God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action

The Pastoral Letter

Our United Methodist Bishops have issued a Pastoral Letter to each United Methodist church. In it they state that they cannot remain silent while God’s people and God’s planet suffer. God, they write, has entrusted the care of this beautiful natural world to us but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities. Our neglect, selfishness, and pride have fostered pandemic poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons and violence.

Harsh words, indeed, from our Bishops. But, true words. The Bishops join with many global religious leaders to call for a comprehensive response to the interrelated issues of poverty, war, ecological disasters, and disconnect on all fronts of being. They see one interconnected system that is “groaning in travail” (Romans 8:22 RSV) from threats to peace, people, and planet Earth.

We as United Methodists are urged to orient our lives toward God’s holy vision, a vision of the future which calls us to hope and to action. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Secondly, we are urged to practice social and environmental holiness. John Wesley preached: “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social. No holiness but social holiness”. (Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739) We practice social and environmental holiness by caring for God’s people and God’s planet and by challenging those whose policies and practices neglect the poor, exploit the weak, hasten global warming, and produce more weapons.

Thirdly, we are urged to live and act in hope. We are to understand reconciliation and renewal to be part of the process of salvation that is already under way. We are part of a divine unfolding process to which we must contribute. We must rededicate ourselves to a ministry of peace, justice, and hope to overcome poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons, war, and violence.

Not any easy task has been set for us. But it is possible with God’s help. Copies of the complete Pastoral letter are available in the Chapel. I urge you to take a copy and read it. See what our Bishops have pledged to do to join in the process of renewal. Then dedicate yourself to the same goals. A better world is possible but each of us needs to help make it happen.

Take those cloth bags to the grocery store with you. Keep yourself informed about what is going on in the government, both local and national. React to your elected officials and vote them out if they are not working toward what is best for God’s people, both here and abroad. Work for justice. There will be no peace without justice for all God's people. Volunteer. Rockport offers many opportunities for service as do civic and non-profit organizations. Be part of the change our Bishops have urged us to bring forth.

Peace with Justice Advocate