7 The end of everything has come. Therefore, be self-controlled and clearheaded so you can pray. 8 Above all, show sincere love to each other, because love brings about the forgiveness of many sins. 9 Open your homes to each other without complaining. 10 And serve each other according to the gift each person has received, as good managers of God’s diverse gifts. 11 Whoever speaks should do so as those who speak God’s word. Whoever serves should do so from the strength that God furnishes. Do this so that in everything God may be honored through Jesus Christ. To him be honor and power forever and always. Amen.
Reflection
In reflecting on today’s scripture, I went back to the beginning of 1 Peter. The letter of encouragement is addressed to persecuted Jewish Gentile believers, “God’s chosen strangers in the world of the diaspora, who live in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithinia” (1 Peter 1:1) They are God’s chosen people living as strangers in their current context. They are the biblical Diaspora. I got totally engrossed in the idea of diaspora. According to Vocabulary.Com diaspora is any large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have since moved out to places all over the world. The term diaspora comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to scatter about.” The Bible refers to the Diaspora of Jews and Gentiles exiled from Israel by the Babylonians. But the word is also used more generally to describe any large migration of refugees, language, or culture. For example, every person who lives in the United States, is a part of some DIASPORA. In his letter to the diaspora, Peter teaches his listeners that Christ’s followers should be hospitable, appreciative of the wide diversity of gifts among us, treat everyone with love, speak God’s word to all and honor God in all things. Throughout the Old and New Testaments there are at least seventeen references to the fact that our biblical ancestors were all, at some time, “strangers in a foreign land” (Exodus 2:22) and we should treat one another with love and respect.
Fast forward to 1776 when people traveled across the Atlantic to create a new country called the United States of America. Many travelers came from European countries and had some connection to Christian teachings and doctrines. They came seeking religious freedom and new lives for themselves and their families. At the same time, countless people were enslaved mainly in African to be brought to this new world and used as free labor in the fields. They were largely treated as animals rather than as human beings. Between the European Diaspora and the African Diaspora countless people from different parts of Asia have settled in the USA forming other Diaspora. Sadly, after hundreds of years, the differences in place of origin, culture, ethnicity and skin color continue to be foundational for how people treat one another. The words of Peter that we read this morning are largely ignored. Read again 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, show sincere love to each other because love brings about the forgiveness of many sins.” Our words and our actions should demonstrate that we love as Jesus loved and that we put that love into action in everything we do and say.
by Kathleen Stolz
For Pondering and Prayer
Do you enjoy watching the PBS show “Finding Your Roots” as much as I do? I love watching Henry Louis Gates take two people each week on a journey to discover the hidden treasures among their ancestors. Often there are interesting similarities such as artists, musicians, authors, etc. Perhaps you have been on your own journey to discover who has contributed to your own genetic makeup. Many families have a verbal history of their family and others have documentation that goes back decades.
What do you know about your own ancestry? Is there something in your parents or
grandparents, cousins or other relatives, that you see in yourself?
As you think about the various diasporas that created the USA what would you like to say to them? Are they the words that God would speak, that build up and plant new roots of forgiveness and new beginnings? Are they negative, hurtful words that are belittling or cruel to the immigrant, to those we look at as “other?”
Prayer: Loving God, we give you thanks for the ancestors who traveled from afar to settle in this country we call the USA. Whether they traveled years and years ago or as recently as yesterday, we give thanks for their adventurous spirit and safe travel. For those that we know personally, we give thanks for their safe journey by boat, or other mode of transport. Thank you for the families they left behind and for the new families they created in this brave new land. As we look at one another, we may not know their stories, but we give thanks for the gifts and talents that they offer in the building of this country. Amen.
