Given by Rev. Madison Shockley January 17, 2021
Today is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. We are also getting ready to celebrate the inauguration of a new president. In our reading today, Jesus tells his disciples that if they continue doing his work, then they are truly his followers. They will know the truth and it will set them free. The greatest form of slavery is when you do not know you are enslaved. Reality is distorted so you may believe you are free but you are not. This struggle has gone on throughout history. Truth defines reality. It is a struggle to define what is really true and what is not. For many, once they believe something, the facts no longer matter. A lie can express and corroborate their hates and fears better than the truth. It can lead people to do illegal acts in the name of truth. Recent events show that some fear the multiculturalism of America. America has always been multicultural. Our world is really a neighborhood. We have not been able to make it a brotherhood or sisterhood yet. We remain divided. We all pay the price of white supremacy. In order to follow in Jesus’s work, we must be connected and rid ourselves of the disease of racism. We must rid ourselves of the myths connected to racism. We must put an end to war and violence. They cannot end our problems. Our answer can only be nonviolence. Our conscious asks is it right. Follow in God’s way to transform our world.
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