Sermon for August 21st, 2016

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Micah 6:6-8

6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

The Confession of Belhar: Reconciliation & Justice

Since today is Back to School Sunday, I'm reminded of the story about Cindy, who refused to get out of bed on the morning of the first day of school. Her poor mother tried everything she could think of, and finally in exasperation said, "Can you even give me three good reasons why you don't want to go to school?" Without hesitating, Cindy said, "Yes. All the students hate me. All the teachers hate me. And everyone is mean to me!" And then, turning things around, Cindy asked her mother, "Can YOU even give me TWO good reasons why I *should* go to school?" Without hesitating, Cindy's mother replied, "Yes. Because you're 51 years old, and you're the principal."

Today we are continuing (and concluding) our short sermon series on the Belhar Confesssion. For those of you who were not with us last week, or who have slept since then, here's a brief recap:

  • A Confession is, in this case, not an admission of wrongdoing or guilt, but rather a creed or statement of belief. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has a book of historic confessions that together represent how we have interpreted the scriptures through the years, and what we believe the church is called to be and do in a variety of times, places and situations.
  • The Confession of Belhar is the newest addition to our Book of Confessions, adopted by our General Assembly this summer, and by a 2/3rds majority of elected representatives from all the congregations in our denomination.
  • The Confession of Belhar was written in the 1980s by South African Reformed Christians who opposed the government and church sanctioned system of racial discrimination known as apartheid.