I concluded the last devotion I wrote with these words Joseph Drexler-Dreis’s Decolonial
Love, “Decolonizing is thus a fundamentally different project than ‘opening’ particular disciplines or ‘diversifying’ Western thought systems; the goal in projects of decolonization is to transcend Western thought systems. This requires a different eschatological imagination.” I was wondering what a new thought system might look like when I came across Paget Henry’s book, Caliban’s Reason.
 
In it he writes, “With the continuing production of new forms of poverty, new forms of liminal othering, spiritual and ecological crises of major proportions, it looks more and more as though the project of Western humanity is founded on the blind pursuit of a bad infinity. In the words of Adorno, it is “self-assertion gone wild.”…Foucault sees the reassembling of the mythic forces that will contain this pursuit and correct its hubris.”
 
Henry’s book is an attempt to ask why, even in the works of Caribbean thinkers and activists, are African and Indigenous ways of knowing downplayed or ignored? Why do non-Western pursuits still base their thought in a Western reason that is responsible for so much (neo-)colonial destruction and racist othering? Henry, too, recommends a “different eschatological imagination,” a “return of the gods” that will change the way we look at the world and at one another.
 
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Psalm 82 and its vision of the Most High in the divine council, in the midst of “the gods.” We learn that they are “children of the Most High” and they are failing miserably in the task that the Most High has given them to do; judging unjustly and showing partiality to the wicked rather than giving “justice to the weak and the orphan” and maintaining “the right of the lowly and the destitute.”
 
The story goes like this: as humanity was growing in its hubris, striving to make a name for themselves (self-assertion gone wild!), the Most High saw fit to scatter them abroad, “Come let us go down and confuse their language.” So, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 says that the “when the Most High apportioned the nations,” God did so “according to the number of the gods.” (NRSV; your Bible might say ‘sons of Israel’ but that doesn’t make sense). The Most High, the Lord, “fixed the boundaries of the peoples,” took Israel for his own, and delegated the nations to the gods, the “children of the Most High.” Sadly, these gods lead humanity astray and the prophets see how “all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god” (Micah 4:4).
 
I believe that Luke has all of this in mind as he tells the story of Jesus’s birth, putting in the angel’s mouth this announcement: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.” For Luke, the Most High “made all the nations…allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the place where they would live” (Acts 17:26). But, there was an underlying desire here: that these same nations “would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him” (Acts 17:27), fulfilling the words of the prophets that “many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord… he shall judge between many peoples…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’” (Micah 4:2-3). For Luke, the Most High has “fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31).
 
Acknowledging the presence of “the gods” is a “different eschatological imagination” for many people (and an uncomfortable one). But, here’s the difference it makes: it reveals to us that each ethnic/national identity, every people, that is trying to assert itself cannot claim to be serving Christ. What sets the Most High apart from the gods, what makes the Lord “God of gods” is a fervent desire to “execute justice from the orphan and the widow, who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.” (Deut. 10:17-18). What makes Jesus unique among the “children of the Most High” is not a self-focused assertion, but an other-focused compassion that brings “good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). And, when Christ returns to judge in righteousness and the nations are gathered before him, the criteria for judgment is clear: rescue the weak and the needy (the “least of these”?); deliver them from the hand of the wicked (Psalm 82:4)
 
The history of colonialism is a history of one ethnic/national group seeking to assert itself over and against another; nation lifting up sword against nation. It is a history of “self-assertion gone wild” as Western European peoples sought to make a name for themselves, trampling over land and people, claiming them all as property. Western theology asserted a singular sovereignty to justify their exploitation. This history of dehumanization and destructive extraction was carried out in the name of Christ, but a different eschatological imagination leaves us wondering if all the peoples were actually walking in the name of their own god. Still today our (neo-)colonial hubris leads us in a “blind pursuit of a bad infinity.” Simply put, a decolonization that transcends Western thought will lead us away from a self-focused assertion and toward an other-focused compassion. We know that we will have found the Most High, that our search will be complete, that we will have become children of the Most High, when we are found to love our enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return (Luke 6:35). Then, and only then, will we be walking in the name of the Lord our God.
 
