Our Minds--Open 24 hours-a-day

It's been nearly 13 years since I met with one of the most interesting groups of my ministry. It was a Bible discussion class of seven or so ladies and one or two men. All of them were over 70. We met weekly in their homes over coffee. They knew things about the past that should inform the future, but they weren't the kind of people who thought that returning to the past would solve the problems of the future. In fact, many of them were retired school teachers, so even at a golden age, they tended to be more progressive than some of their peers.
One day we had a guest instructor who spent 15 minutes railing about the evils of homosexuality and that AIDS was divine retribution for the sin of homosexuality. The women in the group sat quietly listening. When he concluded his argument, there was a slight pause and one of the some women, I think it was his wife, calmly said, "I don't believe that." There were nods and murmurs of affirmation around the room. Nobody needed to painstakingly search scripture for backing. They just knew. It wasn't reasonable. It wasn't their common experience. This was not the character of the God they worshipped.
Over the years, many of them shared their experiences of childhood segregation from their Roman Catholic neighbors. They remembered how they were taught to steer clear, make fun of, and generally ostracize their Catholic peers, because they were different. They even talked about crossing the road when they saw Catholics coming from the opposite direction. Over years, they had learned that they had much more in common with those Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ than they had imagined--but prejudice was painful and the un-learning curve had been long.
These living encylopedias of faith confidently negotiated the dips and curves of a changing world by opening their minds, hearts to new ideas and ways of being. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't always easy, and they were far from perfect, but they were open to a future informed by, but never dictated by the past.
They were people who trusted the character of their God as they shed learned prejudices in order to remain faithful to their barrier leaping God.