What Does Acceptance Means

The theme our group has chosen is acceptance. The virtue of acceptance means we accept ourselves and others just the way we are. It means to love and welcome everyone just like Jesus Christ. There is nothing wrong in being different because we’re all perfect. God created all of us and He makes no mistakes.
An accepting person is happy with who he/she is, treats everybody equally, and is non-judgmental. This is especially important in today’s society because we face so much discrimination. Discrimination causes people to feel ashamed in themselves because of what they “categorize” in. They are treated unjustly because of their differences. By learning to be more accepting, we can prevent ourselves from performing these unjust actions, and
prevent others from feeling discluded for their characteristics. Moreover, we’ll be able to avoid unnecessary conflict and work for the greater good instead.
Personally, I find acceptance an important virtue in my life. Not only do I witness acts of discrimination every day, I also am responsible for partaking in them in one way or another. For example, I tend to make assumptions and judge people based on them (depending on their appearance, gender, race etc.). This topic is important to me because I want to become a more accepting person. I want to become someone who is welcoming towards everyone through my actions. Regarding personal experiences, I’m very fortunate to not have experienced any acts of discrimination or forms of bullying. However, there are people around me who experience it daily. Everyday examples that I often see are: not being included or treated the same because of their appearance, assuming things because of their race, and disrespect towards others because of their religion. In my previous school, I used to feel uncomfortable with everyone because I was the only Chinese person there. I soon forgot about this after meeting great friends who accepted and welcomed me as a person. I want this to be the case for everyone. They should be proud of who there are from the love and support given to them by their family and friends.
Furthermore, the choices of our group in songs, prayers, and petitions all correlate to our theme of acceptance.
The opening song, “Where is the Love?” sings about how the world is lacking in love. The only love we have is for our own race which only leaves room for discrimination and hate. Our lack of understanding leads us away from unity. The closing song, “Born this Way” sings about accepting yourself. “ There is nothing wrong with loving who you are” because God made us perfect with no mistakes. We are all beautiful in our own way and shouldn’t bring ourselves down because of what others say. Additionally, the general theme of acceptance is more than what it appears to be. It involves aspects such as equality, understanding, respect, and unity as well. We wrote our prayers and petitions according to these so they relate to our overall
theme. I feel that my group selected a good theme because acceptance covers a whole range of topics (equity, unity, respect etc.). It also has a big impact on society, particularly towards teens. Since the majority of the audience we’re presenting to are teenagers, we thought it’d be a good idea to choose something they could relate to. That way, we can make a bigger change and influence them.
Our main goal is to make our audience think about what they can do once our liturgy has finished so we can work to achieve a better world that is peaceful and harmonious
The scripture reading that I chose is James 2: 3-4, “³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” This passage conveys the theme of our liturgy because it’s about judging and treating others unfairly based on their wealth.
In other words, it is a form of discrimination and an example of what acceptance is not like. By “making distinctions among yourselves” we are picking out our differences and making unjust judgements from them. Our thoughts and intentions become evil because we automatically assume that one person is better than the other. Instead of equality and unison, we separate ourselves due to our dissimilarities. I chose this passage because acceptance is about welcoming others despite their differences. Despite the two men having differences in wealth, we must still treat them equally because we’re all God’s creation. Jesus doesn’t care about our differences, so why should we? To prevent ourselves from becoming “judges with evil thoughts,” it is important to practice the virtue of acceptance and to love everyone as it is the message we are trying to get
across.