Friends, Black Lives Matter. Period. And this week’s events have shown us how important it is that people understand why we – as ordained clergy people – feel compelled by our faith to support #BlackLivesMatter with everything we have (even a little FaceBook post). People have asked us this week why the church would get involved in politics.* And so Gini and Tim take you to the bedrock source for our commitment to justice for every human being: the Book of Genesis, and the Gospel of Matthew’s Great Commission. This episode is full of really beautiful, hopeful texts, that we know you’ll love, and that we needed more than we knew.

And in case you were wondering, we didn’t just cherry-pick these made-for-the-moment texts. They are the gift of the Holy Spirit: texts assigned years ago for this Sunday, Trinity Sunday. So buckle up, this is a special episode of the Irreverends. Enjoy!

*Note: Jesus was political. He spoke out against the ruling authorities, and he was killed by them. So basically, Jesus was an innocent brown man killed by his government after a sham trial. Moreover, racism is not a political issue; it is a deadly, persistent, dangerous ideology – what the church would call sin – and to speak out against it is not political. It is grounded in our faith. You can also find it in our baptismal covenant, on page 305 of the Book of Common Prayer: “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help.” So with God’s help, we will keep on.

As always, the readings may be found at lectionarypage.net

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We welcome your questions and comments – or your topic for a future segment of The Struggle is Real at Tim@theirreverends.com

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