CI
Loyalty and Justice
(7/7)
I will sing of loyalty and justice; to you, God, will I sing. (Psalm 101:1)
Loyalty to God and justice to our neighbor are profoundly connected. To be loyal to God is to love you neighbor. To be loyal to God is to love God’s world in its wondrous world. Biblical religion does not separate heaven and earth or this life and the next. Our calling is to follow God’s way, shaping our world “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Loyalty to God means loyalty to our neighbors and to the earth. To be loyal, according to Webster, is to be faithful, to have allegiance, to put the other’s wellbeing on par with my own. We think of a loyal friend, with us in “thick and thin.” We think of a loyal life companion whose fidelity we can count on in every life situation. We think of loyalty and allegiance to our national wellbeing, being willing to sacrifice for the nation’s wellbeing even when it’s difficult.
Today, let us be loyal to God by expanding our scope of concern to the neighbor, stranger, and nonhuman world. To me, these days, loyalty to God means to – despite the limitations of sheltering in place – caring for the wellbeing of my family, especially my grandchildren; praying for and reaching out to folk at church; wearing a mask in public; calling my representatives to encourage them to maintain a focus on environmental issues as well as regulations that will promote justice to the marginalized. It means seeing holiness in my daily life and trying to bring out beauty, albeit imperfectly, wherever I am. It means sharing a positive vision in this troubled time through writing, preaching, and teaching.
Let us be loyal to God by seeking justice, and loving mercy, and caring for this good earth.
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et me place you, O God, and your world at the center of my life. Let me seek justice and peace everywhere, caring for the least of these and joining God’s mission of healing the earth. Amen.
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