Apparently, getting to know people is a requirement of truly loving them (borrowed from a Ted Talk by Lee Mun Wah entitled "The secret to changing the world" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp5SNpCtiWk).
I'm pretty good at loving people by serving them, thinking about them, praying for them. I'm not great at getting to know them (I'm calling it an area for growth). I'm nice to people who look, talk and act differently than I, but I usually don't go out of my way to get to know them. And as Christmas approaches, it strikes me how very un-Christian this is.
For isn't this what Jesus is: God's decision to get to know humanity, which looks, talks and acts VERY differently than God? And isn't choosing to pass over those who differ from us the opposite of WWJD? Jesus chooses to be with those who differ from him - those the dominant culture calls "other". His language and motivations are different from those who rule, and so are misunderstood, and so are punished by the cross. When I demand that people of good will suppress their languages and motivations because I don't understand them, I am punishing them with the cross of alienation and shame. Forgive us, Father, for we know not what we do.
As we prepare to celebrate God's coming into the world, may God grace us with hearts to understand - to WANT to understand - each other, so that our Christmas gift to each other can be not a cross, but life.
(Thanks to my co-worker Heather Malveaux for the inspiration!)
