Have you ever heard that old saying about how a good preacher has the Bible in one hand and today’s headlines in the other?
Lately the headlines have featured a lot of people mistreating people who are different from them in one way or another – whether race, religion, gender, age, national origin, language, whatever. No matter the so-called “reason” behind the mistreatment, it’s never a good one.
Throughout Scripture, God calls us over and over again to treat one another with respect and kindness, no matter who we are or who the other person is. Would the Jesus who gave us a new commandment to love one another recognize any of the injustice and oppression in today’s headlines as having anything to do with his word but defiance of it?
And we who call ourselves followers of Jesus must speak out against oppression and injustice wherever it occurs. Yes, it can be uncomfortable. Yes, our friends and relatives might think we’re speaking out of turn. Yes, it can be scary. But we can do it. As followers of Jesus, we can do no less.
This message is excerpted from “Bible in one hand, newspaper in the other” by Audrey Novak Riley in the September 27, 2018, blog of the Women of the ELCA.
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