” The Other”

Do you see “the others”? Sight and insight (discernment) are valuable gifts of the Holy Spirit. If we had been able to genuinely “see the other” is it a possibility that the refugee crisis, the destruction of Syria, and terrorists groups like ISIS, Al Shabaab and Boko Haram might never have been? If we were able “to see the other” might the chaotic civil strife taking place in our own country, the ignorance and apathy concerning orphans and abused children, the ethnic cleansing in the Sudan, worldwide trafficking,– might all of this have been avoided – if only we could see? What prevents us from seeing the “other” person wittingly or unwittingly? Are we practicing a system of exclusion or oppression rather than one of embrace?

Might it be the young people whose music is so loud, whose language is incomprehensible, whose body-piercing and head shaving is so alien – have we ever stopped to look at them, to consider them– the broken homes, the bleak prospect of unemployment, an uncertain future – have we ever stopped long enough to look at them as God’s children and try to understand them in that context? Might it be those immigrants and refugees who do not know our language, having different faiths and skin colors, who are moving into our country and the suburbs of our cities – have we ever had them in our homes, offered them hospitality and tried to genuinely “see” their culture. Are we so bound in fear, in apathy, in ignorance, in exclusion and separatism? Is a weapon always to be our ready response rather than an arm of embrace and welcome?

Spiritual sight encourages Christians to acknowledge the identity of the “other” – the “other” who is full of potential that can be realized in relationship with Christ. As for me, it is in encountering “others”, not of my culture, my faith and the broken and the lost, where I am often confronted with the truth of myself and all that I am capable of becoming. When I embrace the “other”, in a small way I begin to die to myself and begin to see myself in the “other”. There is a linking there. We are all God’s children made in His image and in His sight. This is not a cliche, it is truth.

John V. Taylor comments, “But no less necessary to the Christian mission is the opening of our eyes towards other people. The scales fell from the eyes of the convert in Damascus precisely when he heard one of those whose very lives he had been threatening say, ‘Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus has sent me to you.’”

The gift of sight truly enables us to see the “other” person, to share our common humanity and to establish relationship. The gift of sight embraces the “other”, and acknowledges and welcomes the potential in the “other”. Mother Theresa saw this in her selfless giving and serving of the poor and the sick and the “unclean” lepers of Calcutta. She knew that Jesus had sent her to them and she saw the potential in the “other”. God allowed me to see the “other” in the hopeless faces of starving children and despairing refugee moms as I journeyed through the Middle East, Europe and Africa. It is never too late with God. The battle is not lost no matter what the media or your friends might say. He is the God of hope and the God of miracles. He is not a sensational headline. He is a sensational, miraculous God with a global vision for all His children. He is just waiting on us to “see” Him and to “see others”. Genuine sight (discernment) embraces the “other” and will inevitably lead to human flourishing not only for the “other” but within the deepest part of who we are called to be.

May God lavish each of you this day with His wondrous sight. Pray for it my friends.
Blessings,
Karen