Top of the morning from Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Vinita, Oklahoma.
While trying to keep warm in our January frigid weather, I've come up with a question for you: Do you read your Bible? If you do, good for you, but know that you are in the vast minority.
One reason the Bible is left unread, on a shelf gathering dust, is that the "one story line" is not arranged in chronological order. Thankfully, biblical scholars have traced that "one story", which I call "The Golden Thread". Following that thread one finds a development of ideas which reveal the laws, rituals, doctrines and customs in terms of the generation from which they came.
The earliest Hebrews saw their obligation only to family, clan, tribe and nation. Outside those boundaries there was little, if any, obligation. Bigotry and prejudice arise when there is no wider range of concern.
The idea that God's will is the well being of all creation developed slowly, climaxing in the teachings of Jesus. Bigotry and prejudice are sinful. When tempted to make a racial slur, one ought think of a friend of another race and ask, "Would I make the same thoughtless remark to my friend, or my friend's family?"
Intelligent faith goes a long way in fulfilling the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., a non-violent, remarkable American, whose birth we celebrate today.
Peace,
Richard
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