Weirdos? We don't want no stinking weirdos!

The first half of James chapter 2 is especially relevant to us in our culture today. There is a large degree of prejudice (read snobbery) among all kinds of people. I think about when I used to teach and used to see all of the cliques around the school. There were the jocks and their obvious sidekicks, who mostly wore sweats to school. Then there were the "fashionista" types who rarely had a hair out of place, let alone a piece of clothing that they wore that was over 2 months old. Then there were the "goths", and the punks, and the geeks and back to my day "The Marlboro Men"--they were the ones who hung around the back door of the school in their leather jackets and smoking like so many chimneys. Then it seemed like there was the group who didn't really belong to anyone, and who weren't socially confident enough to find one another so that they could band together and have their own group.

I'm pretty sure we could all look at the list and find ourselves in one of the above groups. And we could also identify the other groups we could operate easily in and the groups we wouldn't be caught dead with. I'm pretty sure you can look around the other students who attend our youth programs, be it Sunday nights, Sunday school, Small groups or the corporate worship at church, and identify their clique, even within the church. And the adults are no different.

Therein lies the problem.

What does God's word say about our penchant for forming and joining cliques and judging people based on those cliques? We don't have to go any further than James Chapter 2 verse 1: "My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. " In a nutshell, James is explaining the practical meaning behind the commandment Jesus said was second only to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength": You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Think about the times we look at a brother or sister in Christ with that critical eye: ooh, he must be weird, he raises his hands when he sings, or look at her, I don't think she showered today, or oh my gosh I wouldn't ever wear clothes like that, or doesn't he ever shower, or the catchall--they're just different from me. Throughout the first 13 verses of Chapter 2 James is explaining that anytime we view fellow Christians with the idea of only associating ourselves with those who are like us or those who will make us feel comfortable or look good, we are in violation of Jesus 2nd most important assignment.

Verse 9-10 are great food for thought:

But if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and are convicted by
the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps
the whole law and yet stumbles
in one point, he has become guilty of all.

We can be doing great things for God: our quiet time, serving in the church, witnessing to our friends, honoring our father and mother, but if we don't see our Christian brothers and sisters on the same level as we see the other members of our clique, we are still sinning against God.

How about you? Do you look around yourself at church and just love the fact that God loves all kinds of people, including you, with all your failures, and shortcomings, and weird hair? What do you say we make a commitment to do as Jesus asked and "Love our neighbors as ourselves" even if they're not the kind of people we would normally hang around with?