Others
They are not us. They are not like us. They are others.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. - Philippians 2:3-4
When we talk about others today, we tend to focus on the negative aspects of "The Other."
Seeing people as different from ourselves is considered bad and we assign a variety of labels to it, from racism to xenophobia, but what if the differences we see are good?
In today's reading, we are asked to see others as better than ourselves, to humble ourselves and bring the focus on them.
Of course, it helps if they do the same. Then we have a common ground on which to stand in equality. But putting the interests of others ahead of our own is not easy, and it may seem unfair, to some extent.
After all, shouldn't we be trying to treat everyone equally? Is that not our goal?
It is one thing to put you before me. That is my choice, to be humble and giving. But should I choose you before someone else, is that fair?
The lesson today is a personal one that work well one-on-one, and it also works if all do the same. Then each of us is making a choice for ourselves.
It is when we make choices and decisions for others that we run into trouble.
The letter to the Church in Philippi is telling the congregation how it should act with one another, and there is a good chance all will listen and try.
But what about those who are not of the congregation? Will they?
I guess the key here is our motivation. Do nothing fro selfish ambition or conceit. Why we do what we do matters. If in trying to be fair to all I seem to be ignoring the interests of a few, is that a bad thing?
If only there was a rule we could all follow. Maybe then we would find common ground.
It would be so precious, we might call it golden.
Do onto others.
More to come...