unique; no one can make a legitimate claim for superiority. That is the way God loves us and God rejects no one.
I am reminded of a Sunday School chorus from many years ago:
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the people of the world.
The words may be of a different era but the sentiment is eternal.
[1]: Acts 26 v24.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
