"A Pastoral Message" - May / June / July 2021
The week after Easter our daughter
and her family went on a trip for five or six
days. While they were away, it was my job to
be the pet goldfish sitter. Every day I went to
their house to feed the goldfish those very
thin flakes of fish food. By the fifth day I
began to feel a personal connection with the
fish. Feeding the pet goldfish reminded me of the
experiments done with fish that were placed
in a large tank of water which had a sheet of
glass set in the middle. This separated the fish
into two groups. The fish very quickly settled
into a routine. Fish in each group would swim
from their end of the tank to the glass
partition. Then they would swim back again.
Back and forth they fish would swim. Then,
one day, the glass partition was removed.
The interesting thing is that the
swimming patterns of the fish didn’t change.
The fish still turned around when they
reached the point where the barrier had
been. Each fish continued to swim only in half
of the tank.
The questions I hope you will ask
yourself are these:
Is there a barrier that separates you
from certain other people or groups?
Is your concern for others, your
compassion and understanding attitude
reserved for your own side of the tank only?
As Christians we are called to break
through the partitions of hate, resentment,
suspicion and prejudice that separates,
divides and isolates us from other human
beings; regardless of their ethnicity, race,
religion or orientation. The Bible clearly tells
us that Jesus loves them all. For it was Jesus
who emphatically said, “Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you. Bless those
who curse you.”
In these very unusual and troubled
times of increased intolerance and hatred
toward certain groups of people, the
teachings of Jesus are so greatly needed. Let
us pray that perhaps for the first time we, and
Christians everywhere, actually try to take
seriously and live by the mandate of Jesus to
“love one another.”
All praise to God,
Rev. Leigh Pezet, Pastor
E-mail: lepez100@gmail.com
