Today's Scripture Reading (February 9, 2025): Numbers 29
As Donald Trump took office for the second time, becoming the forty-seventh President of the United States, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Initiatives took center stage. During the 2024 presidential campaign, President Trump promised to end these programs, restoring a meritocracy in the United States. The concept behind a meritocracy is that people receive positions based on their ability or merit rather than for some other reason; the best person received the job instead of the person who checked some other box, like gender or race. The reason DEI programs existed was not because we didn't want a meritocracy but because ingrained racism often meant that white men received jobs for which women or a racial minority were better qualified. DEI programs meant that these skilled people had to be considered for the open position, something that wouldn't have happened without some kind of an inclusion program.
The reality is that DEI programs were never a permanent solution to the problem of jobs being given because of gender or race rather than to the best-qualified person. At best, they were a stop-gap measure to get us to the point where we stopped penalizing people for their gender or race and started to recognize the merit that can be found among all people of all nations and races. And some industries have always been excluded from these DEI initiatives. And one of those industries is the Christian Church.
One example in the Christian Church is the role of women. Some denominations prohibit women from having places of leadership in the church, whether those positions are paid, volunteer, or even elected. In these areas, women need not apply. Even if the denomination does not prohibit women from leadership, I have met with church boards who have been extremely reluctant to consider a woman pastor for their empty pulpits. The Christian Church, even in the most tolerant areas, is still essentially a men's club and often a white men's club. The radical equality that I read about in the Bible is still beyond the experience of many Christians.
With the shutdown of DEI programs in the United States, the questions that rage are whether we simply don't need them anymore or whether this is about a desire to step back to the way things used to be.
The eighth day of the Festival of Tabernacles was the last and greatest day of the eight-day celebration. It is an idea that was stressed in the Christian Gospel of John.
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39).
Jesus says anyone can come, regardless of gender, age, race, or any other dividing line we might want to draw. But even more important is the reality that while sacrifices are required on all eight days of the festival, the sacrifices required on the eighth day are less than those demanded on any other day. It is a nod toward the idea that the sacrificial system itself was temporary. The day would come when the sacrifices would no longer be needed because the one would come who would be our sacrifice for sin, once and literally for all, regardless of on which side of a dividing line we might stand.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 30
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