The 40 days of Lent give Christians an opportunity to reflect and pledge our selves anew to Jesus teaching. I understand our goal is to be a part of the kingdom of God here on earth. God’s prophet Micah tells us that “God requires us to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God “(Micah 6:8-9).
What is justice? We all have our individual thoughts regarding what that means. Our thoughts and opinions are often based on our life experience. We are who we are, but God sent Jesus to tell us that we can be better when we follow the example of Jesus on earth. We all know that Jesus welcomed sinners to the table and scoffed at the man-made rules the Pharisee had for Israel. What about us today? I have thought about this question a lot for that last year and came to the realization that for me, as a Christian, I need to put my energy toward social justice. To me, social justice means working toward feeding the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless, trying to provide affordable housing, identifying and eradicating injustice in our legal system, and taking care of our planet earth. Isaiah 59 tells us to strive for the right relationship between God, self, others, and creation. There are great needs in our world today. My first intentional step toward my involvement in social justice was to join the Presbytery DRAP committee (Dismantling Racism and Privilege).
What can I do at 76 years of age? I can care about the other. I can volunteer at Isaiah 58, I can vote and I can work with others such as West County’s Social Justice 4 All.
I was moved by Pastor Dave’s message in the March Messenger. He wrote; “Lent presents us with an uncomfortable truth. It is much easier to worship Jesus than it is to follow Him”. I know I will have to remind myself every day to be intentional and not make excuses and I realize I will often fail. But I hope to do better and as a Christian I have the luxury of hope.
Bertha Larez
No comments:
Post a Comment