Brothers and Sisters
The theme of last week’s blog was “Whatever happens, happens.” This week the theme is “So much stuff is going to happen that you’re going to lose track of what should really be happening and your boss is in California so good luck!”
Not really, but honestly that about sums it up. On Monday I took the longest test of my life, one that should only be reserved for the wicked— the LSAT. I haven’t received my results yet so I’m going to assume that I earned a perfect 180 and will it into existence. During the rest of the office work week, which for us interns is only through Thursday, I experienced a different test— making it on my own. My wonderful supervisor, Rev. Jeania Ree, was in California, attending her Annual Conference. If you’re Methodist then you can understand how pertinent it can be to attend in general, but she also had the awesome responsibility of teaching young people at the conference about mercy and justice, as well as speaking to the conference on the Book of Social Principles. (Disclaimer: I’m pretty sure this is what she was doing, but I could totally be wrong.) Meanwhile, I was scheduled for a couple hill meetings, one on one's, an in-person immigration coalition meeting, plus a little more, and somehow I survived.
In our weekly bible study we discussed our brothers and sisters, directed by that one verse in Matthew 12. I think that everyone in the group got something a little different from it, but for myself it brought a little self reflection. Who are my brothers and sisters, both biologically and earthly, and why do I distinguish between them? Jesus taught us to have brothers and sisters and to let that be it, not to have brothers and sisters "in Christ" but to treat every single person with the love that we so often reserve for those who are closest to us. This makes sense to me, but that doesn't make it easy. Looking at my own behaviors objectively, with the help of a great point made by another one of the interns, I realized that my own personal interests reflect who I consider to be my family in an implied order of subconscious importance. My chief interest is immigration, something that has affected my family and I directly, and my close second would be the criminal justice system, something that has primarily affected people of color. Do I subconsciously treat others as my brothers and sisters in that tier pattern, first being my nuclear family, second being people of color, third being others? I've never considered it before, but unfortunately I think I do.
Thankfully, Jesus made it very clear what I should do: I should love each of my earthly brothers and sisters just as I do my biological family, so much so that there is no distinction.
Roy Koech
EYA Intern, General Board of Church and Society
In our weekly bible study we discussed our brothers and sisters, directed by that one verse in Matthew 12. I think that everyone in the group got something a little different from it, but for myself it brought a little self reflection. Who are my brothers and sisters, both biologically and earthly, and why do I distinguish between them? Jesus taught us to have brothers and sisters and to let that be it, not to have brothers and sisters "in Christ" but to treat every single person with the love that we so often reserve for those who are closest to us. This makes sense to me, but that doesn't make it easy. Looking at my own behaviors objectively, with the help of a great point made by another one of the interns, I realized that my own personal interests reflect who I consider to be my family in an implied order of subconscious importance. My chief interest is immigration, something that has affected my family and I directly, and my close second would be the criminal justice system, something that has primarily affected people of color. Do I subconsciously treat others as my brothers and sisters in that tier pattern, first being my nuclear family, second being people of color, third being others? I've never considered it before, but unfortunately I think I do.
Thankfully, Jesus made it very clear what I should do: I should love each of my earthly brothers and sisters just as I do my biological family, so much so that there is no distinction.
Roy Koech
EYA Intern, General Board of Church and Society
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