My Blog

Tag: prejudice

  • Enemies of Discernment: Prejudice

    Prejudice: You can't live with it and you can't live without it.  That is to say, it's in our DNA.  Everybody is infected with prejudice, to one degree or another.  The prejudice I'm talking about is what the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines this way:

    a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge 
    b : an instance of such judgment or opinion
    c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics

    Spiritual discernment is a process of reaching a decision based on divine guidance.  The prejudice that lives within us clouds our ability to see the person, situation, or object of our discernment with clarity before we ever approach the throne of grace.

    I was thinking about this recently when my wife and I were in an aircraft that was making the final descent before landing at an airport.  The clouds were thick and there was some turbulence.  Looking out the window, I could not see the sky above or the earth below.  What lay ahead was not clear.  It was literally "clouded" from view.  And, if I couldn't see where I was going when I looked out my window, I was pretty sure the pilot couldn't see where he was going when he looked out his window either!  Why was I not scared stiff?  Because I was assured that the aircraft had an electronic guidance system and, as long as it was functioning properly, it would guide us safely through the clouds to our destination.

    Perhaps this is a pretty simplistic attempt to describe the effects of prejudice and the power of divine guidance in our lives.  But if the divine guidance system is not engaged to help us move through the clouds of prejudice, our decisions can not only be wrong, they can result in a crash!

    When Solomon dedicated the Temple, God gave him a vision of a place that would come to be known as "A House of Prayer for All People" – not just a place for God's special people, but a place for ALL people.  That must have been a big surprise and a radical concept to God's special people at the time.  In Solomon's dedicatory prayer, he says, "Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name —for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays towards this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built" (I Kings 8:41-43).

    When God sent Samuel to Jesse's house near Bethlehem to anoint the one who would be the new king over God's people, David was the last one of Jesse's sons Samuel would have chosen.  The other sons looked to him like really good choices.  But God said, "the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7b).  Samuel had to have divine help to move through the clouds of the prejudice that prevented him from seeing God's choice.

    Despite Jesus' numerous attempts to get the point across, Peter still thought the gospel was not intended for Gentiles.  Then, one day, he had this dream about Cornelius and his family.  The experience that followed the dream made it possible for Peter to understand the universality of Jesus' redemptive work.  He blurted out, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34)

    Jesus was God Incarnate! Yet even Jesus had to face the prejudicial aspect of his humanity.  When a Syrophoenecian woman approached him with the request that he cast a demon out of her daughter, his answer was harsh and laden with prejudice: "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs" (Mark 7:27).  But the conversation continued, as the woman responded, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter" (Mark 7:28-29).  This is the origin of the words of the Prayer of Humble Access, which we often pray, "We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou are the same Lord whose property is to always have mercy" (Book of Common Prayer, page 337). I believe that the woman's response to Jesus caused him to realize that he'd expressed the prejudicial aspect of his humanity and he allowed divinity to sweep the cloud away and treat the woman and her daughter with compassion.  Had he not been able to deal with this pervasive human trait, the Incarnation would not have been complete.
     
    Maybe you are prejudiced toward people of a different race or ethnicity.  Possibly you don't like people who aren't as smart as you think you are.  Could your discernment be clouded by your bias about gender, sexual orientation, handicaps, regional differences, wardrobe, socio-economic status, or even tattoos? Whatever prejudice is clouding your spiritual discernment today, I pray that you will stop and face it so that God can help guide you through to the right decision. At the end of the day, in your discernment, have you fulfilled your Baptismal promise to "respect the dignity of every human being?"

    Joni Mitchell's 1969 hit song, Both Sides Now, has always seemed to me to a very spiritual ballad about the impact of clouds upon one person's journey.  I confess that I am prejudiced toward Judy Collins' rendition.

