Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews is called the faith chapter. In it the author recounts the stories of Old Testament who had acted on faith. The author doesn’t say that we inherit any goodness or faith from them, but he does propose them as models for us to emulate. I think that if the author of Hebrews was alive here, today, he would have included my friend Eva, who was a member of our church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Eva was a small, thin woman, and she spoke with a soft, sweet, southern accented voice. These traits were misleading, however, for she was intelligent, perceptive, articulate and forceful, when appropriate. She had retired as a foreman at a Western Electric manufacturing plant and had both men and women in her work group, which was unusual for a woman at the time. In our church community she was always kind, friendly, uplifting, positive and supporting. She was very sensitive of others, and I never heard her say a negative thing about anyone. Here is a small story about her.

One day she and her husband were stopped at an interstate highway rest area; I think they were probably around eighty when this happened, but they were still travelling with their small motor home. A woman came up to Eva and asked her if she could give her something for gas. Eva said that she had nothing on her, but if the woman would walk with her to their camper, Eva would give her something. When they got to the camper, Eva went inside. She came out and gave the woman a bottle of Gas-X. The woman seemed stunned for a moment, but then took the bottle, thanked Eva, and walked away.

Wait. This is not the main part of the story. Eva told me that they were about an hour down the road, when she realized that the woman had been asking for gas money, and Eva felt bad. Not because she hadn’t given the woman any money, although that was part of it, but rather because she was afraid that the woman might have felt that Eva was judging her, or looking down on her. She hoped that she hadn’t hurt the woman’s feelings.

This concern for others was typical of the way she lived her Christian life. She respected everyone, regardless of status, and made every effort to preserve their human dignity. She would never have used the `N-word’, nor `boy’, nor `girl’. She did not make negative ethnic references of any kind. For example, she never called me a `Yankee’, let alone a `damn Yankee,’ terms I had heard many times (and to which I was sensitive).

Today, this respect for the dignity of others is sometimes given a bad name – `political correctness’, but to me `political correctness’ is an example of Christianity in action. If God can love me unconditionally, and he does, shouldn’t I show my love for others by only using words that respect their dignity?

Jim