Let’s pray for a more transcendent Advent this season: Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you! – Psalm 82:8
 
Rev. Peter TeWinkle is a pastor for Oakdale Park Church (CRC) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. He is also a partner and a parent who is inspired by the prophets and is studying what it means to decolonize Reformed Christianity at Claremont School of Theology

(World Council of Churches Conference on Word Mission and Evangelism in Arusha, Tanzania, 2018)
 
I greet you in the name of the one who has called us to the life of discipleship!
 
Animating the Arusha Call 
Some persons who are reading this reflection would have been present at the gathering of some 1000 persons which took place in Arusha, Tanzania, from March 18 to 20, 2018. The participants were drawn from persons engaged in mission and evangelism representing many Christian denominations from across the world.
 
Some of you may not have been there physically and some may not have heard about the conference at all. It is therefore my pleasure to spend a few minutes reflecting on a small aspect of the Arusha Call (the full document is to be found at https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/the-arusha-call-to-discipleship). The link to the Arusha Call has been provided so that you may either begin or continue to study and live out the call in your journey of discipleship.
 
We who have been with Christ have elected to be disciples. We have been called into a life that is both a ‘gift and a calling.’ We now have an active role to play in changing the world; in transforming the world. We no longer have an option to stand by as idle, helpless, hapless onlookers on the sidelines. The Arusha Call tells us in part that “We are called to follow the way of the cross, which challenges elitism, privilege and personal and structural power.”

“Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. “ (Luke 9:23)

Jesus spoke to ‘them all.’ Jesus spoke and speaks to us. We are disciples once we accept the call to discipleship. Attending the conference gave me the opportunity to consider discipleship more deeply and my own place in this company. I looked again at the meaning of We. I am called; we are called. Defining We, Merriam Webster notes: “I and the rest of a group that includes me: you and I : you and I and another or others : I and another or others not including you —used as pronoun of the first person plural.”
 
We are composed of a collection of us. I am called upon to isolate and to own my call to discipleship and then further to commit my life in total surrender to Christ and even further to become an active part of the movement of discipleship. This thought makes me a little dizzy but I know that Christ has called me; has called me to a major task of challenging many ills so that others may have a taste of the fullness of life for which Christ came. In a similar vein Christ calls all disciples.
 
Being a disciple is by definition to be a follower of Christ. Christ left us in no doubt that to follow Him calls us into the work of mission and evangelism. As odd as this may sound to some, we who are disciples are duty bound to align our full life and work to mission and evangelism. This claim has a ring of idealism to it, yet it is or calling.
 
May you, may we all surrender to the call.
 
Jennifer P Martin
Education in Mission Secretary
Caribbean and North America council formation 

As I write this, there is a climate conference in Glasgow in Scotland, and circumstances where I am in Trinidad and Tobago seem grim: as the global pandemic of Covid19 continues, I am watching invasions of locusts and giant snails devastate fields which are obscured by the ‘vog’ (a term I hadn’t heard until a few days ago- it means volcanic dust and smog) which is mixed with Sahara dust and suspended in the heavy humidity.
 
The year is drawing to a close and previous ideas about planning for Advent, Christmas, New Year’s and the future in general seem to have been eclipsed by doubt, worry and fear about whether plans can ever be made and kept.
 
The approach of Advent speaks to us in the midst all our challenges to remind us that we are recipients of “good news of great joy” from the Lord with whom “nothing is impossible.” Christ does not replace pain with pleasure but points us to a different pathway here and hereafter. When we think about the history and development of Advent, we can perhaps reflect on our own lives and our journeys.
 
