This week our church will celebrate two special Sundays in one:
Trinity Sunday, as celebrated by all mainline churches, and Peace with Justice Sunday, a special event the United Methodist Church. On Trinity Sunday we recognize the triune nature of God. On Peace with Justice Sunday we emphasize our “social holiness,” the practice of loving God and our neighbor through peacemaking efforts and justice-seeking activities.
United Methodists relate to this special Sunday by seeking peaceful solutions, creating and supporting peace-related ministries in our conferences and learning about peaceful, just efforts around the world. Donations for this special Sunday support programs and ministries to educate, equip and mobilize actions in support of identified Economic, Health, and Gender Justice priorities. Half of the funds collected on this Special Sunday remain in the Annual Conference to strengthen social justice ministries, and the other half fund national and international peacemaking ministries and grants.
This Sunday, in honor of Trinity Sunday, we will read three scriptures related to peace with justice, discuss the three core issues of our Peace with Justice task force, and identify three vulnerable communities in need of love and advocacy from the Church.
Here are Sunday’s readings from the The Message translation.
Hebrew Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 10: 14-18 (MSG)
Look around you: Everything you see is God’s—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was your ancestors who God fell in love with; he picked their children—that’s you!—out of all the other peoples. That’s where we are right now. So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. God, your God, is the God of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.
Epistle Reading: 1 John 3: 11-19 (MSG)
For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.
The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 7: 12-20, 24 (MSG)
“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.
“Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.
“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on.
Consider these questions:
- Who are the three communities the writer Deuteronomy identifies as vulnerable and in need of care?
- Who would you identify as a vulnerable person or community in need of care in our current social or political environment?
- The Peace with Justice committee focuses on issues of economic, health, and gender justice. How are gender minorities (transgender and gender nonconforming individuals), victims of gun violence, and immigrants affected through our economic, social, and political policies?
- What role does the Church play in advocacy for vulnerable populations?
- In the epistle, John tells us that hate leads to death, not only for the person being hated, but also for the person who hates his neighbor. How have you seen hate lead to the spiritual death of a person or institution? How have you seen the practice of love bring life to a person or institution?
- Lately we have heard a lot of rhetoric pertaining to personal rights, gun control, and immigration. Which voices have been loving? Which voices have been hateful? What type of speech leads to love and life, and what type of speech leads to hate and death?
- In Matthew, how does Jesus identify a “false preacher”? How can the Church identify and refute “false preachers” today who attack the vulnerable and marginalized in our communities?