Words from Bede Circuit
Dear Friends,
One of my favourite Bible verses is Micah 6:8: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’. God’s desire for justice is one of the principal themes of the Bible, running strongly throughout the Old Testament and being put into practice through the words and deeds of Jesus.
Almost exactly a year ago the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, gave a lecture for the Methodist Church to launch the Church’s 2-year Walking with Micah project. I found the lecture both inspiring and challenging, as have many others – it has been watched by over 3,000 people and if you missed it you can watch it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTB2wLO4k1w&t=60s or this link Walking with Micah Methodist Church
The Methodist Church want as many Methodists as possible to engage with the Walking with Micah project, which aims to answer the question ‘What does it mean for the Methodist Church to be a justice-seeking church?’ We live at a time of huge change when domestic and global injustices are being revealed and intensified. So we need to ask ourselves ‘How can our world be renewed so that all God’s creation, people and planet, can flourish?’ and of course, following on from that, ‘What can we do to help that happen?’
The desire for justice was one of the keystones of John Wesley’s ministry – not only was he at the forefront of the movement to abolish slavery but he was instrumental in establishing early examples of housing associations to ensure the poorest in society had adequate housing. I wonder how he would react (and indeed how God feels) about a country, still one of the richest in the world, which protects the richest by ensuring their tax havens continue to provide them with the means to avoid paying their fair shares, whilst seeing our basic public services such as health and police unable to respond to emergencies, and more and more families and children being pushed into poverty.
I would encourage as many of you as possible to engage with the Walking with Micah project and ensure that the desire for, and pursuance of, justice is at the heart of our Christian mission and service as Methodist people. If we are accused of being political then I would argue strongly that we are simply following the example of Jesus and the instructions of God through the Bible!
With my love and prayers,
Rev Paul Worsnop, on behalf of Bede Circuit ministry team
Prayer Meeting – Wednesday, 10am on Zoom