The Baptismal Work of Justice
Our baptism is not just about imitation; our baptism also calls us to the work of social justice.
In 1982, the World Council of Churches describe that baptized Christians
Have a common, responsibility, here and now, to bear witness together to the Gospel of Christ. Baptism…has ethical implications which not only call for personal sanctification, but also motivates Christians to strife for the realization of the will of God in all realms of life. [i]
This Sunday is a principal feast of the church year: The Baptism of Our Lord.
We have coincidentally scheduled a Social Justice Listening Session for after the 11:15 service. Thank you to all who have registered for that session! In it we will build on the work of the Social Justice Team in which possible areas of focus for the coming seasons were lifted up via congregation-wide one-on-ones: food insecurity, LGBTQ+ advocacy, gun violence prevention, and affordable housing. Having spent last year focusing on voting access and Greater Cleveland Congregation’s Battle for Democracy, the social justice team is seeing feedback on how to focus our work in the coming year.
This will be an important session, as choosing where to focus will help us to be as effective as possible. Saying yes to certain issues will require that we let other issues go for a time, which is hard to do but important work as well.
This is justice work; this is also baptismal work. If you are not planning to be with us on Sunday afternoon, please reach out to me or the Social Justice Team co-chairs, Jan Keleman and Marcia Milter, to share your thoughts on those four issues.
Faithfully,
The Very Rev. Bernard J. Owens