This past Sunday, I decided to use this litany, based on the UM Social Creed during our worship time. My sermon was on the early Acts 2 church, and I talked about "what is church? and "what should it be?" So I decided to throw in this litany as an afterthought to what the sermon talked about. Later that day, I got an interesting email from a congregant expressing concern over the litany and wondered how biblical it was. I sincerely appreciated his questions and expressed that I believe these statements to be VERY biblical and important for Christians to understand and how we are to read scripture. After some thought, discussion with colleagues, and biblical search, I emailed him back what I hope was a helpful way of looking at it that was biblically based. I was also directed to this page which was very helpful for me to pass along.
For me, when I read this, I do not understand how one could not see scripture and the message of Christ written all over it! It just reminded me of how differently people view things, how differently we read scripture (if we read it at all), and how we understand what is going on in our society. Take a look at it. What do you see?
God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ,
calls us by grace
to be renewed in the image of our Creator,
that we may be one
in divine love for the world.
Today is the day
God cares for the integrity of creation,
wills the healing and wholeness of all life,
weeps at the plunder of earth's goodness.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God embraces all hues of humanity,
delights in diversity and difference,
favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God cries with the masses of starving people,
despises growing disparity between rich and poor,
demands justice for workers in the marketplace.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God deplores violence in our homes and streets,
rebukes the world's warring madness,
humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace,
celebrates where justice and mercy embrace,
exults when the wolf grazes with the lamb.
And so shall we.
Today is the day
God brings good news to the poor,
proclaims release to the captives,
gives sight to the blind,
and sets the oppressed free.
And so shall we.
1 comment:
People who ask questions like that often spend lots of time listening to people telling them what is "biblical" and what's not, instead of reading the darn thing for themselves. I had a person get really angry one time because we were reading Acts 2 and they thought that sharing things in common was socialism.
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