Dear Parish Family,
John the Baptist knew how to call out the privilege of pedigree.
"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
That type of privilege is something I took note of during my career as a scientist. People who went to the right graduate school got the best post-doctoral fellowships. People who did a prestigious fellowship got hired into the best faculty positions. Those people had the best track record at getting their proposals funded and so on.
The privilege of pedigree sets us up for moral failure because it separates people early into two tracks, one of which facilitates success and the other making it an obstacle course. The latter path isn’t impossible to traverse, but it’s a tough one. We live in a culture that is ultra transactional. There are gold stars and demerits, and the people who decide what is worthy and what is not often fashion the notions of worth based upon their past experience of what they value as swell as a self-perception of value. Everything is assigned a value, and value becomes an idol.
John the Baptist called out the privilege of pedigree because it was a way of prompting people into the humility that God desires of the righteous. Until a person can let go of “Don’t you know who I am?” pride, that same person cannot face the Creator ready to learn who God is—ready to learn who everyone else is—beloveds of God.
What if we were to assume that everyone has value simply because God made us? What if we formed relationships under the assumption there is joy to be found in loving without justification? Isn’t that what Jesus did?
At the occasion of a wedding, I always remind the couple at the start of the liturgy that marriage is for the purpose of mutual joy. On more than one occasion I have wished that I had said the same thing at the occasion of a baptism: joining the Body of Christ is for the purpose of mutual joy. To form a relationship because it adds value to one’s life is a little bit backward. To form a relationship because it brings mutual joy is to let go of privilege and the metric of worth, embracing the practice of love without rhyme or reason—love because that is how we were meant to live. That is how we build the foundation of the beloved community. Think outside the box.
In love and joy,
Pan +