So here is my plea for humanity today...
See people!
Cliches are all too present in our day to day political and religious conversation, and sometimes I am so tempted to look people in the eye and ask the simple question.. "you really think that?" For example, you really think that all illegal immigrants deserve to be "shipped back" to their native countries, ripped from their day to day lives, and treated as practically animalistic? Perhaps, when prompted to consider every single individual in question, rather than a group of immigrants, this generalization becomes more and more difficult. Think of each immigrant as but a solitary soul... knit together by the hands of an infinite, beautiful Creator and is loved just as much as you, me, or Billy Graham... and hopefully compassion will slowly seep through each of our sometimes calloused souls.
Now I ask you to think of every person on Earth this way, a huge calling I understand. The men who committed the attack of September 11th? Yep, I assure you Jesus loves them just as much as he loves any pastor on Earth... because he's that crazy in love with the very concept of humanity, despite the terrors our condition sometimes lends itself to. Behind each person's weeping eyes is the mind, the soul, of a broken person crying out, perhaps unconsciously, for a new world. Jesus looks down with a broken heart each time someone is ostracized, or made to feel unworthy of a relationship with him because of race, nationality, "legal status", sexual orientation, political beliefs... whatever your personal hang-up may be.
As Christians, we are called to see ourselves among the "least of these", allowing ourselves to see each and every person as a human... a complex mix of emotion, insecurities, and most importantly a Creator's crazy amazing love that makes us all equals.