     

    Bows and flows of angel hair
    And ice cream castles in the air
    And feather canyons everywhere
    I've looked at clouds that way

    But now they only block the sun
    They rain and snow on everyone
    So many things I would have done
    But clouds got in my way

    I've looked at clouds from both sides now
    From up and down, and still somehow
    It's cloud illusions I recall
    I really don't know clouds at all

    Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
    The dizzy dancing way you feel
    As every fairy tale comes real
    I've looked at love that way

    But now it's just another show
    You leave 'em laughing when you go
    And if you care, don't let them know
    Don't give yourself away

    I've looked at love from both sides now
    From give and take, and still somehow
    It's love's illusions I recall
    I really don't know love at all

    Tears and fears and feeling proud
    To say "I love you" right out loud
    Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
    I've looked at life that way

    Oh but now old friends are acting strange
    They shake their heads, they say I've changed
    Well something's lost but something's gained
    In living every day

    I've looked at life from both sides now
    From WIN and LOSE and still somehow
    It's life's illusions I recall
    I really don't know life at all

    I've looked a
    t life from both sides now
    From up and down and still somehow
    It's life's illusions I recall
    I really don't know life at all
    Ron Short Sig Blue

  • Rush to Judgment

    We all use judgment every day as we make and enact decisions, form and express opinions, determine and embrace truth.  Judgment is a process as well as the actions we take on the basis of the outcome of that process.

    Here's the Webster's definition of judgment:

    The process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing; an opinion or estimate so formed; the capacity for judging; DISCERNMENT; the exercise of this capacity; a proposition stating something believed or asserted.

    Most of us make reasonably good judgments most of the time.  Problems arise when our judgments are faulty, wrong, or premature.  It's the premature ones that are on my mind today.

    When we reach a judgment with too little discernment or investigation, we speak or act out on the basis of ignorance.  The position we have formed is not correctly oriented toward reality or is lacking in factual basis.  A rush to judgment is often referred to as prejudice, especially when it involves an individual or group of individuals.  It is harmful to relationships when opinions toward other people are formed and expressed in ways that discredit, disrespect, or demean them.  Something similar happens when our premature judgment has to do with a policy or viewpoint.  And, when prejudice involves both policies and the people who espouse or enact them, the consequences can be serious.

    In a recent television series, a character made a statement that goes something like this: "Eternal ignorance is a result of failure to investigate."  I asked my Facebook network if anyone knew the origin of the statement, because it sounded like a quotation to me.  One of my friends shared a quotation from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

    "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

    The concept expressed in that statement has become a part of the A.A. way of life.  It is often attributed to Herbert Spencer, although others believe it is derived from the writings of 18th Century British theologian William Paley.

    Someone I once knew described prejudice as "a blend of arrogance and ignorance."  When I asked him to expand on that for me, he said, "it's when you are proud of what you don't know."

    We owe it to our neighbors, whom we are called to love, to avoid rushing to judgment and to resist the primitive human inclination toward prejudice.  Prejudging others is behavior that is contrary to the vow we have taken in the Baptismal Covenant:

    Q:  Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

    A:  I will, with God's help.

    Overcoming the tendency to rush to judgment has to be intentional. Jesus offered some sound wisdom on the matter:

    "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s  eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour,  'Let me take the speck out of your eye', while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye." – Matthew 7:1-5

    Stephen Covey puts it this way in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

    It is a simple principle. Yet our own experience and observation tells us it is difficult to apply. That's why our answer is, "I will, with God's help."  If we could accomplish it on our own, we wouldn't need God.  Prejudice is an offense against God because it is harmful to others and stems from a disregard for God's influence in our lives.  As such, it is practical atheism – we say we believe in God, but he just doesn't have much to do with how we live our lives.

    Why is this on my mind today?  There are probably several reasons, but the main reason is a man who recently told me the story of how he embraced the Christian faith under the influence of Christian missionaries in his African village.  When he came to America to attend a university, he encountered racial prejudice.  He was so shocked that he believed the missionaries had lied to him and he rejected his faith. I had the privilege of presenting him to the bishop for Confirmation last Sunday.

    While the story has a happy ending, I have to wonder how many others have been so hurt by prejudice – any kind of prejudice – that they have rejected Christianity and will never return. 

    So, let us pray today for the humility to look beneath the surface of our own limited perceptions in our search for truth and that all people – not just those who govern – may be led to "wise decisions and right actions for the welfare and peace of the world."

    Ron