For Such A Time as This – May 12, 2021 – Gail Erisman Valeta

To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
 
Joys and Concerns
If you have a joy or concern you would like us to share and pray about, please call, text, or email it to me.  If you would like it included in our Sunday Worship sharing and prayer time, please share it with Pastor Bill that week by Thursday evening. 
 
See this Saturday’s “Weekly Update” email for any new prayer concerns.
 
Thank You:
To all who call others to check in on them and to share our emails and devotions.
 
Today’s Devotion:
“Compelling Vision” is our denomination's effort to identify a shared vision that can foster unity in the midst of great diversity and dividing differences.  A thirteen session Bible Study has been developed to undergird this statement.  We are using pieces of the Bible Study in our weekly devotion email.
 
Today’s reflection was written by Gail Erisman Valeta, who holds master’s degrees in Theology from Bethany Theological Seminary and Conflict Resolution from the University of Denver and serves as affiliate faculty in Conflict Resolution for Regis University. She is the pastor of Prince of Peace Church of the Brethren in Colorado.
 
Shalom, Dennis

Compelling Visions Statement
Together, as the Church of the Brethren, we will passionately live and share the radical transformation and holistic peace of Jesus Christ through relationship-based neighborhood engagement. To move us forward, we will develop a culture of calling and equipping disciples who are innovative, adaptable, and fearless.
 
Session 6 – Holistic Peace
What is the nature of the holistic peace of Jesus Christ, and how are we called to embody it?
 
Scriptures - Matthew 5:9, 38-48; Ephesians 2:11-22; Micah 4:1-5
 
Reflection – Gail Erisman Valeta
Who was Jesus talking to in these scriptures found in Chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel?
 
Evidently, people were following Jesus, and crowds gathered when word got out that he had paused in his travels to speak with them (Matthew 4:24-25). In came the sick with all sorts of diseases and pains, as well as great crowds from Galilee and other countries to hear his sermon. The first thing that Jesus does for this crowd is to bless the people who are not usually blessed. There is no blessing for the rich, powerful, successful, and sophisticated.
 
Jesus did say some earth-shaking things like “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (5:9). This is one example of the Upside Down Kingdom that Mennonite author Donald Kraybill invites us to see. This demonstration of “another way of living” allows the ways of heaven to come bursting in upon earth.
 
Our peacemaking did not die out with Jesus’ death. This has been one of the treasured gifts that we have helped shape for the times we live in and passed on to each generation of Brethren. Not only a historic peace church, the Church of the Brethren is called to be a Justice with Peace church. (See Eric Bishop’s article in the May issue of Messenger, p. 10-13).
 
What else did Jesus say? “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, ‘Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. . .’” (Matthew 5:38 ff) Theologian Walter Wink (When the Powers Fall) offers a different twist regarding how the crowd might have understood those words of Jesus. It was not a call to be a wimp. It was a justice wake-up call!
 
Turning the other cheek to a “superior” who has backhanded an “inferior” is an act of defiance, not submission; stripping naked when a creditor demands one’s outer garment brings down shame on the head of the creditor for causing the poor debtor’s nakedness; . . . (Matt. 5:39-41). These acts do not at all mean acquiescing passively in evil, but are a studied and deliberate way of seizing the initiative and overthrowing evil by the force of its own momentum. (9)
 
Howard Thurman, author, student of Gandhi, and Christian theologian, was a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr and thousands of men and women. While in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) with a student-to-student “friendship delegation,” he was asked by a Hindu man,
 
“What are you doing here? More than three hundred years ago (now 400 years) your forefathers were taken from the western coast of Africa as slaves. The people who dealt in the slave traffic were Christians. The men who bought the slaves were Christians. Why are you, a black man, standing deep within the Christian faith and tradition?”
 
In For the Inward Journey, Thurman explained that Jesus grew up in the Roman empire as part of the underprivileged, non-powerful disinherited. Those who are also disinherited know, “Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage, for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred. . . need have no dominion over them.” (133)
 
Perhaps this is the treasure that Jesus asks us to share which helps bring about holistic peace!
 
Sending
Look for ways to be a holistic peacemaker, chipping away at dividing walls this week. Sing, pray or ponder these words from  “We Are One in the Spirit.”
 
                We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord.
                We are one in the Spirit. We are one in the Lord.
                And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
                And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
                Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.