"One in Christ" - Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29

    If any people should be proclaiming that all people matter to God, it should be the Church. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Galatians that there are no distinctions in the body of Christ, no one is better than anyone else, and I can guarantee that made just about everyone angry. The Jews thought that they were better then the gentiles, as God’s chosen people - yet there is no Jew nor Greek. Those that were free look down upon those who were slaves, both indentured and those by birth - yet there was no slave nor free. Men thought they owned women as property, and all of the religious teachings and political laws of the time were set up to agree with them - yet there is no male nor female. For there is no distinction outside of the most important one that we all bear “child of God.”

Spiritual author Henri Nouwen rocked my world in college with his short piece Life of the Beloved. To date it is the spiritual writing that I have gifted and handed out the most. The pages are tattered, highlighted, and filled with ink. The book is Nouwen response to his friend Fred, who asked him to explain in simple terms why life mattered and Nouwen’s answer has changed lives for generations “You are the beloved.” That is what matters - we are loved by God. We are loved by God with such a radical love that all of the other distinctions and labels people try to put upon us don’t matter. That is the message the church should be proclaiming.

     The Church of Jesus Christ has a unique opportunity to model unity. To buck the actions and attitudes of favoritism discussed in James, who says that we cannot both show favoritism and believe in Christ. Hard words to swallow. Especially for folks who have come to privileges at the expense of others, privileges that are so engrained in us that we don’t even realize them any more. When we choose to learn from each others differences instead of judging each other by them - we are the Church. We are proclaiming with our lips and our lives that what matters most is that we are God’s beloved, and all people under the banner of Christ deserved to be treated the same way, with love, honor, and respect.