I Hate Casual Berka Day

Kevin preached on prejudice this morning. James 2:1-13. I am pretty sure most of our congregation has no clue what goes into putting together a message that will feed them. I do. So, I pray for him.

Before I go on, I have a question for you, Reader. Do you pray for your Pastor? Often? Do you pray for his family, his walk, do you pray that God will preserve him from sin?...including sexual sin? If not, I would like to encourage you to do so.

Kevin's question this morning was: What does prejudice in your life look like to God?
He had four salient points.
1. To God we look like an unjust judge.
2. We look like we are opposing his Sovereignty.
3. We look like violators of His moral standard.
4. We look like we are in need of His judging.

On the last point I imagined God breaking off a switch and kind of testing it with a quick, "swish swish" and that was when the Holy Spirit brought to my mind my sin...my prejudice. Up to that point I had been congratulating myself on my love for all people. I was an Air Force brat and played with kids of all nationalities in my formative years, so...no problem...right?

Well, I suddenly remembered back on 9/12. I watched a report on CNN featuring members of Hezbollah celebrating the destruction of the Twin Towers and the loss of brave American lives in airliners and at the Pentagon. The camera focused on a woman in what must have been casual berka day because I saw her physical features. Through crooked yellowish teeth she let loose a "Lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu" sound that I now equate with hate. When I saw her and heard her celebration whoops, I knew I hated her and her kind for what they did to us.

So there I sat in church guilt washing over me. Not just because I was wrong, but because I wasn't sure how to get right. After all, it is an intense feeling. "Drop the Hate and Follow Love", Kevin preached and then he gave us three quick points on how to drop and follow:

1. Confess the hate.
2. Pray that God will love them through me.
3. Act on it.

Good Stuff huh? By the way, check out the link to Kevin's sermons on this page. You need to do that because I am not going to spend every Sunday afternoon re capsulizing his sermons for you.

And me? Well, I am at the praying stage. Stay tuned.