Makoon

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Published on Sunday, September 23, 2012

By: Rev. Glenna Beauchamp
Rivers and Oak River United Churches

We usually don’t think about bears unless they get too close and threaten us. We read about “nuisance” bears being relocated far away from humans and we think that’s just fine.

Except for one baby bear who made the newscasts every day, who got people sending e-mails, writing letters to newspapers, singing petitions, making phone calls.

This bear has a name, Makoon. And he has a story.A man rescued him from a ditch where he lay, almost dead. The man took him home, looked after him and named him. The man developed a relationship with this particular bear. A bear with a name and a story is a bear people can connect with. And they did.

The same is true for certain groups of people: “street people” “Aboriginals”, “teenagers,” “seniors.” As long as they are only part of a category, a kind of sub-species of humanity, they have no connection with us. But God has given every person on this earth a name.

God has made every person part of His story. God has named each person His beloved child.The people we quickly put in a category and forget are not as cute as a baby bear. But each one has a name and a story. Their humanity, dignity and worth are given to them by God.

God connects them to us by naming them our brothers and sisters, part of His human family.