Huzzah to Pluto and Why this Matters to the Church

Remember when scientists decided that Pluto was no longer a plant?
 
Small and far away, it was once scorned, debated and rejected ...but no longer!

Professors, students, and public members of NOBUM (nerds outraged by unbalanced mobiles; it's not really a thing, but it should be) recently gathered for a public debate where the previous prohibition on Pluto's planetary position was rebuked! Huzzah!

It's a scene of geeky but endearing advocacy (I seriously doubt that Pluto cares about what people think of her/him) but I can't help but think that this scene speaks to the church. Aren't we also called to advocacy? To welcome everyone from the outside edges and to cry 'justice!' on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves?

When the world says 'you do not belong to our classifications!' it is the Church who says 'God's ways are not human ways!' When the world rejects and excludes, the Church finds worth and rallies for inclusion--challenging and rethinking those boundaries.

"Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." ~1 Peter 2:10

"Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ." ~Ephesians 2:12-13