Who is the Other, the Alien, the Foreigner?

Job 19:15 (NIV)

“My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger.”

Psalm 69:8 (NIV)

“I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children.”

Not too long ago I was reading a book by a Benedictine nun. As I read, she kept talking about “the other”. I pictured the other as someone terrible. It took a while, but finally I figured out that she was talking about me. The other was anyone who was not part of her Benedictine community. It made me stop and think about how it felt to be the other. After all, when I think about the other, it isn’t me; it is someone else. It is someone who is not like me. Then I thought about other times when I had felt like the other. When I was in the Boy Scouts, I worked for several years as a staff member at a summer camp. The camp was for white scouts. Toward the end of that time, after the white-only scout season was over, the camp was opened to black scouts. With a few other staff members, for two years, I stayed at the camp during that time to help black scouts do the same thing that I had been doing. I felt like the other. On another occasion, I had the opportunity to visit a service at a synagogue. Not a single person spoke to me. In fact, as I sat there, I could hear all those around me talking about the Gentiles, i.e., the other, me. I have also had the opportunity to visit several all-black churches. I was always welcomed. These experiences made me think about how I feel about and treat others. They don’t have to talk, look, and dress like me, nor do I have to be like them. After all, God invites us all to the table. Wouldn’t the world be dull if they were all like me? There should be no other. We are all one in Christ.

Prayer:

Dear God, help us as we go through this day and encounter others, to remember that they may see us as the other. Help us to see them and treat them not as the other, but as loved members of your family. Amen.

This devotional was written by Alvin Jenkins and read by Cliff McCartney

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

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First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.