Those of us who attend Christian churches that follow the common lectionary are hearing 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and Matthew 5:1-12a (the Beatitudes) this Sunday.
These passages struck me differently this year because of what we are seeing in Minnesota and across the country where people are standing up to the powerful for the sake of justice and mercy.
In I Corinithians, we hear “God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong.”
In Matthew, we hear:
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.”
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I know it will be a long haul and take a lot of work and witness, but these passages give me hope that the millions of us – of all faith traditions or none at all – who are not powerful individually will be able to re-establish a society that respects human dignity and rights for all the people.
Joanne Corey 