Galatians 3:27-28 -- As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27-28)

This passage has been on my heart and mind over these last weeks. As we watch events around the world and in our own country exploding with violence, these words come to my mind as hope and prayer. Much of the violence we see is a result of someone or some group looking at a neighbor as someone “other”. Using labels of race, ethnicity, economics, or religion, people get put into categories of acceptable, unacceptable, worthy, undeserving, beloved or hated. And just to be clear, you and I perpetrate and advance this kind of judgment every day.

What would our country look like if we lived this biblical vision? What if we no longer separated our neighbors into black and white, rich or poor, privileged and oppressed? What if we looked at unarmed black teenagers and heavily armed police officers as brothers and sisters in Christ? What if the label we placed on one another was “beloved” What if?

In the waters of baptism, we are claimed as sons and daughters of God. This means that we are all a part of the family of faith — siblings to one another. When one part of our family hurts, we all hurt. When violence and hatred threaten to tear at the very fabric of what binds us together, we are called to proclaim in our words and our deeds the love of God in Christ Jesus for our whole human family. We do that by confessing our part in perpetuating the sin which seeks to separate us, receiving the forgiveness that sets us free to embrace each other and working together to end the “-isms” that keep us all chained. I believe that together, we can do this hard work of being the body of Christ in the world!

I pray: Help me to see your face, O Christ, in the face of my sisters and brothers — especially in the faces of those whose lives are so very different from my own. Open my heart to your ways. Give me strength to work for justice and peace in my neighborhood, across our country and throughout this world that you so desperately love. Amen.

Contributed by Pastor Bishop Bartholomew
Monday August 18, 2014
Liturgical Year A: Week 39
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading: Proper 16
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost