Eastertide
May 5, 2015
Scripture Reading: Acts 10:44-48
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
So what are some of our “circumcision” issues today? Race, marriage, and gender all have surfaced recently to challenge the church’s inclusiveness. We, Christians, do not like to include race on this list. We think we have grown past that. But I must ask is there any relationship between the continuing fact that the church is one of the most segregated places in America and the continuing discrimination in our country based on race? We who are called to do justice are living in an environment where there is little or no justice for people of color. The private prison industry gets rich off our taxes paying for prisoners serving sentences for non-violent crimes who are disproportionally persons of color. The only winners in that situation are the fat cats raking in the profits. Our sins of omission in dealing with racism at every level enables that.
It has been interesting tracking the Supreme Court arguments about what marriage is or is not. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was quick to point out that the definition of marriage has always been in flux. It is interesting to me that we hold our definition of marriage as one man and one woman as a sacred standard when about 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher.* As a purely governmental issue, it would seem to me that all people should have the equal rights to determine rights of inheritance, rights to make decision about health care and children, and rights of holding property in common. The question the church must grapple with is how we determine what God has joined together.
Equal pay for equal work seems to me also to be and equal rights issues as far as the government is concerns. What role, if any, has the church played in fostering the undervaluing of women? What is it that undergirds a society’s will to accept that the pay of $00.78** for women is equal to the pay of $1.00 for men? This issue has been on the table forever, but the church seems to ignore it as a justice issue they are called to address.
I am sick of watching cities burn one more time and cannot image what God must be thinking about it. The image of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem comes to mind. Why do we have to have major crises before we fix anything? The same injustice was going on all the way back to Isaiah and Amos. Are we being called to finally get it right?
Prayer: Lord, order our lives to work toward your system of justice and righteousness. Meld our definitions of what is right with yours. Cleanse our hearts and plant the seeds of new life in Christ in each of us. Amen.
*http://www.apa.org/topics/divorce/
**http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/Women-to-men-earnings-ratio-wage%20gap-txt.htm
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.