Looking Forward to Monday JAnuary 21, 2019 -- Week Of Prayer for Christian Unity Service

This year the local week of Prayer for Christian Unity service will be held Monday at 7:00 at Forbes Presbyterian Church. It is my turn to preach this year.

The Scripture readings for the service are:

• Deuteronomy 16:11-20
• Romans 12:1-13
• Luke 4:14-21

The theme verse comes from the end of the Deuteronomy reading Justice and only justice you shall pursue

Early Thoughts: The Kingdom of God is a place of justice. Which means what exactly?

On the website for the Week of Prayer we find:

This year’s theme calls us to move from shared prayer to shared action. Drawing on the traditional values of Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) and gotong royong (living in solidarity and by collaboration), Indonesian Christians invite us to be a united witness, and an agent of Christ’s healing grace in a broken world, by making specific commitments to justice, equality, and unity. 

 In a world with many different expressions of Christianity what makes us unified? Christ is the obvious answer. Another is that we proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God both the now and the not yet. And one of the markers of he Kingdom of God is that justice shall reign.

JEsus, at the beginning of his ministry, reads a passage from Isaiah in the local synagogue. Judging from the words says after reading it is clear Jesus sees these words as a description of what his ministry will be. ANd those words are clearly a call for God's justice to be made real on earth.

Deuteronomy is, according to tradition, Moses' recounting of the Law just before he dies and the People of Israel cross the Jordan into the promised land. One of the themes in the book is that if the people do not choose wisely and follow the commandments then then land may be taken away from them. To choose wisely is to choose the path of justice. As the story of the People of Israel continues through those books we call the Old Testament we will find that they wander off the path of justice and so repeatedly the prophets try to call the people back to the right path.

WE as people of faith, one branch of the spiritual descendants of Moses,  are still called to follow the path of God's Justice. This year our service falls on the same day as Martin Luther King Day in the US. Dr King once said that "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." (though it appears that the idea behind this statement predated Dr. King by about 100 years and was used by various others before Dr. King said it). To be walkers on the path of justice means we follow those words from Isaiah that Jesus read in synagogue. It means we follow the song Mary sang before Jesus was born. It means we agree to take part n the transformation of the world as the Kingdom of God becomes more and more real in our midst.

How can we remain steady on such a path?

In and of our own strength and willpower I am not sure we can. But we are not alone. We trust in God. AS people of faith we place ourselves in the hands of God in whom we live and move and have our being. I his letter to Rome St. Paul bids us "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.". We can follow the way of Justice because God is renewing and transforming us.

As followers of Christ may we continue to be people of justice.
--Gord