Discipleship

Matthew 22:36-38 - 'Teacher, what is the greatest of all

the commandments?' Jesus said, 'The greatest and

first commandment is to love the Lord your God. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.'

As part of my (as pastor) and the ELCA's pledge toward an anti-racist church and world, I have started to post a 20 minute (or less) video to my congregation's Facebook page each week. If you'd like to join this pledge too you can do so by CLICKING RIGHT HERE!

This week I am taking some much needed time off to unplug and recharge, so there is no video to post. Therefore, as a follow up to last week's video, I wanted to reiterate some of the things I've already said and include some more detailed information and quotes from our 2 ELCA documents -

Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective

Human Rights

(Click on the document titles to see the read the whole thing!)

Throughout this post I will refer to them as CIS and HR.

I find it important in these conversations to establish why the church would even join this conversation, anti-racism work, or publish social statements/messages.

We find this work to be entirely engrained into our identity and our lives as Christians, disciples of Christ.

CIS: "The witness of this church in society flows from its identity as a community that lives from and for the Gospel. Faith is active in love; love calls for justice in the relationships and structures of society.... The Church is gathered and shaped by the Holy Spirit to be a serving and liberating presence in the world.... God works through the family, education, the economy, the state, and other structures necessary for life in the present age.... This church respects the God-given integrity and tasks of governing authorities and other worldly structures, while holding them accountable to God."

Many generations of people, especially Americans, were taught to avoid two topics at all cost: Politics and Religion. There is a divide between Church and State, rightfully so. The Church has proven itself throughout history to be a terrible governing power. NO religion should be in charge of governmental life, especially in such a diverse nation as the USA. Christianity has however been the religion of choice for this country since its founding, therefore granting Christians privilege over other bodies of faith. We fail to own up to this reality, yet we want our President to be Christian, 'One nation, under God' to remain on our currency and in the pledge of allegiance, the American flag to decorate our altars in our places of worship, and prayer to continue to be allowed and encouraged in schools.

Being a Christian encompasses our entire life - the whole of our being. We cannot leave our Christianity at the door when we exit the building after Sunday worship, nor can we leave it at the door when we go to the polls to vote in elections. It is who we ARE. It is the lens through which we see and engage the world. We are: children of God, made in the divine image, saved by grace, covenanted to God through baptism, and the home of the Holy Spirit. The tricky part is... seeing EVERYONE as having this same God-given identity. God created all things, all humans, and called it, called us - GOOD (Genesis 1 & 2).

HR: "The God-given purpose for humankind (the imago Dei) imbues each human bring with a shared dignity.... Just as the Scriptures reveal that the Holy Trinity is a God always in relationship, so are humans always meant to be in life-giving relationship - with God and with each other.... A society should not deny a person's dignity for any reason. This is true even if that person has acted maliciously and treated others inhumanely. God's gift of dignity is immutable, indivisible and inseparable from our being.... No person inherently has more rights or fewer rights than another."

To see ourselves as elect or set apart from the rest of creation/humanity is harmful and counter to the gospel message. We are not called to escape this world, but to invest in it in the same way as our Lord.

CIS: "The Gospel does not take the Church out of the world but instead calls it to affirm and to enter more deeply into the world. Although in bondage to sin and death, the world is God's good creation, where, because of love, God in Jesus Christ became flesh. The Church and the world have a common destiny in the reign of God. The Church acts for the sake of the world in hope and prayer: 'Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven.' ...The presence and promise of God's reign makes the church restless and discontented with the world's brokenness and violence. Acting for the sake of God's world requires resisting and struggling against the evils of the world.... Christians also exercise their calling by being wise and active citizens.... Along with all citizens, Christians have the responsibility to defend human rights and to work for freedom, justice, peace, environmental well-being, and good order in public life."

HR: "Christians, having been freed from the anxiety that their salvation depends on obeying every law perfectly, find power to fulfill their responsibilities in the world through seeking justice for the neighbor."

I leave you with this summary from the Human Rights document and a blessing from the Rev. Dr. MLK Jr.:

“Empowered by hope in the God who raised the crucified Jesus from the dead as a sign of God’s ultimate victory, this church is freed to acknowledge failures and take up responsibility as individuals and in corporate witness. By means of this message, the ELCA recommits itself to the cause of human rights. The ELCA will support domestic and international human rights institutions, foster deliberation, and engage in sustained action that seeks rights for any neighbors – especially the vulnerable – who are not being treated with the dignity that is God’s gift.”

“And now unto [God] who is able to keep us from falling,

and lift us from the dark valley of despair to the bright mountain of hope,

from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy,

to [our God] be power and authority forever and ever.

Amen."

*Join us next week on the Facebook page for a new video!