Years ago, Christmas and Easter became popular celebrations in the early Church, and some weeks were set aside for introspection, repentance and fasting before the feasts. Lent (meaning “springtime”) denoted the weeks approaching Easter. Advent (meaning “coming”) designated the weeks before Christmas. Advent was commemorated since around the time of the Council of Sargossa (A.D. 380). The first Sunday of Advent (four Sundays before Christmas Day) is the beginning of the liturgical calendar. This year for Advent, here are some ways we can mark this sacred season, and some questions we can ask ourselves:
 

1. Anticipation: Advent reminds us that we await Christ. Christ is the Desire of Nations, the fulfilment of all expectation. Advent candles of hope, peace, joy and love count down the Sundays of Advent as they chronicle the gifts of Christ as we yearn for his presence. Let’s ask ourselves: What are we waiting for? Let us work, watch and pray as we wait.
2. Andrew: The feast of St Andrew is November 30th. When it falls during Advent as it does this year, there is an increased emphasis on bringing people to Jesus which Andrew was famous for doing. St Andrew’s Theological College in Trinidad is named after Andrew as we educate, edify and enlighten. Let’s ask ourselves: How can we share in the mission of St Andrew?

1. Appearing: The word “appearing” in Greek is “Parousia” which is used to describe the birth of Christ in the manger, the triumphant return of Christ in glory, as well as any presence, arrival or visit. Let’s ask ourselves: How does Christ appear to us? How can we embody Christ to others?

 
The Christian life can be symbolized by Advent because it is the time of both the “now” and the “not yet” as we watch and wait as we embark on our Advent adventure. Disasters continue in the world but we proclaim and exemplify the divine remedy. Let us work as we wait. Let us watch and pray as we actively incarnate the presence and power of God on earth.
 
Rev. Sieunarine is the Principal of St Andrew's Theological College of the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago.
 
He attended universities in Trinidad, Canada, the USA, Israel and England, and embarked on vocations in the Church as well as in law, government, commerce and education. He is a Barrister of England and Wales and an attorney of Trinidad and Tobago

​Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven (James 5:13-15, NRSV).
 
My country, Grenada, recently experienced what was called its first Covid-19 wave. With no community spread, we had no local deaths for all of 2020; however, between August to October 2021,  the country succumbed to the Delta variant which left over 190 persons dead, and hundreds hospitalised. At the height of the recent unprecedented cases of morbidity and mortality, the churches and the Government of Grenada called for two days of national prayer. Although I support prayer to God at all times, I was convinced that God had already provided the answer to our prayers, and what we needed was not supplication but compliance and responsible human action.
 
When we pray to God, how do we expect God to respond? Do we expect God to come down, Godself and wipe away the virus? No, God works in and through that which God has created and placed at our disposal in nature. This is the case in the account we have in James 5.
 
James says if we are in trouble, we should pray. There is a lot in this passage that needs unpacking which we cannot do here now, like, for instance, “is the prayer of elders more efficacious than those of other believers?” and how do we understand the phrase “this prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health, ….” There is a lot that is assumed in the passage, though not expressed. I do want to focus on verse 14 where James said, “Are any among you sick? They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord” (Jas 5:14). 
 
This passage in James shows how the church combined the medicinal and the religious. The elders of the Church represented the religious, and the olive oil represented the medicinal. Olive oil was part of every aspect of the lives of the people in biblical Israel. According to the authors of Life in Biblical Israel, King and Stager, Olive Oil was used as “a dietary staple, medicine, and fuel for ceramic lamps; as a base for cosmetics, perfumes, and oils; and in ritual contexts such as the anointing of kings at their coronation, as libation offerings, and as fuel for sanctuary lamps.”[1]
 
Thomas Lancaster in a piece entitled “Anointing with Oil” said that “In the medicinal lore of the Talmud, an application of olive oil is recommended for a whole host of disorders. Anointing with oil was a common, homeopathic remedy, [and] Olive oil was thought to have a medicinal effect on wounds, to be a cure for invalids, Sickness, and even bowel problems …. Anointing with oil provides general health benefits to its users.”[2]
 
Oil was used in a medicinal manner to aid in the recovery of the sick, and it was applied by the religious leaders of the community. The Covid-19 vaccine is a prophylaxis provided through God-given knowledge and elements found in nature. I concede that in some cases, the vaccine does not prevent sickness, but it does reduce morbidity and decreases the possibility of mortality. Religious leaders have the responsibility to bring to bear both the spiritual and other resources available for healing. To do otherwise is to renege on our responsibility to care for the whole person. 
 
