Tie and Chain

James 2:2-4    Santiago2:2-4
    “Supongamos que en el lugar donde se reúnen entra un hombre con anillo de oro y ropa elegante, y entra también un pobre desharrapado. Si atienden bien al que lleva ropa elegante y le dicen: <<Siéntese usted aquí, en este lugar cómodo>>, pero al pobre le dicen: <<Quédate ahí de pie>> o <<Siéntate en el suelo, a mis pies>>, ¿acaso no hacen discriminación entre ustedes, juzgando con malas intenciones?”
    “For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”

    It is hard for me to imagine this specific scenario happening in a church today. For one thing the poor and the rich are not as easily determined by clothes anymore. Wealth is more often shown in things like cars and the size of a house. And even if social class could be determined that easily, I still can’t imagine the church body responding that way. But what about if one man was dressed neatly with a tie, and another comes in with torn black clothes and gothic make up? Already, I could see the congregation judging him--myself counted among them.
    I need to be careful of all my preconceived notions about people based on how they choose to dress.