Above: Icon of the Ministry of the Apostles
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The Divine Mandate for Social Justice
MAY 7, 2023
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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
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Acts 17:1-15
Psalm 33:1-11 (LBW) or Psalm 146 (LW)
1 Peter 2:4-10
John 14:1-12
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O God, form the minds of your faithful people into a single will.
Make us love what you command and desire what you promise,
that, amid, all the changes of this world,
our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 22
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O God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will;
therefore grant to your people that they may love what you command
and desire what you promise,
that among the manifold changes of this age our hearts
may ever be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 53
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…the people who have been turning the whole world upside down have come here now….
–Acts 17:6b, The Revised New Jerusalem Bible (2019)
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One need not be evil to favor maintaining the status quo, even when it is exploitative and for overturning. Good, morally defensible change can cause disorientation and discomfort, even among conventionally pious people. The terms “revolutionary,” “liberal,” “conservative,” and “reactionary” are inherently relative to the center, the definition of which varies according to time and place. These four labels are, in the abstract, morally neutral. In circumstances, however, they are not. Being conservative, for example, may be right or wrong, depending on what one hopes to conserve. And, if one is not a revolutionary in certain circumstances, one is morally defective.
The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., called for a
moral revolution of values
on April 4, 1967, when he finally unambiguously and unapologetically opposed the Vietnam War. That address, which he delivered at the Riverside Church, Manhattan, proved to be extremely controversial, mainly because of King’s position on the Vietnam War. That controversy obscured much of the rest of the contents of the speech. (King was correct to oppose the Vietnam War, by the way.) The other content of that speech remains prophetic and germane. The call for a society that values people more than property, for example, has not come to fruition, sadly.
Sometimes “turning the world upside down” is really turning it right side up, as in Psalm 146 and the Beatitudes. Giving justice to the oppressed, feeding the hungry, caring for the strangers, sustaining the orphan and the widow, and frustrating the way of the wicked are examples of turning the world right side up, not upside down. You, O reader, and I live in an upside-down world.
This is theologically orthodox. False theological orthodoxy mistakes social justice for heresy and bolsters social injustice. However, the Law of Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth are consistent in holding that social injustice is a divine mandate.
So be it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 21, 2022 COMMON ERA
THURSDAY IN EASTER WEEK
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROMAN ADAME ROSALES, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927
THE FEAST OF SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM, CAPUCHIN FRIAR
THE FEAST OF DAVID BRAINERD, AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY AND MINISTER
THE FEAST OF GEORGE B. CAIRD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST THEN UNITED REFORMED MINISTER, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF GEORGIA HARKNESS, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, ETHICIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT SIMON BARSABAE, BISHOP; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 341
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS 
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