This Sunday is the 11th and last Sunday this year after Pentecost. The assigned scriptures seek to get us to live out these words from the prayer Jesus taught us to pray that says, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
In Heaven, there is no such distinction as to who is there based on race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, or citizenship status used on earth to create divisions of “us” and “them.” The assigned texts this week helps us to understand this.
Isaiah 56:1 calls for us to “Act justly and do what is right.” While clergy should NEVER indulge in partisan politics from the pulpit; they should always speak the truth of God found in scripture, which is often political. It was a political act for Moses to tell Pharaoh God said, “Let my people go!” It was political for Amos to say, “Let justice roll down like waters and a righteousness as a mighty stream.” It seemed political for Paul to say, “There is neither Jew not Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, but we are all one in Christ Jesus.” And nothing seemed more political than when God through Isaiah invites “foreigners to join themselves to the Lord … for My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Even Covenant’s proclamation inviting folks to experience God’s conditional love, forgiveness, acceptance, mercy, and grace seems political to some. Regardless of the hype-partisan political season we are in; let it not keep us living in harmony (a state of good will toward each other). Let us also live out our calling to help make “God’s kingdom come, on earth, as it is in Heaven.”
Join us for worship by Zoom or Facebook Live Stream this Sunday. My sermon will be “MAKE US ONE: A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE!” It is based on Psalms 133, Isaiah 56:1, 6-8, and Matthew 15:21-28.
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