Human Relations Day

This devotional considers the Human Relations Day call to United Methodists to recognize the right of all God’s children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with one another.     

THOUGHT:

I must admit a “guilty pleasure” that I absolutely love, and that is Netflix. My daughter, attempting to lure me into the 21^st century, purchased an iPad for me and on weekends, I love to watch the movies and documentaries. I can’t do anything else with it because I am techno-challenged but I LOVE watching the movies!

One aspect that particularly draws me in is documentaries. I am a self-proclaimed “marshmallow heart” and a geographical/cultural nerd. I really enjoy learning about other people all over the world, and specifically about their languages, their culture, and their history. Humanity.

One documentary I watched was entitled: “City of Joy.”  Although it was intriguing and wonderful to watch, it was also scary and convicting. It was about the war in the Congo. The war itself is no longer “officially” occurring but the aftermath and destruction from the war still exists. The women of the Congo are continually subjected to gender violence and in fact it is a “weapon” of war now, as it is in other countries around the world. The City of Joy is a compound where these women are brought to be healed, not only physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as well. A French doctor and several other wonderful people run the hospital there and help to bring these poor women back into society through the love of God. Another documentary was called Shanti Bhavan. It is about a special school in India for the poorest of the poor. There is still a caste system in India and many children of the lower castes never receive an education. Yet, this school is offered to those children from Kindergarten – High School. The success rate is amazing! To see a small child who was lucky to maybe have one meal a day, go to this school, learn, and thrive and become successful in their career is so heart-warming.

In both cases, what struck me most was the humanity. These people were of different religions, different races and heritage, different skin colors, and yet the people who run City of Joy and Shanti Bhavan do not see any of the differences. They notice only the humanity in front of them. They see someone in need of food, or medical care, or an education, and they reach out to them. They do not need to fit neatly into a special groove or prove themselves in some way or try to live up to any kind of standards. They only need to be humans, humans with a need to be addressed.

Considering that God made each of us, it shouldn’t be a great surprise that we are all different. “God don’t make no junk,” right? It is our job to ignore the differences as well and to reach out to others, to all of Gods’ children in need. Whenever we see someone who is hungry, scared, or cold, we should be showing human kindness. That is the love of God. To reach out to fellow humans, regardless of their circumstances. Remember that Christian “love” is a verb. There is love, the “noun” and there is actually “doing” something about it by “loving” someone. Action.

Sunday, January 16 is Human Relations Day. Let’s celebrate it, not only that day, but yearlong. Let’s proactively look around us at “humanity” and see what our part is in Gods’ work. Let’s “relate” to the humanity before us and try and do something kind and positive. Jesus did. He healed lepers and blind men. He welcomed the children. He sat and ate with sinners. Humanity was anyone and everyone. The best part of all is he used love as a verb. By dying on the cross, He “loved” us, humanity, into eternal life with Him.

PRAYER:

Creator God, Creator of all humanity, we come to You asking you to show us how we can help others. Help us to be blind to our differences but have our eyes wide open when it comes to giving to those in need. Help us Dear Lord to seek out humanity in whatever shape or form it presents itself and give us the compassion needed to make a difference in someone’s life. Help us celebrate Your amazing work in the best way possible – caring in kindness for others.