Today's lesson from the Hebrew scriptures tells us that "The Egyptians came to dread the Israelites." The Israelites were different; they worshipped a different God. We can recognize that dread, the fear of the unknown that rises up from deep within when we don't know what to expect from some group or another. They don't look like us; they don't talk like us; they don't behave like us. We are uncomfortable, ill at ease, wondering how to deal with them.

We all recognize that initial "fight or flight" reaction, but over our lifetimes, we come to know that other responses are more helpful in the long run. Christ Jesus calls us to love our enemies (Mt.5:44, Mk.6:27,Lk.6:35), but before we can love them we have to be able to accept them just as they are, as Christ accepts us. Once we realize that we, each and all, are children of God, no matter where we live, or what we look like, or what is important to us, we are on the road to acceptance. Since we are each unique in all God's creation, we know we have different experiences, different cultures that tend to mold us in different ways, different views of the world. When we can accept those differences, maybe we can begin to live into our baptismal promises and come "to respect the dignity of every human being."

Perhaps those niggling feelings of dread that we notice when we see or hear those others who seem so different can serve as red flags to get our attention, to alert us to our prejudices, our bigotry, our need for change. In some profound way, it seems those different folks who come our way day by day are gifts of God sent to enable us to open our hearts to self-giving love, gifts to accept with joy, not dread.