For look, the kingdom of God is among you. (Luke 17:21 NJB)
In the 1990’s
there was a catchy phrase spread by Christian youth groups, “What would Jesus
do?” “WWJD.”
The slogan was on bracelets, t-shirts, mugs.
It was a call to action reminding people that with every decision and
every action, one could choose to act in a manner that reflected what Jesus
taught us. And, with each decision
and action, we could choose to honor God.
Chapter 3 of the
book Unfinished is entitled Why did Jesus
leave? “WDJL.” Richard
Stearns proposes the answer to this question impacts the mission and purpose of
the church, and gives the purpose and meaning to each of our individual lives.
We Christians have unfinished business to take care of before Jesus
returns. We have homework to do
while He’s gone. What
He wants us to do is to share and spread the good news of the gospel and to
reach as many people as we can. That’s
part one of our homework. How
we treat each other as we go about sharing the gospel is just as important;
that’s part two. As we work to
create God’s kingdom here on earth, we need to be mindful of restoring not
only our relationship with God, but also our relationship with each other.
Let us remember
it’s not just what we need to do, it
is also how we go about doing it.
How we interact with all God’s children matters.
In an interview published last week in Jesuit journals, Pope Francis
shares this story: "A
person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I
replied with another question: 'Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he
endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this
person?'" "We
must always consider the person. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must
accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them
with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the
right thing."
We
can, with every decision and action that we take, make God’s kingdom “on
earth as it is in Heaven” a little more tangible, a little more real, for each
other. So, as we think about
“WDJL” and we work to establish and build God’s kingdom on earth, we
should not forget that we must consider the person.
As believers, each one of us is privileged to be a priest (1Peter
2:9-12), and with that comes great responsibility to serve God and others. Pope
Francis said it well. Let’s do it
with love and mercy, and remember that the Holy Spirit will be there to help us
along the way.
Hi. Marianne very nicely references Pope Francis' words & homosexuality
ReplyDeletelast week. No comments so far ? Let's join the Pope's commentary with current discussions for CLC to vote moving to EMC...or whatever? I am inviting all with opinions to share their thoughts...por & con ??!!??
While the statement from PCUSA that precipitated the recommendation from Session to move to ECO included a position on homosexuality, I don't think that such position is what the move is about. I am confident that if it were strictly a matter of the PCUSA position on homosexuality, Session would not be pursuing this.
ReplyDeleteRather, the issue is a fundamental change in PCUSA doctrine. I'm probably oversimplifying as I don't have the information at hand, but... PCUSA has essentially moved from a position that the bible is the inspired Word of God - that it is Truth - to a position that it is God's guidance. In effect it is PCUSA that is moving, not CLC and the rest of the ECO churches.
(At times I've wondered whether PCUSA announced its policy on homosexuality at the same time as its change from the bible as the Word of God in order to focus us on the controversy of our time rather than the core of our Faith.)
God bless,
Bob R.