no favoritism

Last Friday morning I made a two-hour drive west on I-40 to Jackson to attend the funeral of Kathryn Stewart Highfill. Mrs. Highfill - or Mama High, as she was known by family members - died last Tuesday at the age of 92. I am not directly related to Mama High - she is the maternal grandmother of my first cousins - but I wanted to support my extended family and pay my respects to a remarkable woman.

Mrs. Highfill left her mark on this world primarily through her ministry as a pastor's wife. Her husband, Reverend Hayward Highfill, died in 1998, but during their fruitful fifty years of pastoral ministry, together they served five different congregations. Predictably, many of the stories that were shared at Mrs. Highfill's funeral recounted her experiences as a pastor's wife, and I found one of those stories to be particularly striking. 

Every Sunday, Mrs. Highfill chose to sit in a different place in the sanctuary. Her rationale? She didn't want to be accused of playing favorites, which is what she believed would happen if she sat with the same people every week. As I listened to that story, I thought about several passages of Scripture that address the issue of favoritism. In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul reminded the Roman Christians that "God does not show favoritism" (Romans 2:11). In his letter, James admonished his readers to follow God's example, warning that Christ followers who show favoritism are guilty of sin (James 2:1-9). Clearly, Mrs. Highfill took these words seriously. God doesn't play favorites; neither should we.