Reepham & Wensum Valley Team Churches - at the Heart of the Community

Jesus: His status – our status.

 

At Café Church on 5th July we talked about Jesus, his ‘status’ and how we see status today. Below is an except taken from the weekly newsletter written by Annabel Dack alongside notes from our discussions.

Café Church is a great service to come to if you enjoy learning more and discussing what Christianity looks like in everyday life. It is a less formal service with music and readings and an opportunity to come together with friends and neighbours across the benefice.

“This week in Café Church (see below) we will be discussing Jesus and his ‘status’ as well as our understanding of ‘status’ today. 

It reminds me of a question which came up on my 7 year old son’s English work this week. We had a picture of a shipwreck and we had to use our imagination to write and draw a story to go with it. One of the questions was “If a millionaire is shipwrecked on a desert island, are they still a millionaire?” 

Technically, we agreed they are. They still have money in the bank. However, their circumstances mean that they can’t spend or make use of that money. It is essentially worthless to them and the status of “millionaire” is meaningless. 

Is status given to us by society; a reflection of what people see in us or equate to being worthy? For example, if the world stopped using money and started trading with beads, I might possibly be a millionaire. I wouldn’t be a different person, nothing else would have changed other than the value society had put on me. (As it is the shelves in my study are just jam packed.)

And what of Jesus? He spent much of his time with those who were of low status or outcast but is also the Son of God. Whilst thinking about this topic today I was researching images of Jesus from across the world and I was struck that so many pictures of Him were of an everyday man from the culture or country the artwork originated in. He is portrayed as ordinary, yet He is extraordinary; carpenter’s son, yet Son of God. Can we have more than one status? “

 

From our discussion we talked about how the Son of God was born in a stable, a King born in poverty and not afforded the birth or privilege of those of high status. We  discussed how the pandemic has made us re-evaluate status with those in traditionally “low-skilled” and low paid roles doing some of the most important work in keeping us fed, safe and ensuring places are kept clean. Has our view on status changed with celebrities taking a back seat as we celebrate the every day workers and people who are making a difference to us in our communities and locally? We noted that Jesus is not interested in our status, he accepts us all and is with us in suffering; we are never abandoned.