The scene opens with a woman on a treadmill jogging. As the camera pans back you see she’s in the middle of a busy freeway. Next, a man sits at a desk talking on the phone, also in the middle of the freeway. Then a dorm room scene, then a mom playing with two kids on a swing set, then a family in their dining room, and finally two neighbors talking over their fence - all in the middle of the freeway with cars whizzing by dangerously.
The host of this All State insurance ad tells us that the world is filled with people, not just drivers and says this, “Let’s treat people more like they’re in our home and less like they’re in our way.”
As a Houston driver, I forget sometimes that cars are driven by real live people. And if pressed to be confessional, sometimes I forget that the clerk at McDonald’s, the teller at the bank, and the guys who cut my grass are people, too. It’s easy to forget there are others in the world. But being a part of the community of faith known as Willow Meadows Baptist Church reminds me that I belong to a group of people and they belong to me and in that belonging I gain a sense of self-worth and other’s worth.
I appreciate that about church, but wish church were more accessible to those who feel worthless. We church folk can be divisive, exclusive, and cliquish, often without even knowing it. Paul addressed this when he wrote to the church at Corinth. They were divided and cliquish saying “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas.” Paul summarily slammed them by asking “Has Christ been divided?” Paul then says it’s not about who baptized you, or which “clique” you belong to, but about the gospel – the story of the Christ on the cross. It is Christ on the cross, dying for all that defines our worth.
So whether that person in front of you is a new Christian, old Christian, not-yet-a-Christian, even the never-gonna-be-a-Christian, Christ died for them, just as much as for you. That person in the pew near you may not dress as well as you, speak as well as you, or spend as well as you, but he is worth something to God. That person you meet on the street may not know Christ like you, or have the same orientation as you, or vote like you, but she is worth something to God.
So church family, let’s treat people more like they’re a part of us and less like they’re an object to us.
I’ll be saying more about this in a sermon this Sunday called Signs of the Covenant – Communion that finds its basis in I Corinthians 1.10-18. I’ll suggest that the power of God’s salvation as related to us in the communion event is unifying and “de-clique-ifying.” We gather for Bible Study at 9:30 and worship at 10:45, if you’re in town please join us!
In God’s Hand,
Pastor Gary
Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly email from me, Gary Long. I’m the pastor at Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. You can view the ad I mentioned at this Allstate website and you can subscribe or unsubscribe to this list by contacting me at http://webmail.logixonline.com/images/blank.png.
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