Wednesday 12 March 2008

Rich and poor

Jean has some thoughts about coming from a background of privilege.

She quotes a passage from James that it's easy to skip past:

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4)


Very easy to favour 'important' people.

3 comments:

Ben said...

I was thinking about this lately, when ACL posted a link to a letter from, "a senior layman, Professor Glynn Harrison of the University of Bristol". (Link)

What makes him a 'senior layman'? Would he still be a senior layman if he had no degrees and was unemployed?

His letter was very good, and it sounds like he is a thoughtful and active member of his church and the Communion, but I think I'm much more likely to listen to him regarding church matters because, outside the church, he's a highly qualified, well educated individual. That doesn't make sense, does it?

Gordon Cheng said...

Exactly, Ben!

The Economist is a secular magazine that doesn't give the name of the authors of the articles. Tony Payne, a senior deacon at The Briefing, ;-) normally doesn't give anything but the name for the articles we print.

Good letter but. Thanks for the link.

Pete said...

It is a good post.

I had some discussions with my parents about this.

I've been worried that the natural earthiness of my background (coming from the west) is slowly being eroded by living in the pristine north (and working in the CBD in a job that is all about delivering "quality").

But in the end I guess it comes down to a bit of pride as well (even that reverse Westie pride).

Mum reassured me of many Christians she knew of through her years that had managed to live this out in practice, and ended up treated the same as those around.