As before the beginnings of World War II, we are living in a pivotal moment that can either lead to transforming or lessening of the ideals of Christianity.  We live in the diversity of God’s creation, yet are seemingly unwilling to seek justice for what God’s has created and given into our care. 

In the melting pot of peoples, cultures, customs, and moral standards, we are made more and more aware of God in our midst; a God who is challenging our narrow views of the breadth and depth and wideness of God and God’s love for all peoples in all places.  Some of the most powerful lessons from Jesus ministry brings into focus how to treat one another and particularly how to treat those who may be different from us. 

I recently read a book that that used the phrase “we live in a rowboat society.  We continue to look backwards while continuing to move forward.”  In Moses’ time, the people wanted to go back to Egypt when he was leading them to the Promised Land.  When Henry Ford introduced the automobile, people felt that the horse and buggy was sufficient.   We live in a world that continues to change, but we seem to want to hold on to what was past, failing to embrace all of amazing transformation that God is doing in our midst.   If we choose to open our eyes, ears, hearts and minds, we can be transformed and grow in amazing Christ-like ways.

Each of us needs to remember that our way is not the only way (or even the right or best way).  Today, we cannot assume that our “normal” should be the “normal” of others.  (The Amish who live in our midst are good people who express their ethics and beliefs differently from most of us.) It is possible to draw the circle wide while agreeing on common standards of the public good and civic standards while embracing cultural and religious differences.   John Wesley is often quoted as saying, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

We are all capable of being better than we are.  We are all capable to seeing a bigger picture than what is immediately around us.  We are all capable of more compassion, mercy and loving kindness than we express.  And we are all capable of living more like Jesus and less like the Pharisees, Sadducees, Kings, Rulers and Authoritarians that Jesus stood against in the fight for justice in an unkind world.   Now is not the time to be complacent, disengaged and content in a time that needs us to be the Light in the World, now more than ever.

Shalom,
Pastor Peggi