Jeremiah 23:1-6
Our church is in the beginning stages of an honest communication about sexual identification equality. The conversation has been going on in the halls and behind closed doors for years, the recent decision by our legislatures to include people from all sexual identifications to marry has brought the conversation into the open. It's going to be a great time in our church, a time I'm looking forward to.
I am someone who believes that human rights are just that. How people are treated should not be dictated by their religion, race, ethnicity, gender, gender identification, or any other personal choice they have made. Whether or not someone should be treated equally and justly should have nothing to do with anything, except for their words and actions. Even then, judgement should not be made in a way to separate them from society, but to find a way to bring them back into it.
The first Christians practiced this belief. They took to heart Jesus' message of unconditional acceptance in the welcoming of people into our communities. This message did not originate with Jesus, however, as we see this message repeated throughout the stories in the bible, possibly no more so than through the Prophets.
In today's passage, the Prophet Jeremiah speaks to a people who have been scattered, all their belongings and things they hold dear to life taken away from them. He says to them that there will be a day when God will return them to a life in which they can be fruitful and multiply. Through Jeremiah, God also promises that God will return to them.
At the end of our passage God promises that someone will come and lead them into greatness, and this person will be called, "The Lord of Righteousness." This is a name which represents a person who will lead others towards a life where all people are treated with fairness and equity. In the Christian faith we believe this person to be Jesus Christ.
As Christians we are called to accept as our own the examples of Christ as he lived on this earth. We should also note that Jesus took as his examples the words of the Prophets and the intent of the law as given through God, which Jesus reminds us is to love God with all our self and to love others in the same way we love ourselves.
If, as Christians, we truly believe that Jesus is the Messiah, then we should do our best to understand what the Messiah was meant to do, who the Messiah was meant to be - the one who will lead people back into an abundant life filled with equity and justice.
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