Today’s Digital Refresh is from Patrick Sutherland. He is our Director of Discipleship and the Director of Discovery Camp.
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 1
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
History is full of examples of moments that defined the things that came after. And it seems to me we are living in history defining days.
On the one hand, we are still experiencing the outcomes and realities of a global pandemic. All of us have lost much and with that loss has come mixed emotions and highly stressful experiences. As we have talked about the issue of this pandemic, throughout the past months, there have been two really important foci:
- We as Christians can trust God
- We as Christians remain called to sharing the love of Jesus.
And these two outcomes remain important.
It is our responsibility to live into the gospel by proclaiming the faithfulness of God and the love of Jesus. But we must take them seriously as we face another history-defining moment. Because despite the defining nature of the pandemic we now find ourselves in the midst of a second moment of fundamental importance: the fight against racism and the empowering of oppressed people.
And it is here that we must turn to Isaiah 1:17 and see other critical mandates of the Christian walk.
- Learn to do right
- Seek justice
- Defend the oppressed
- Take up the cause of the fatherless
- Plead the case of the widow
Here’s the thing:
We can talk about God’s faithfulness in global tragedy and we can talk about sharing the love of Jesus but we cannot do either of these things well if we ignore the plight of others, if we fail to do what is right, if we don’t pursue justice, if we don’t defend others, and if we don’t fight the causes and cases that matter.
And so on the matter of the fight against racism and racial injustices, we must stand as firmly with marginalized communities as we did on God’s faithfulness over a pandemic and we must fight as diligently for lives of the Black community as we did to share love to our neighbours in isolation.
Now, I must confess I don’t always know how to do that.
Sometimes when confronted with such important things I freeze up, unsure how to help, and carry a strong desire to not make things worse. I expect many in our community may feel the same.
And again Isaiah 1:17 is helpful. Here is what you do to walk alongside those who are fighting for justice:
- Learn
- Seek out
- Defend
- Take up the cause
- Plead the case
These steps are not easy but justice is rarely won without sacrifice.
At the very least let me leave you with encouragement:
Take the first step to seek justice in our world and to learn more about the current fight for equality.
And join me in praying for God’s providence, God’s world-changing power, and God’s love to change this world for the better.
Pat
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A Digital Refresh is a regular series for the staff at Mini-Yo-We.
When we gather together for worship and learn from God’s word we call it “Refresh.” Even though we aren’t at camp we can still gather together to share God’s word through a Digital Refresh.
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