And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD. And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the LORD, from now on and forever.
Reflection: The Peace Discernment Steering Team asks if it is time for Presbyterians in the United States to reclaim greater responsibility for our own actions and those taken in our name. Napoleon aptly pointed out that “the world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people!” . . .
While we do not presume to know what the Spirit is calling the PC(USA) to be and to do in this particular historical moment, we strongly affirm that “the Church is sent to be Christ’s faithful evangelist . . . participating in God’s mission to care for the needs of the sick, poor, and lonely; to free people from sin, suffering, and oppression; and to establish Christ’s just, loving, and peaceable rule in the world” (Book of Order, F-1.0302(d)). “The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to
God alone, even at the risk of losing its life” (Book of Order, F-1.0301).
We invite you to join with us on this adventure, to help us explore hard choices, to hear many voices, to discern God’s calling for us as Presbyterian peacemakers in the 21st century.
Question for discernment: As a church and as a society, should we learn to move from violence to nonviolence, from war-making to peacemaking, from a permanent war economy to a sustainable peace economy, from being citizens of an empire to members of God’s peaceable kingdom?
Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, come. Come and be with us. Help us to so internalize God’s Word that our calling as Presbyterian peacemakers in this particular historical moment becomes clear to us all.