“Camiando en la luz de Dios, camiando en la Luz de Dios”
Yes, I realize that some of you can’t read the Spanish verse that comes from our hymnal. That does not lessen the legitimacy of those words, does it? Because those who speak Spanish are just as loved and valued by God as we are. Do the words “Siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos, siyahamb’ ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos” stir up some anger or frustration that causes you to want to get rid of those who speak Zulu from our land? These words are in our hymnal too. I have heard voices raised in anger because some of our fellow citizens’ primary language isn’t English. But then again, my ancestors’ primary language was German … bet there were folks who wanted to ship them out when they arrived because they didn’t fit in. I know my Irish ancestors were subject to violence and hate, even though they spoke English. The hate, at that time stirred up by leaders, including church leaders, was directed at Roman Catholics. Italians were really harassed when they came here in great numbers too.
On Wednesday February 25th I worshiped and then marched with more than 2000 United Methodist clergy and laity in Washington DC. We came to our nation’s capitol to declare that we choose to follow God’s directives regarding individuals who are strangers in our land. We choose to stand against the imprisonment and terrorizing of children. We stand against transitioning warehouses into barbed wire prison enclosures to hold and imprison families who came to the United States seeking a better life, with the owners of the warehouses receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks in return. Many of these families have followed all the legal procedures to seek asylum, and some even have green cards, but our government has arrested them—some even as they left the courts as they followed our laws.
It was a powerful day of worship led by Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area, who preached from Psalm 24. “The earth is the Lord’s,” she said, quoting Psalm 24:1. “It all belongs to God. ALL,” she emphasized.
The bishop said that the current system of injustice is “antithetical to the will of God.”
It was an impressive day! Jon and Bonnie Tangent, who are part of our Wednesday Night Bible Study even though they live in North Jersey, travelled to share in our gathering, and many members of our church watched online while praying for all of us. In the afternoon we met with Congressional and Senate representatives.
So the Spanish and Zulu verses from our hymnal… They are the same as the English words, which more than 2000 of us sang on the 25th as we left the Capitol United Methodist Church to head into the streets of DC following the call of the Lord God to the prophet Micah, “He has told you, human one, what is good and what the LORD requires from you: TO DO JUSTICE and EMBRACE FAITHFUL LOVE FOR ALL PEOPLE.” We sang together, ‘We are marching in the Light of God; We are marching in the Light of God.”
That is the choice humans have to make, regardless of their nationality, their race, the color of their skin, their language, or any other factor that some use to discriminate and hate against. Will we march in the light of God or in the darkness of the world? It is the season of Lent … Easter is coming … it’s time we all get right with God.
Blessings,
Pastor Dave