WCC 16 DAYS - Women and Human Rights

PRAYER:

For those who endure violence, may we surround them with support.

For those who perpetuate violence, may God change their hearts.
For those who strive to break the cycle of violence, may they know their work to be valued and important.
For all of us who seek God, may we demonstrate leadership in extending dignity to all.



REFLECTION (Romans 5)

As Christians, we are called to work against all forms of violence; to uphold the dignity of all; to safeguard the rights of all people. These 16 Days invite us to focus on the plague of gender based violence, and to discern a faithful response.
In some passages, this is easily understood: The call in Micah 6:8 inspires us act with justice, kindness, and mercy. Ephesians 5.11-13 compels us to refuse to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, to expose it and work against it. Jesus teaches his disciples to dismantle systems of oppression and domination, and to use power to enhance others’ well-being (see Matthew 20.26-28).
But what about the stories that seem to support inequality and injustice? The ones that don’t sound Holy? The ones that need some editing to be the world of GOD - and not the words of the world??

For example: let’s consider Paul (not always known for having a feminist perspective) as he writes to the Romans (not exactly the community known for equality) about how the faith brings peace and joy. Romans chapter 5 has been co-opted in some interpretations over the years, and misunderstood as a call to simply accept suffering. You all know this passage… suffering produces endurance, produces character, produces character, produces hope. So suffering is good, right?

Nope. That’s a big nope.
God doesn’t want us to suffer. Not for our gender, not for our race and colour, not for our ancestry, not for anything.
Instead, if we go back to the Greek as Paul wrote it, Paul is writing to inspire us to move beyond suffering… by persisting in the call for justice: a call for individuals, and communities, and the world. All of God's people are called to move us all beyond suffering.

So. With some poetic license, and the grace of God, I offer to you the following re-telling of Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 5.

We, beloved, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. Jesus has given us access to the immeasurable grace that holds us up. God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

This gives us hope… holy hope that strengthens our character as children of God. This character fuels us in our ministry, our activism, our advocacy …. So that we can endure the hard work that is before us.

This endurance then speaks of a righteous persistence… . Nevertheless, we persist.
And this persistence counters the tribulations of the world.

That’s a different message, isn’t it.
That’s the good news that we are meant to carry with us.
Not that injustices are meant to be tolerated…
But instead, that our faith, which has been justified by God, brings us to the position of resisting the evils of this world. Of rejecting systems and structures that oppress. Of acting against anything that would deny the fullness of humanity that God has given us.

This is why we persist. This is why we lean into the hard work of gender justice and human rights.
This is how we are living the good news of God… not some other person or place or time: but here. Now. Us.
We are agents of change for a just world.

So let us take the stories that we know, that we’ve heard, that we’ve shared: and really think about them.
And if we need to: flip the story.
To discern within the scriptures God’s divine vision for just society, and hear how God is speaking… then, and now.
For we are called to tell the story in ways that the world will hear the liberating freedom of God’s word.
To empower this and future generations to live into the story.

God’s story is the story of justice… of peace… of equality for all.
This is our story … this is God’s story… this is the story that God is calling all of us to tell.

So persist.
Overtake oppression. Empower the weak, encourage the exploited, advocate for the voiceless. Persevere against normalized evils. Do what you need to do to fulfill your calling. Do what God has spoken into your heart to do. Persist.

For when we persist in this work, and lift God’s beloved out of suffering, we embrace the glory of God.
This is the hope we have been given. This is the work that we are equipped to do.
This is the foundation of our faith, and the glory of God that is worth boasting about.
This is the good news of God that the world needs to hear.