Our son Nate, and his wife, Krista, have adopted a dog named Moose. He is a mixed breed, a black-haired Goldendoodle. This oxymoron causes me some concern. It could be the root of a identify crisis down the road - how is one both black and golden? I mean what if Moose goes to obedience school, and all the other Goldendoodles laugh and call him names, and don't let him play in any Goldendoodle games?

Prejudice is no laughing matter.  As Canada welcome tens of thousands of mostly Muslim, Syrian refugees, how we receive them, welcome them and include them will test our mettle.

One of the often overlooked biblical themes in scripture is the sacred concern God has for the peoples of other nations. This theme flows from the beginning of the Bible, starting with Abraham being a blessing,  "and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you, " (Gen. 12:3), and continues right through into Revelation, where the Kingdom vision is for "the healing of the nations," (Rev.22).  The Biblical stories also remind us that there is a great deal of chaos, sin, violence, war, and bloody discrimination along the way in achieving such an end (sadly, often done in God's name).

Let us not forget that Middle Eastern pagans  came to find Jesus in Bethlehem, a theological foreshadowing of God's promises. Or remember that Joseph took his family and fled to Egypt as a refugee, to escape Herod's violence. Jesus' own genetic heritage is found in the foreigner and refugee, Ruth. There are references to the alien in the Torah that protect them from persecution, and so on.

Violence done in the name of any religion  is an anathema, a blasphemy, a scandal, a heresy, but so is racial bigotry and our failure to love one another, even our so-called enemy.  I am not saying it is ever easy, just expected, as one of  our sacred obligations and witness to Christ.

"Here is my servant,  whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations," (Is. 42:1)

Dale