HAPPY MONDAY!
The baby in the manger brings us an odd word-of-the-week…
OTHERIZING
“Stop otherizing.”
It’s the Christmas message, the thing the baby’s been trying to tell me.
Other-izing: the process of discerning and accentuating differences between people so it’s apparent one group is clearly not like us–they’re the “others.”
The whole point of Christmas was Jesus erasing the lines between “them” and “us.” He didn’t ask us to “tolerate others.” He became one of us to eliminate the entire concept of others. As long as we perceive others in Christ, reconciliation and inclusion are just fancy church words for “you inferior folks need to change your ways and be like us superior folks.”
Jesus didn’t say, “If you want to be with me, come and live my story.” He knew the gap was too great, and He loved too much to allow it to remain.
So Jesus quite literally “died to self” as He left the comfort of the Trinity and merged His story with ours.
You don’t pay the kind of price Jesus paid for others. You only do that for family. As my friend Dick Foth says: “Jesus left His place and came to our place.”
At Christmas I think He asks if we’re willing to do the same.
Do I love too much to allow the gap to remain? Will I pay the price to remove it?
Will I stop otherizing?
# # #
We’re off for a week of R&R with family. I hope you have a restful and blessed time as you celebrate the birth of Jesus.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Great message today! Thank you for this gift! Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with family!
Great to hear from you Nichole. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you as well!