'Book Cover Bias' - Weekly Reflection 16th June

 

If you don’t judge a book by its cover, how do you judge it? I guess the obvious answer is to read it. Maybe read it more than once and possibly discuss it with others.

A friend who posts some very tongue in cheek comments on Facebook put this up recently.

‘Do the Scottish football team all wear kilts and have ginger beards and hair?’

On Wednesday last (12^th June) I took part in the first of three sessions with the Welcome Directory.  (https://www.welcomedirectory.org.uk/) The main thrust of their work is working with Faith Groups - ‘empowering Faith communities to welcome prison leavers.’  My home Church of St Oswald’s is registered, and I am the link person. These sessions are to introduce us to the charity and to explain and explore prison life and what it can mean to step out of prison and back into the community.

I have a vague memory of going around Rochdale market and my mum mentioning a man on one of the stalls being a murderer. He apparently murdered his wife. The comment I remember was that he had served his time and should be allowed to get on with his life.  (This was not spoken to me; I was only very young. But it shows we need to be careful what we say around even very young children)

In HMP Stafford there is a slogan in several places, ‘We do not release ex-offenders, but citizens back into the community.’

The first training session invited us to explore what stepping out of prison might feel like and what might help those being released.

This linked in perfectly with another training session on Thursday night (13^th June) ‘Unconscious Bias.’  This was put on by the Diocese of Coventry.  We all carry biases that are formed by our life experiences.  However, what we need to explore and be aware of are those biases that sit ‘below the surface.’ That means we need to ‘read the book.’  It is natural to make a first assessment and we do this as a matter of safety.  Can I trust this person. But that is only the cover and not the book. However, we have a problem because we live in a world of sound bites and ‘first level relationships.’   When it comes to something like Facebook, we often have a mile wide circle of ’friends’ but they are only an inch deep.

There are any number of instances of biases in the Scriptures and this one from John 1:46  is very informative.  “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

Philip’s response is one we can seek to emulate when faced with a bias like this, ‘come and see.’ Come and read the book, try to see what’s going on inside. What’s the full story, what’s the bigger picture.

Happy Reading!