For the word of Wisdom is right, and all her works are sure. She loves righteousness and justice; the faithful love of the Mother of All fills the whole earth.
I'm preaching this week for the first time in over a year. It's odd wandering back into that space.
The text we're using Sunday is a wisdom passage from Ecclesiastes. The good news is they almost speak for themselves without embellishment. That's also bad news for preachers who like to embellish.
What can we say when things seem so clear? How many times can we talk about righteousness and justice?
It's a bitter pill to swallow, knowing how often those words are repeated in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament.
It's not words of prosperity or affluence, nor is it words of power and control. Righteousness and justice -- goodness, decency, integrity and equity, fairness, trustworthiness.
They're all words of aspiration and imagination. They're also the first steps in filling the world with love.
While I said no questions or prompts this week, I do want to leave you with this idea:
Any chance we have toward co-creating a more loving world begins with you.
It can be as simple as doing the dishes or vacuuming the floor; it could be helping a co-worker or neighbor.
The world needs your kindness, your goodness, your fairness and integrity. It doesn't need grand sweeping gestures, it needs people who are willing to get dirty together in order to clean things up.
Happy New Year, I hope you'll join our journey toward a loving, compassionate, and justice-driven discipleship in 2023.
-- Jason Whitehead
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