It is unfortunate that some have seen accepting the efficacy of the vaccine and participating in the national vaccination drive as compromising their faith. May God give us all wisdom and patience as we work together, church and civil authorities, to do what is in the best interest of all for God’s glory and the good of His people.


[1] Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager. Life in Biblical Israel. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001. P. 97.

[2] D. Thomas Lancaster. Anointing with Oil: Is anointing the sick with oil supposed to be a spiritual/ritual act? Anointing with Oil | Discover | First Fruits of Zion (ffoz.org)
 

​“There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many your offences are and how great your sins are. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.” —Amos 5:10-15
 
One of the Lectionary offerings for this week, Amos 5:10-15, has remained a most provocative text. The Shepherd of Tekoa’s harsh words have become even more poignant as humanity struggles with the dis-ease caused not only by the COVID-19 pandemic but by the levels of pain, marginalization, and injustice that still exist. Truth has become elusive and conditional, in fact, truth has been twisted and trampled (v 7), the innocent remain oppressed, bribery and corruption stalk the hallways, and those with the privilege of voice, in the name of prudence, remain silent because the proverbial times are evil. 
 
Amos was not a typical or career prophet, but he received a peculiar message for the people of the Northern Kingdom. His onslaught of words in Bethel addressed not only the people of Israel but challenged the neighbouring nations. His words were penetrative and tough to hear as his soul got angry because of the constant oppression and dehumanization of the poor and dispossessed. Amos recognized and condemned the many crimes of war, and he was strident in denouncing the atrocities and suffering of the people as nations ravished each other. The images of fire, ripped open pregnant women, the enslavement of people, the killing of relatives, and the general gruesomeness seem harsh for our ears and imagination today. 
 
However, some of these realities dwell within the underbelly of who we are as Caribbean and North American people. Deeds of evil allow for the dispossession, racism, discrimination, and disparity which mar our societies. For a long time, people have been suffocating under the weight of oppressive systems that prevent access to good health care, proper housing, equal educational and employment opportunities, and the enjoyment of life in its fulness. These have all become magnified in the current time.
 
The Prophet warned the people of Israel that they would be chastised as they worshipped false gods, yet they expected Yahweh to protect them. Israel and Samaria would suffer great devastation unless there was repentance. Spiritual poverty echoed in the words ‘The Lord has said that they don’t even know how to do right’ may still be our challenge today. Unfortunately, even when all was in decay and sorrow abound because the people did not know how to do right, they still rejected God.
 
Can the Prophet speak to us?
 
It was from this dark place that Amos called the people into a right relationship with God. The call to ‘Seek Good, Not Evil…Hate Evil, Love Good…Maintain Justice’ belong in our hearing and midst today. More persons need to purpose in their hearts to seek good. Simply put ‘ if you want to live, you must stop doing wrong and start doing right’. Collectively, we must decry the actions of evil and cease the folly of denial and own the call to love good and maintain justice. Our souls must yearn for that which is good! 
 
In your daily walk seek to do good, help to transform the darkness, announce works of hope, seek peace and pursue, provide a safe place for those in need, share table with the poor, welcome the stranger, embrace those who come empty and fill them with good things, support the weak kneed, and lift up the bowed down. Then and only then will we begin to glimpse Amos’ call to ‘Seek Good, Not Evil…Hate Evil, Love Good…Maintain Justice’.

Rev. Dr. Yvette Noble-Bloomfield is a Deputy General Secretary in the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. She has responsibilities for the Cayman Islands Regional Mission Council.

