The Moderator of the General Assembly explains why it is important not to believe there is only one course of action in moving forward.

“RAHAB!”

Is the name familiar to you? You will find her name mentioned in Joshua in the Old Testament and in Matthew 1, Hebrews 11 and James 2 in the New Testament.

Who was Rahab? Her profession is described as a prostitute! Yet, she is described as a woman of faith by the writer to the Hebrews and by James in his letter and by Matthew as part of the historical family line of Jesus. Surely there must be a mistake? Surely not a woman of that kind of pedigree being commended for her faith and goodness?

You can read the story of Rahab in Joshua chapters 2 and 6 and how she became part of the story of Israel. It is always a story that makes me stop and think about how God works in unusual ways and through unusual people and circumstances.

Linda, my wife, always warns against putting people into boxes. It is so easy to look at people, their lives and circumstances, and come to the wrong conclusion. It goes something like this:

“He, she, they, would not be interested in Jesus or Church.”

How do we arrive at that conclusion? It may be the lifestyle they pursue, the way they look or dress, the values they have, where they live, what is or indeed is not in their bank account – the list could go on. We create boxes and put people in them – it saves us the hard work of developing a relationship and getting to know the real person.

There is a wonderful book called Ghost Boy written by Martin Pistorius. Martin fell inexplicably ill at the age of 12 and he simply shut down. To all outward impressions he appeared comatose except that his mind began to recover after four years and for the next ten years he was “locked-in.” Here is how he describes his feelings about being a prisoner in his own body:

*“To other people I resembled a pot plant: something to be given water and left in the corner. Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn’t notice when I began to be present again.

“I’d been put into a box long before, after all. Each of us has……Boxes make us much easier to understand but they also imprison us because people don’t see past them.”

I wept several times reading that book. I wept for him, but I also wept for the many times I had treated other people in the same way – in prisons, hospitals, schools, church, local communities.

One of the wonderful things about Jesus is that he saw people for who they were – unique creations, made in the image of God and loved by God. Indeed He challenges us when we meet people, whoever they are and whatever their attitude or circumstances to adopt the following – “here I am in the presence of someone precious who has been made in the image of God.”

Here then is our challenge for mission – do not consciously or sub-consciously put anyone in a box and presume something that may be way off the mark.

Do not put the Church into a box by believing that there is only one way of doing something [the way it has “aye been”] and that there is no other way to be.

"It is so easy to look at people, their lives and circumstances, and come to the wrong conclusion.

Do not put yourself into a box, believing that you don’t have it in you to rise to new challenges – remember what God said to Moses and Jeremiah when they came up with a raft of excuses not to do what God was asking of them! Remember that it is through the unlikeliest of people that God has done some of His greatest work and it might be that someone like that is waiting to be discovered by you! 

 *Quote from Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius, Simon and Schuster 2012 page 16

The Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland during 2022/23 and is minister at Dunfermline: St Margaret’s.