03-07-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
​March 7, 2023
Yesterday, Donna and I were driving to Lincoln, NE, to see my mother. Along the way, a certain billboard caught my attention. It read:

Can a billboard end antisemitism?
No.
But you’re not a billboard.

My sermon from Sunday echoed in my head, specifically the line, "One selfless act." In a world where hate remains very real for many, including the Jewish community, and antisemitic tropes are leveled too often, I think of Esther, whose selfless and risky act saved the Jewish people in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus. It was Esther who responded to Mordecai’s challenge, "Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). We need to hear Mordecai’s challenge anew today, and each of us needs to be one selfless act of kindness and justice for the sake of those who have known the hate of bigotry. It is time.

Where lies are told and human life suffers, we pray for one person to stand up and speak the truth, and then another, and another. Lord God, may it be so. Amen.