Justice in Churches

My friend, the Rev. Jacob Breeze, has a phrase that describes the absence of a critical element that defines an institution. Jacob says, “it’s the thing without the thing that makes the thing the thing.” An example would be decaffeinated coffee: It’s the thing without the thing (caffeine) that that makes the thing the thing. So you may ask me, “What is the role of the social justice in the church?” The answer is that it is one of the things that makes the thing the thing.

Scriptural Christianity

On June 19, 2016, the 150th Anniversary of the first Juneteenth, Rev. Sean J. Nickleberry stepped into the pulpit of Hope AME in Prairie View, Texas. A century and a half earlier, news that slavery in the United States was over had finally reached the pulpit of another AME Church, Reedy Chapel, in Galveston, Texas. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had taken place two and a half years earlier in 1863, it took time for the news to be proclaimed in Texas.

Our Goodly Heritage

We encourage you to share the following with your church leaders, teachers, volunteers, and small-groups.

Originally printed in Strength for Service to God and Country: Daily Devotions for Those in the Service of Others, second revised edition copyright © 2002 by Abingdon Press/Nashville. All rights reserved.

 

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.—Ps. 16:6

 

When it comes to riches and marvels of native land, when it comes to benefits and blessings, when it comes to rights and privileges, and when it comes to opportunities and possibilities, we, the people of these United States, have a goodly heritage—something we are in danger of forgetting, unless we remind ourselves of it from time to time, especially in view of the fact that there are some among us who are always finding fault with our country. We would be wiser and better citizens if we would spend more time in evidencing our appreciation of what we have and less time in complaining about what we do not have.