Discerning Exclusion and Inclusion

Normal Orthodox Christianity both includes and excludes. The truth is a mature person needs to learn how to discern when to do both!

In a society obsessed with “equality” and “rights,” know that getting discernment wrong and learning when to include and when to exclude has real, often destructive, consequences!

And whoever tells you they never exclude anyone is either lying or foolish!

One of the most powerful byproducts of a Normal Orthodox formation is how the Faith, practiced seriously, develops and hones your ability to discern! The Fathers say discernment is one of the greatest gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wise and Faith Informed boundaries give me the ability to know when to “include” and when to “exclude.” And make no mistake, both are necessary if you are going to be a mature and healthy adult.

But, what happens when a boundary gets used to diminish the value of others or even exclude someone from the “group” simply because they are who they are?

Well, anyone who says there is no ambiguity here simply isn’t paying attention to real life.

But there is a way to navigate this ambiguity. It just takes a little faith and a life actively being filled with the Holy Spirit!

Look at our lesson today in Acts 21:26-32:

IN THOSE DAYS, Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself with them and went into the temple, to give notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for every one of them. When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up all the crowd, and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching men everywhere against the people and the law and this place; moreover he also brought Greeks into the temple, and he has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimos the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was aroused, and the people ran together; they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them; and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Here, St. Paul follows the advice of St. James to undergo a purification rite of the Jewish faith, in response to the slander being made about him that he was a destroyer of the Jewish faith.