"I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb." Revelation 7:9
As we journey together this Lenten season, examining all aspects of social justice, we are learning not just about what we can do to take action towards social justice, but also the deeper heart changes needed to heal brokenness and suffering in our community and in the wider world.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion should matter deeply to us because they are the outworking of a critical truth embedded within our faith. The truth is that despite our differences, we were all made equally in God’s image and ultimately belong to God and to each other. This is the “why” behind everything we do—the fuel that keeps our ministries in motion.
We are called to reflect the love of God to the world that he first showed us, by sending his son to die for us so that we can live together in harmony and peace as the body of Christ belonging to and building the Kingdom here on earth.
We are called to seek reconciliation across all the boundaries that divide us because Christ reconciles sinners to God and has broken down the dividing wall that separates people and communities from one another. We seek peace because Christ is our peace and calls his people to be a community of peace. We seek justice because Christ is our justice and calls his people to do justice. We seek freedom because Christ has set us free and calls everyone to live in this freedom. We seek inclusion because Christ's sacrifice is for the sins of the whole world, in all its created diversity. We seek true fellowship and kinship with one another, to welcome and learn from those who are different from us, and to take comfort in the knowledge that we love because God first loved us.
For further meditations and reflections on diversity, inclusion and belonging:
For more information and thoughts about diversity and belonging:
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