Truth-Telling

This litany we’ll use as our Call to Worship July 2. I always think hard about how to connect faith and citizenship, especially in this city. These words were such strong declarations of truth, and truth-telling, as we know in our individual and communal lives, is absolutely essential for freedom. Savor them a little more than just a few seconds on Sunday morning:

As we gather for worship on a day celebrating the freedom of our country and our faith, we affirm these things: It is not true that this world and its inhabitants are doomed to die and be lost;

This is true: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him shall not die, but have everlasting life.

It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction;

This is true: I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

It is not true that violence and hatred shall have the last word, and that war and destruction have come to stay forever;

This is true: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, in whom authority will rest, and whose name will be Prince of Peace.

It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil that seek to rule the world;

This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, and lo, I am with you always, to the end of the world.

It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are prophets of the church, before we can do anything;
This is true: I will pour out my spirit on all people, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young people shall see visions, and your old folk shall dream dreams.

It is not true that our dreams of liberation of humankind, our dreams of justice, of human dignity, of peace, are not meant for this earth and its history;

This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that true worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth. Thanks be to God.

A modified version of an address by Allan A. Boesak to the World Council of Churches VI Assembly on the theme: Jesus Christ, the Life of the World.