This past Saturday was the January Presbytery Meeting where we worshiped with our peers and kicked off the year themed: Justice and Peace! Leah Ntuala, Pastor at Seneca Falls shared a wonderful sermon with us that I’d like to share, but it really rang true to the purpose of our year of Justice and Peace! Please read her sermon below:

Sermon Justice and Peace

Rev. Leah Ntuala

I wanted to read Psalm 27 because I needed a little extra courage today. I needed to not be afraid. Presbytery placed a big task in our hands this year with the theme they have chosen, Justice and Peace. Those are 2 topics very near and dear to my heart. So often, I am accused of being too political. Most of the time however when I find a person saying that to me what they are really saying is, “I don’t agree with what you are saying.” I agree, the pulpit is not the place for politics, but I am not talking politics, I am speaking of my faith. It isn’t my politics- it is my faith that pushes me to be concerned and compassionate about justice and peace.

It isn’t my politics that requires me to work for gender equality- it is my faith. Because God made male and female, blessed us and said we were good.

It isn’t my politics that requires me to work for racial justice- it is my faith. Because God blessed us with a variety of races it isn’t an accident. It wasn’t by mistake and it wasn’t so one race would have more power than the next.

It isn’t my politics that requires me to work for equality in education- it is my faith. The strongest weapon we have is our tongue; education makes this weapon stronger, it gives us practice and opportunity to use our weapon for the best ways possible to spread love and share God’s grace.

It isn’t my politics that requires me to work for health care- it is my faith. Jesus heals people, people a system would turn away. Jesus didn’t want the people to suffer.

It isn’t my politics that requires me to work for prison reform- it is my faith. God came to set the captives free. They estimate the number of prisons to be built in an area based on the number of 3rd graders who can’t read. If we want to work on prison reform this is a place to start and that isn’t my politics that is my faith. Those issues of justice and peace are not my politics; they are my faith.

Faith in God. Faith in that determining what is right or wrong doesn’t rest in my hands; it rests in God’s hands. I was created to love and be loved by God. God has required something of me for sure. God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6: 8

God doesn’t want us to get caught up in politics, be they in the government or the church. God wants us to live the Gospel. That is what it means to evangelize. It means to gospel the gospel. I need to live my life in a way that reflects 2 things. The first is that I love God above all others. The second is to love my neighbor as self. God wants justice to roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5: 24

That isn’t my politics that is my faith. How does oppression show love of others? How does working against justice bring forth justice? God doesn’t ask us to judge what is right or wrong, remember that is what got us kicked out of Eden. We disobeyed God’s command to stay away from the tree of knowledge, knowing what is good or evil that is for God to know. Our job is to love. We are to love God and to love one another.

Maybe if we focused on those things instead of who isn’t a true believer there would be more people in our pews. Maybe if we lived our lives as children of God and treated others as beings created by God, so many people would see how amazing God is, how transforming and how unparalleled a relationship with God really is when we focus on doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with our God.

Let us change the lens by which we view the world. Let our lens be that of a child of God. As children of God we have been called to use the gifts we have been given to do justice, love mercy and walk with God. We don’t need to be afraid of the power that will yield. We don’t need to be afraid because as the Psalmist says, “We are safe inside the arms of God.” Let us not be afraid of those differences that cloud our lens, but instead walk in courage as children of God. Amen.

*Benediction

Go forth with God’s blessing: Speak the truth, Show the faith, Share the love. The God of peace is with you, now and forever. Worship is over. Let our service begin.

Leah and Rhonda (Our Communications Director) will be heading to NYC next month as Delegates for the PC USA’s United Nations Commission on the Status of Women! What a perfect year for them and the Presbytery community to learn more about the important issues of Justice and Peace and the advocacy that circles these issues! Thanks again to Leah and her Seneca Falls church community for hosting our first meeting of the year and providing such a wonderful lunch!

Look for more pictures from the Presbytery Meeting on our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000904184385

To find out more about the Commission: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/56sess.htm