Today is observed as Trinity
Sunday throughout much of Western Christianity, celebrating the unity expressed
through the doctrine of the Trinity. Today is also observed as Peace with
Justice Sunday across The United Methodist Church. A reminder in an article, “What
is Peace with Justice Sunday?” on the denominational website, says, “Our Social
Principles call us to love our enemies, seek justice, and serve as reconcilers
of conflict.”[i]
Inclusiveness
is about justice, and justice is about peace, and peace is about love, and the
Bible says, “God is love.”[i]
The Bible starts with the Creation narrative by providing imagery to support
the oneness of all creation as a reflection of the oneness of God. On the night
he gave himself up for us, Jesus prayed in John 17 that we all “may be made perfect
in one,” or as phrased in The Message, “the glorious unity of being one.”[ii]
The “greatest law” Jesus quoted[iii]
begins,
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: [and
continues] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy might.[iv]
[Jesus combined this law from Deuteronomy with another from Leviticus as the “second
greatest commandment:”] Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.[v]
The
prophet Amos, in his role as the mouthpiece of the Lord, declared in the Good
News Translation,” Let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a
river that never goes dry.”[vi]
June
is Pride Month,[vii]
and yesterday our church participated in a ministry of presence at the Paducah
PrideFest as one of the sponsors for the event. We also had a booth for
providing information about Briensburg United Methodist Church and the
Reconciling Ministries Network. We circulated among the crowd to meet people
and share the love of Jesus. LGBTQ inclusiveness is a justice issue, not
only in society but in the Church. It is a great and harmful injustice that
people of the same gender are not allowed to be married in their own churches or
by their own pastors in The United Methodist Church. It is a great and harmful
injustice that practicing homosexuals are restricted from being ordained or
appointed as pastors in The United Methodist Church. LGBTQ Christians are encouraged
to participate fully in all other ministries of The United Methodist Church. We
gladly recognize all the ways The United Methodist Church is actively and prominently
engaged in many social justice issues worldwide. Still, we advocate for
those harmful, restrictive, and unjust rules added to our Discipline as
recently as 1974 to be removed this year at General Conference.
Every
month of the year also has several days set aside for awareness of other important
social justice issues. Health care, poverty, hunger, racism, gender inequality,
gun violence, domestic violence, war, child abuse, and human trafficking are only
a few of the countless grave injustices worldwide. Our individual power is
limited in addressing these enormous spiritual challenges. Still, the Holy
Ghost’s power to unite us has repeatedly proven to make a remarkable difference
for the victims of injustice. The second of three United Methodist baptismal
vows is to “accept the freedom and power God gives [us] to resist evil,
injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.”[viii]
The
prophet Micah famously preached in Micah 6:8 in the Good News Translation, “The
Lord has told us what is good. What [God] requires of us is this: to do what is
just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.” Working
together in harmony and peace for justice and unity is what Jesus prayed in
John 17 and what the prophets, apostles, and church leaders from Augustine to
Wesley have preached. God continues to call women and men to preach social
holiness in our generation. The more fully and inclusively we unite in
Christian love and service, the more we reflect the oneness of the fully
inclusive Trinity. Paul wrote to the Ephesians as phrased in the Good News
Translation:
Show your love by being tolerant with one another. Do
your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace
that binds you together. There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one
hope to which God has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through
all, and is in all.[ix]
[ii] John 17:23 (KJV, MSG).
[iv] Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (KJV).
[v] Leviticus 19:18 (KJV).
[vii] Wikipedia Contributors. “Pride Month,” 2 June 2023. Wikipedia:
The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_Month 2 June 2023.
[viii] The United Methodist Church. “The Baptismal Covenant
I.” The United Methodist Book of Worship, p. 88. Nashville: The United
Methodist Publishing House, 1992. Print.
[ix] Ephesians 4:2-6 (GNT).
“[People] loved darkness
rather than light.” This phrase from
John 3:19 has been on my mind this week in relation to current events. There
are other Bible passages about the choices people make when presented with
clear and distinctly different options. The crowds in Jerusalem intentionally
and knowingly chose Barabbas for release and Jesus for crucifixion. They chose
darkness, intentionally and deliberately. How do we reconcile current events
with the Bible, and more importantly, with God and with each other when our
beliefs and choices are so vastly different and in diametric opposition?
