{"id":12000,"date":"2024-09-29T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=12000"},"modified":"2024-09-29T10:39:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T16:39:21","slug":"the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=12000","title":{"rendered":"The Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is not strange to us.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is us.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, September 29, 2024<\/h1>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Like the trees all bent, and the flowers in bloom,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

we are all equally part of God\u2019s Creation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leviticus 19:34<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colossians 3:11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words of Grace For Today<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That guy or thing from outer space, that alien, we\u2019re supposed to welcome him-it, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when we cannot understand him-it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when he-it wants to destroy us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not so sure about that, but thank God, we are not likely going to have to deal with aliens in our land any time soon, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immigrants that are so different from us, refugees who have been reduced to something other than normal by the trauma they have survived, strangers from other countries with strange looks and even stranger customs \u2013 well those we have to deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a huge problem with treating them just like ourselves, though. The economy just cannot provide for them as it provides for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And therefore so many of the comfortable, privileged, and wealthy (those not struggling to have clean air, water, nourishing food, sufficient shelter) say categorically that those strangers, those refugees, those immigrants are a big problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We have an immigrant problem, a refugee problem, and an temporary immigrant worker problem!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or so they say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real problem is us, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a comfort, privilege, wealth problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have too much while so many other people on earth have far too little,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and we don\u2019t want to give it all up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

just to help a few others. (Well, billions others, really)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are strangers to God\u2019s Word:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free ….<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have forgotten that we or our ancestors all were at some time aliens, immigrants, refugees, and strangers. (Some of us are still a bit odd, a bit strange, come to think of it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution to our refugee, immigrant, temporary immigrant worker, and stranger problems is to put a refugee, an immigrant, a temporary immigrant worker, a stranger in charge of the the problem and give them the authority and means to solve the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution to our comfort, privilege, wealth problem is …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it\u2019s scary, because it will eliminate all comfort, privilege, wealth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and everyone will enjoy or suffer equitably the resources we have and can produce for each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one is an alien, not here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all a bit strange,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strange to the Word of God that would have us live completely equitably, fairly, justly, and compassionately towards one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is not strange to us, it is us, as we continually try to live as strangers to God and God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what are we going to do about that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today! Of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is not strange to us. It is us. Sunday, September 29, 2024 Like the trees all bent, and the flowers in bloom, we are all equally part of God\u2019s Creation. Leviticus 19:34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for … Continue reading “The Problem”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,21,61,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flowers","category-holy","category-imagine","category-trees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12000"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12008,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12000\/revisions\/12008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}