Today’s Prayer to Passage will be from the book ‘Honoring Our Neighbor’s Faith’ published by Augsburg Publishing House with editors Robert Buckley Farlee, Mark Gardner and Douglas Schmitz.

Today I pray, “Dear God, Living in a world of faith diversity, what transformations can we provide one another in response to faiths?”

Following my prayer, I held the closed book in my hands, concentrating on the prayer, and opened the book to this passage on page 25:

“Peace with justice is a General Assembly-approved priority.”

This led me to look up the General Assembly online. I posted a link from un.org — a website page on the General Assembly — at the close of this blog post. I can understand peace. And I can understand worldly justice. I also looked up the only Scripture verses noted on today’s two pages. Matthew 16:16 and 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. These two verses were referenced on page 24 of ‘Honoring Our Neighbor’s Faith.’

Matthew 16:16 MSG — “Simon Peter said, ‘You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'”

1 Corinthians 11:27-29 MSG — “Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of ‘remembrance’ you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.
If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences.”

And finally, I will share a question asked in the “For Discussion” closing on page 25:

“Do you think it is appropriate for the church to speak, for instance, on social issues where ‘the Scriptures are silent’? Why or why not?”

I think it is appropriate for anyone to speak on social issues. A dialogue is what we are afforded on earth. Calls for justice are appropriate. Answers to those calls are as complex as faith diversity itself. The divergence of worldly justice and Godly justice, while both immaterial to some, is of the deepest importance to others. And it is certainly not for me to state the truth, as I am uncertain.

People and ideas have been, are, and will be appropriated toward justice that is fitting to what God would choose. Ay, there’s the rub! What would God choose? Now I see the light surrounding the darkness of all the wars ever fought among people. Even the wars fought within one’s own soul, including the disbelief of souls and of God. Not for the sake of consequence, I believe in balance and harmony.

un.org
General Assembly:
http://www.un.org/en/ga/about/background.shtml