For My Grand Children

Prayer

To Ciara, Nevin Jr., Quinn and DeArcy. May you never struggle
with the hidden injuries of race, prejudice or discrimination.

With many voices we praise you, O God. In different ways we serve you. We pray that you will send your sprit upon us and take our diversity and mold it into a common theme of thanksgiving.

We pray that you would weave the gifts we offer into a whole cloth of service that will blanket the world with your love, your goodness and your glory.

Transforming God, send the flame of your transforming life, wisdom and faith that we may know the great hope to which we are called. We give you thanks, for great is you faithfulness, O God. Call us forth in new faithfulness to you.

Lift us up through pathways that lead to your Kingdom. Move us beyond the edge of our dreams. Give us a vision that will challenge our smallness of heart and bring us humbly together.

Sweep us forward like dust in the wind, breaking free of the power of self-interest until the whole earth sings with your justice. Open our moths that we be one voice for the voiceless. Open our eyes that we all may see the same vision of peace and glory. Open our ears that we may here the whisper of your word and the weeping of the world. We give you thanks, for great is you faithfulness, O God. Call us forth in new faithfulness to you.

Make us alive with the courage and faith of your life giving truth. Cleanse us with the burning fire of your love so we may raise up as your children, bravely walking into the future. Breath into us your sprit, so we will become faithful witnesses, in our communities and the world.

Lord, We create barriers as individuals and as a society. We shut others out and disbar ourselves by how we react to the words of our neighbors. We pray for the energy and the will to tare down the walls that divide us from one another and from you. We give you thanks, for great is you faithfulness, O God. Call us forth in new faithfulness to you.

Transforming God, remake and sanctify us, give us the strength we need to be your church in sprit and truth. As we learn and grow in your love, we dedicate or rededicate our lives to your service.

We give ourselves knowing you will create through us a new community of faith bounded together by the gospel of the living God. As we pursue our works, shape us, strengthen us, and empower us, because in the words of St Thomas Aquinas “ we have been called to heal wounds, to unit what has fallen apart and to bring home those who have lost their way. And we will forever sing of your great faithfulness, O God. Call us forth in new faithfulness to you…. Amen

Published in the Memphis Theological Seminary Journal.
Volume 37 Number 1: Fall 2000

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

In a world characterized by growing prosperity for some and pervasive poverty for others, Christian teaching proclaims that a basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, Christian tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.

Scripture teaches that God has a special concern for the poor and vulnerable (Ex 22:20-26). The prophets denounced injustice toward the poor as a lack of fidelity to the God of Israel (Is 1:21-23; Jer 5:28). Jesus, who identified himself with the least of these (Mt 25:40-45), came to preach the good news to the poor and told us, “Give to him who asks of you, do not refuse one who would borrow from you” (Mt 11:5; 5:42). The Church calls on all of us to embrace this preferential love of the poor and vulnerable, to embody it in our lives, and to work to have it shape public policies and priorities.

We must seek creative ways to expand the emphasis of our nation’s founders on individual rights and freedom by extending democratic ideals to economic life and thus ensure that the basic requirements for life with dignity are accessible to all. The love of Christ compels us to turn our attention to the needs of our poorer sisters and brothers. We cannot relax our efforts to assist the poor in their need. We must be especially mindful of the elderly, along with women and children, who are often the primary victims of social neglect

"The absence of God"

"The absence of God" perspective originated with Einstein. He held that evil and sin were manifested as a result of the absence of God. He also theorized that there is no darkness, simply the absence of light.

J. Cummings, Arizona

Christ's Church

A friend sent me an email asking me what i thought about the following question. "What is your perception of "Christ's Church?" Do you define it as an institution? A spiritual experience? Is membership in an institution a prerequisite to worshiping God?" The following is my response to that question. I'm not sure if i have completely answered the question. if any one reading this ave additional comments please respond.

Answer Many people today understand the church as a building. This is not a biblical understanding of the church. The word “church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia which is defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones.” The root meaning of “church” is not that of a building, but of people. It is ironic that when you ask people what church they attend, they usually identify a building.some where in romans it says “… greet the church that is in their house.” Paul refers to the church in their house—not a church building, but a body of believers.

The church is the body of Christ, of which He is the head. ephesians says, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The body of Christ is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) until Christ’s return. The body of Christ is comprised of two aspects:

1) The universal church consists of all those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" This verse says that anyone who believes is part of the body of Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ as evidence. The universal church of God is all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

2) The local church is described in galatians “Paul, an apostle … and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia.” Here we see that in the province of Galatia there were many churches—what we call local churches. A Baptist church, Lutheran church, Catholic church, etc., is not the church, as in the universal church—but rather is a local church, a local body of believers. The universal church is comprised of those who belong to Christ and who have trusted Him for salvation. These members of the universal church should seek fellowship and edification in a local church.

Christ endowed his covenant family with three marks that would light the way to the very church that he founded. The three marks of the Church of Christ that distinguish it from other communities are that it is One, Holy, and Apostolic.

The church is holy because her source is holy. This does not mean that every member of the church will be holy. This simply means that Christ designed the church to be the source of holiness and the protector of the means of grace that he established.

The church is universal. The church is a gift to all peoples for all times. It consists of people from all nations and races of the world. It is in not a national church or a denomination. The Church has spread to every corner of the globe and consists of people from every tribe tongue and race. All the inhabitants of the earth have found blessings in the Church.

The church is apostolic. Jesus appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the church and their successors to be the future leaders. Within the church there is an unbroken link faithfully handing on the teachings of Christ from the apostles to the present church. The Church can show that its doctrinal pedigree extends all the way back to the apostles that were hand picked by Jesus Christ himself.

The church is a gift to all peoples for all times. It consists of people from all nations and races of the world. It is in not a national church or a denomination. The Church has spread to every corner of the globe and consists of people from every tribe tongue and race.

A Self-ministering Church

"For the nurturing and constant growth of the People of God, Christ instituted in His church a variety of ministries, which work for the good of the whole Body. In a broad sense these ministries are those "services" that are needed to be present and active in the Christian Body for the two basic functions of the Body:

• That of living and growing: keeping the Body healthy and increasing it with living, new members. This is done through preaching (faith), feeding (Sacraments and liturgy) and community governing.
  
  
• That of witnessing and serving the world. This is assured through Church involvement in the world where it is called to serve as Leaven, Light and Salt of the world and to bring about God's Kingdom in the world.
  

We can say that in this broad sense all Christians are called to be "ministers" since through Baptism they participate in Christ's own Mediatorship as Prophets, Priests, and Leaders. In this sense there is indeed a great variety of services and ministries, and all members are called to exercise their own "ministries", each one according to their calling.

The local church is self-ministering when all the essential services needed for the life and work of the Church are actively assumed by members. If the Church is not yet self-ministering and this situation dose not change, the Church will feel insecure in facing the future.

Call to Family, Community, and Participation

How we organize our society—in economics and politics, in law and policy—directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. families are central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. While our society often exalts individualism, the Christian tradition teaches that human beings grow and achieve fulfillment in community. People have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.

The Church teaches that the role of government and other institutions is to protect human life and human dignity and promote the common good.

• No community is more central than the family; it is the basic cell of society. It is where we learn and act on our values. What happens in the family is the basis of a truly human life.
  
  
• The state and other institutions of political and economic life, with both their limitations and obligations, are instruments to protect the life, dignity, and rights of the human person. When basic human needs are not being met by private initiative, and then people must work through their government, at appropriate levels, to meet those needs.
  
  
• A central test of political, legal, and economic institutions is what they do to people, what they do for people, and how people participate in them.