The state of the professing church today, in this case a large baptist church in Essex.

When Jesus and his family lived in Egypt, I wonder if anyone asked them where they were from?

This piece darkened my inbox recently writes Mark Birch. I think it gives us yet another insight in to the state of the professing church today, in this case a large baptist church in Essex.

"I leave you to your own conclusions as always"........

EBA - Thought for the Week: Abridged version. When Jesus and his family lived in Egypt, I wonder if anyone asked them where they were from? It would be a mistake to assume that ancient Egyptians and Israelites would have looked the same.  The way they dressed, spoke, their customs and the God they worshipped would have set Mary, Joseph and Jesus apart.  They must have felt 'othered' on many occasions as they were reminded that they didn't really belong or fit in the country that they had entered as refugees. Upon their return to Israel, Jesus grew up in Nazareth in rural Galilee.   I wonder if one of the reasons that the Pharisees found him so difficult to relate to, was that they perceived him to be a simple country bumpkin?  On one occasion people said, 'Nazareth!  How can the Messiah come from Galilee?' (John 7:41), on another Nathaniel said, 'Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there?' (John 1:46).   Last week, Ngozi Fulani was invited to Buckingham Palace.  She was there representing the London-based charity Sista Space  which supports women of African and Caribbean heritage affected by domestic and Caribbean heritage affected by domestic and sexual abuse.  The conversation that was widely reported in the news is cringeworthy with the repeated question of 'where are you from' being fired at Ms Fulani.  Given that the event was being run to increase awareness of violence against women and girls, it's astonishing that the question wasn't 'tell me about your work' or better still, 'how can I become more like you?. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus spent much of life being 'othered'.  He was judged unfairly because of his ethnicity as well as his cultural and geographic background.   Thankfully, Jesus is the opposite to those who would 'other' people.   As God, Jesus could have looked down on us but instead he chose to become like us, as 'the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us' John1:14 Jesus came into a hurting world and chose to act compassionately and to demonstrate what true humanity should look like.  I thank God that instead of othering us that Jesus chose to embrace us.