"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there
is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."
Galatians 3:28 (NRS)

A second-grader was educating his parents on the ways of the K-2
school bus world:

"There are four kinds of kids on the bus," he explained. "Dorkies, wimpies,
mediums, and cool."

His parents smiled at one another. "Who determines who is what?"

"Well," he continued. "The dorkies and wimpies are mostly kindergarten
and 1st graders. The mediums are 2nd graders... with some 1st graders
mixed in. But the cool kids are definitely second grade kids."

"So which one are you?" his mom asked.

He grinned. "Right now I'm a medium kid... but I'm working my way up to
being cool."

No matter what age we are, we all have ways of defining who's in and who's
out. From lunch tables and locker rooms to workplaces and neighborhoods,
we seek to establish lines of demarcation.

James and John attempted to do it when they asked Jesus if He would
reserve them seats of honor on either side of Him. Mark (Chapter 10) tells
us that the other disciples were "indignant" when they overheard the
brothers' request. Chances are, their anger may have been as much about
jealousy as it was about righteousness.

The truth is that we all want to belong. We all want to be included. We want
to know that we are accepted. We want to be -- for lack of a better term --
"cool."

Here is the good news: In the Kingdom of God, all are included. No one gets
left out; everyone's in. We don't get to say who sits in the back of the bus or
who is the most important in the company. In the economy of God, everyone
matters and everyone counts.

May we live today, knowing that in God's eyes... we are "cool."