​“And he said to them ‘whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’”  (Mark 10:11)
 
There are things we wish Jesus never said. Like this. Our churches are full of people who have experienced divorce, and this doesn’t sound like good news. And yet this year Jesus teaching on divorce was the lectionary passage for the first Sunday in October – World Communion Sunday.
 
Of course preachers have to put such teachings in context. In Jesus time women were in an extremely vulnerable position. If a man divorced a woman, she could not hold property. She might have to beg on the streets or worse to stay alive. So Jesus strong words here need to be understood as being about the wellbeing of women, for they were the ones most affected by divorce.
 
More than that, this passage is paired with Jesus welcoming the children. Jesus points that unless we become like children (aware of our dependency) we can’t enter the Kingdom of God.  Again Jesus is lifting up the most vulnerable, for children had very little power or status in Jesus time.  
 
Jesus is also contrasting attitudes. The Pharisees who come to Jesus want to trap him with a legal question about whether divorce is permitted. Jesus basically says that attitude of legality won’t get you a good life. What is permitted isn’t always the same as what helps human community flourish.  
 
We live at times so aware of our essential unity, the very thing we celebrate on World Communion Sunday. We experience beauty in nature – a heron rises from marshland and flies in front of us. We look into someone’s eyes and feel deep connection. Other times the newspaper and our common life in the church remind us of the brokenness in which we live. It can be so disillusioning, the human capacity to take sides and separate from one another.
 
Every year World Communion comes around and every year we are reminded we have much to learn. How it is more important to value relationship than to be right. How our egos cling to things that only serve to separate us from one another. And how the grace and love of God for all creatures, all people is offered to us. Again and again.
 
“What God has joined together, let no one separate.” We hear these words as “wedding words” but Jesus was speaking his theology here. We are all joined together, interdependent. We have so much to learn about how this is so, and what is asked of us that we might reflect God’s desire for us – for us to claim and live this essential unity.
 
“And people will come from east and west, from north and south, and sit at table in the Kingdom of God” In a world of such brokenness, we live in hope.  

​Scripture: 2 Timothy 1 vs 6-9, 13-14
 
In this month of September, the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago has focused on stewardship. Today, we meditate on the theme of Discipleship. A term we have hard in so many ways, and yet it shall take a lifetime to develop it. What does it mean to be a disciple? 
 
The scripture selected for this morning comes from Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Timothy was a faithful follower and learnt from Paul in his ministry. By the time Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, the young pastor had been ministering to the church at Ephesus for four years, and it had been almost that long since he had received his first letter from Paul. Paul nurtured Timothy into maintaining the right attitude of being a disciple of Christ.  
 
Use your gift
 
Paul tells Timothy to use the gift that God has given him in his work. Our Church is filled with people with many talents.- song, dance, compassion. A disciple is called to follow His maker, and His teachings, using his gift for  for His glory. What gift do you have? Whatever gift you have or yet to receive, in this part of your journey, God calls you to use it with joy. Serve him with gladness. When we do this, we begin to change our mindset of what we are called to do. 
 
Adopt the right attitude.
 
The scripture reminds that a true disciple is filled with the Spirit. The Spirit does not make us timid, but in fact gives us power, love and self-discipline. If we adopt an attitude of discipleship, where we follow the teachings of Jesus, where we build ourselves up in our faith through prayer, scriptural meditation, we live a live that is pleasing to Him. 
 
Remember that you are important in God’s eyes and in the eyes of all of us here today. Be bold and courageous in knowing that God has a task for you! 
 
Be committed
 
And Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy that “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.” We are made holy. We are chosen. We are part of His family through His Son Jesus Christ. Christ died for our sins and purchased us with His blood. This commitment shall mould and shape us to live a life of service to the Church, to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. This is the essence of being a disciple; responding to God’s grace.  
 
