Letters from Kenya - labels

The last thing I’d like to share with you is how God blew away my expectations in being fully present to others.  He reminded me of an important lesson regarding what it means to be human and to live the community of Christ.  And the lesson had entirely to do with labels… not the kind on our clothes or automobiles, but the distinctions we make between ourselves and others.

Check out these labels: Black, white, short, tall.  Chubby cheeks, husky, slim, daddy's girl, momma's boy.

As we get older people start assigning us labels: Jock, nerd, computer geek, life of the party, druggies, good little church kid.

As we get older, the labels change and take on a much grander scale: liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, pro-life, pro-choice, even Nazarene, Baptist, Catholic, or Assemblies of God.

One of the things that I'm learning about labels is that they dehumanize us.  Instead of taking the time to genuinely know someone, labels cut off the flow of relationship before they even get started.  Labels assign value to a person based solely upon perception, stereotype and prejudice.

Let me just state the obvious: this is not what God intended.  Let me take you to a couple of passages to explain what I mean.  The first is in Genesis, the second is in Galatians.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 NIV)

This passage is crucial for us to understand if we're going to understand what it means to be human.  Before there was original sin, mankind (male and female) was created with original righteousness.  Theologians talk a lot about what it means for us to have been created in God's image, but I wonder if part of it refers to the ability to truly know a person and be known by them.  

One of the most tragic of consequences of the Fall of humankind was the damage done to this relational aspect of the image of God we were created with.  We began to take up fig leaves and make coverings for ourselves.  I don't know if you've seen a fig leaf or not, but they'd be just about as comfortable to wear as the 3 inch thorns growing on some of the bushes we saw in Kenya.  

Those thorns remind me a lot of the labels we have given and received.  They hurt and penetrate deeply.   They keep others at a manageable distance.  Don't get too close.  I don't know if I can trust you.  After all, you're a (insert label).  And so we continue to hide from the healing grace of God that comes through the practice of authentic community.

The good news is that the story doesn't stop here.  In Galatians 3 we find this amazing revelation:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28 NIV)

There's a lot of labels mentioned in this passage, a lot of things that had the potential to shipwreck those early believer's and the early church.  But Paul casts all the labels aside and says, "None of that matters.  You are one in Christ Jesus."

One of the things I've learned in my church history readings is that the early church was a counter-cultural force in society not just because they claimed to follow a resurrected Messiah, but because of the radical, counter-cultural way they viewed each other and lived out their faith:

- Women were not looked at as property, but as equal in the eyes of God and given full access to every role in the church...including pastor/preacher.

- Slaves were looked at as brothers and sisters in Christ, and many (including Philemon) were given their freedom.

- Orphans and widows and strangers were looked at as an opportunity to practice pure and faultless religion, not an excessive burden.

During our trip to Kenya I had the amazing opportunity to know and be known by brothers and sisters in Christ.  And in this process of knowing and being known I came to realize that one of my expectations of the trip was wrong.  I had expected to come to Kenya to serve “the least of these.” And while in a strictly financial sense that may be true, during my trip I came to grips with the fact that I had put a label on these brothers and sisters.

The reality that I’ve come to embrace is that I was the “least of these” in terms of the true realities of God’s Kingdom.  Our Kenyan brothers and sisters were the hands and feet of Jesus to me, revealing my need and ministering God’s grace in abundance.  

I was the one who needed someone to reach in and minister to my heart and my need.

I was the one whose eyes needed to be opened to who God really is and what it truly means to  be the community of Christ we call the church. 

And in their ministry to me, the Holy Spirit allowed me to discover just how rich the faith, love and grace of the Kenyan people really is.  There is no other label that I can give them than brothers and sisters in Christ.  

I needed my eyes to be opened and the Holy Spirit graciously did so through a group who cannot be defined by any other label than brothers and sisters in Christ.

So here’s some take home:  

-                             How are you going to choose to see and interact with people?  

                  Your answer might help you begin to see the image of God.