18 November 2005

In "Do No Harm" Stephen Ray, Jr. is having us look at sin-talk. He has used two pairings of false attributions that will play heavily in his work. They are irresponsibility/marginalization and defilement/essentialization. Yesterday we linked welfare and sexual orientation to these pairings. Today we'll hear a bit more on this first pairing.

...irresponsibility/marginalization...relies on the presumption that there exists two primary groupings of persons within society: those whose presence is necessary and who therefore contribute to the well-being of society, and those whose presence is ambiguous and who therefore are potentially harmful to social well-being. Typically, those in the first group are persons who generally occupy places of social and economic privilege, while the latter designation is reserved for those on the bottom rungs of society's ladder. ... More often than not the fissure between the "necessary" and the "not necessary" groups is mediated not in the language of class, but rather in the discourse of social morality - values. So the moral fabric of society is what is understood to be at issue when this distinction is drawn.

Just think about the difference in how a middle class teen and a lower class teen are treated when one becomes pregnant or is found to be having sexual relations. One is trash...the other is just feeling his/her youthful "oats" as young people will do. Even when we look at a upper or middle class neighborhood and a lower class one. The two often do not come together because of the difference in values or the lack of morality that comes with being from "that" neighborhood. Several years ago, we put up two basketball courts in our church parking lot. One of the issues that generated the biggest comment had to do with some of "those" people from over "there" are going to be driving through our neighborhood. It was almost as though the morality of the neighborhood was going to go into the pit. Little did some of the complaining people know. Their "middle class" kids in our neighborhood were not acting with such a high standard of morality or values. Expensive clothing and a flash of money doesn't strengthen one's morality or give them good values.

Connection: We have all kinds of names that we use for people who are simply from an lower end of the economic spectrum within our society. We all know them. Resist the images and the use of those degrading labels. This will be the beginning of dealing honestly with one aspect of our sin-talk.

In your eyes, O God, you see your children. In your eyes, we all are embraced by your love and blessed for the day at hand. Help us to see through those eyes and to imagine the image of your face upon the face of our neighbors and the strangers around us. Amen.