We say Adventism doesn’t do status. God doesn’t play favorites. Everybody stands on the same floor.
Then Sabbath comes, and somehow you can still tell who is impressing whom.
1. The child at Loma Linda No one makes a speech about it. They just slip into conversation. “She’s in her second year at Loma Linda.” Andrews works the same way. A regular university is fine, of course. People will even say they’re proud. You can still hear the difference.
2. Knowing someone at the General Conference The point is not that you once sent an email to the office. The point is being able to say, casually, over potluck, “Ted told me that back in 2015.” First names do a lot of work in this church.
3. The instrument that isn’t drums Piano sounds responsible. Organ sounds official. Violin sounds cultured. Cello sounds like lessons were not optional. Drums still make some people nervous. Guitar means the church is trying something. If your kid plays something with a fancy case and then sits down like it was nothing, that counts.
4. The expensive watch Nobody calls it a Rolex. They call it “this old thing,” usually after medical school. Jewelry is still a little frowned on. A very nice watch is just “quality.” We have a gift for renaming things.
5. Where you sit, and who your people are Some folks are on the platform. Some get asked to offer the pastoral prayer. Some are introduced as friends of the conference president. Coming from a long Adventist family still carries weight. A mission trip in the mountains photographs better than a quiet one nearby. And “I’m a neurosurgeon, but I do it for mission” has been winning rooms for years.
None of this is written down. Most of us learned it anyway.
Jesus keeps leveling the floor. We keep finding new ways to stand a little taller on it.
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