Seek the Holy Spirit
 
But the comfort we have is the Holy Spirit is there with us, every step of the way. “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” The Holy Spirit equips us to move, to grow, to mature in our faith. When you seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit through prayer, through your Bible study, through your active membership in this church, you remain strong, bold, courageous and steadfast in your faith. The power of God through His spirit strengthens you in your daily life such that you become closer to Him. You hear His voice, You feel His touch and you see His favour in your life. 

​—Stefan Wilson

Presented at the WCRC “COVID & Beyond” discernment session on July 21, 2021.
 
Today we gather, confessing before God and one another the Church’s complicity in the systems and structures of this world that reproduce human misery in excess. God of grace,
Hear our prayer.
 
Hear our prayers O Lord, as we join together now to pray for the Black, Brown, and Indigenous bodies that have been lost at the intersection of Racism and COVID-19. For the disparities in the COVID-19 mortality rate, that on average in the United States claims 3.8 times as many Black lives as it does white lives. Even now, we pray for Black lives in Michigan, where Black people make up 40% of all COVID-19 related deaths, while amounting to only 17% of the state population. God of all life,
Hear our prayer.
 
Hear our prayers God, as we lament the scapegoating of our Asian American and Pacific Islander siblings who have been attacked 6,603 times in the twelve months between March 2020 and March 2021. Settle within us a holy discomfort that we may resist the temptation to participate in racist stereotypes, policies, and practices that endanger the lives of your children. God of everflowing justice,
Hear our prayer.
 
We lift now all those who have carried an outsized portion of the economic toll of this pandemic. As America’s most wealthy members have gotten on average $1.2 trillion richer since January 1, 2020, we remember the 61% of Latinx households who saw their wages cut and jobs lost due to COVID-19. We pause now remembering all those who do not have the privilege of legal protections in the United States, who received no stimulus checks, did not benefit from enhanced unemployment, and continue to be exploited by the economic systems of the richest nation on the earth. God who provides, 
Hear our prayer.
 
We confess in solidarity with a report by the University of Albany which found that “Systemic racism has produced, and continues to produce, deeply entrenched differences in health care and the social, economic, and environmental conditions that account for inequities in longevity and the likelihood of disease. This was true long before the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed … and will remain true unless the resources and will exist to make systemic changes.” God  we pray that you would give us the will and the courage to imagine a new way of being as we seek your kin-dom right here and right now. Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
 
God who offers us the choice between life and death, grant us the wisdom to resist death and its agents, as we seek to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, hear the voices of peoples long silenced and work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
 
Help us now to choose life, and strengthen us for the work ahead, the work of ensuring the lives of Black and Brown and Indigenous folx are seen as precious in our eyes just as they are in yours. God who is the Resurrection and the life,
Hear our Prayer.
 
The Assurance
 
Hear now these words of assurance, God is yet at work! 
 
Our God, the maker of earth and sky, whose hands set the heavens with stars; and whose fingers spread the mountains and plains. Our God is at work, calling us to communion, calling us to one another. 
 
It was in the early days of the pandemic, in the city of Memphis when I sat in a room where Southern Baptist preachers sat next to Imams who sat next to mega-church pastors. In a room where Presbyterian clergy connected with non-denominational leaders. Where Episcopal Bishops connected with Catholic Bishops for the sake of choosing life in the face of the death presented by COVID-19. God is yet at work!
 
When low-wage workers were forced to quarantine while living in multi-generational households and ecumenical partners entered into a season of local mission, providing food and personal protective equipment, coordinating care calls for those isolated, and joining in prayer for one another, I saw that God is yet at work!
 
When Black and Brown communities were being targeted by vaccine misinformation and adequacy vaccine access had not yet been achieved, I saw Presbyterian churches and Disciples of Christ churches, Baptist churches and UCC churches, offering their buildings and campuses as vaccine sites, lending their credibility to pass along reliable information, and leveraging their moral authority to preserve life at every time. Beloved, God is yet at work.
 
And if God is at work in this way in the United States, we know, I know that God is yet at work in your region, in your community, in your church, in your life. Choose to be where God is, choose life. Amen. ​