Sermons on Justice (Page 5)
Privilege Displaced
Romans chapter 9 has been misunderstood as a passage about individual election, predestination, and personal salvation. But Romans is not a book of abstract, systematic theology. Romans is a pastoral letter written to a church with factions along cultural and ethnic lines. Paul is writing to the so-called “Weak” and “Strong” to reframe the stories they’ve been living in. Privilege was an key part of what was driving these groups apart, dividing the Body of Christ. Today in the U.S.,…
From Zeal to Hospitality
Romans 13 is a famous text that has been used as a proof-text to justify state-sponsored violence for millennia. By reading Romans “backwards” (in light of the conflict between the factions in the house churches of Rome), we can more clearly see Paul’s purpose for writing this passage. Rather than sanctioning state-sponsored violence, Paul was transforming the zeal of the so-called “Weak” into love, honor, and hospitality. Paul was also reminding the disciples in Rome of Jesus’s teachings of enemy-love…
Global Justice
As we continue in our teaching series, “Love in Public,” guest preacher, Paul Hurckman, Executive Director of Venture delivers a sermon on “Global Justice.” Venture is a Christian ministry that seeks justice and makes disciples around the world.
Serve Before You Speak
Pastor Osheta Moore continues our teaching series, “Love in Public,” with a message reminding us to that to carry out our justice ministry in the way of Jesus, we must have a posture of humility. Building upon an important section of her book, Shalom Sistas, Osheta’s message is entitled, “Serve Before You Speak.”
Shalom Justice
“Purposefully seeking the renewal of our city,” Roots’ third mission priority, requires us to have a unified vision of justice. Justice, as we have learned from Dr. Cornel West, is “what love looks like in public.” So, this week, we are looking at the big picture of justice in the biblical narrative. Like the picture on the puzzle box, if we are to seek justice, we need to know what the end goal we’re working toward looks like. The Bible’s…