SCRIPTURE:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.Luke 1:68
REDEEM
When I was in an Anti-Racism committee meeting, Sharon Austin, Director of Connectional and Justice Ministries, mentioned how the work of anti-racism isn’t only an issue for people of color. She talked about how it has a global perspective. She continued to explain how when we help fight racism for minorities we are not only making a better world for the people of color but we are making the entire world a better place. When you improve life for the least of these, you change the world for all of us.
This global perspective is something that I also see in today’s scripture. Even though it is the God of Israel who is redeeming the world, it’s still the entire world that’s being redeemed, not just Israel. This is why I believe that through the work of the Holy Spirit in the church, we are called as Christians to change the world not only by helping people know Christ, but also by showing people the way of love, joy, hope, and peace. Ultimately if we have a world with more loving, joyful, peaceful, hopeful people - we will be a better world for those who need us the most. We will have less poverty, more generosity, and a safer world. This is why I believe so much in the work of Interfaith.
You don’t have to be Christian to change the world. You don’t have to be Christian to be loving, joyful, hopeful, and peaceful. But Wesleyan theology teaches us that it’s God’s prevenient grace in the non-believer.
So remember, the God of Israel is redeeming the world.
God so loved the world. Christian or not.