Zimmerman Case and the Good News of the Gathered Church

Every time we gather to worship, I say to the congregation, "You are in the right place! There is no other place God would have us to be than right here in God's house worshiping God!"

I say this same phrase every week.

I know it can become routine but I say it because it reminds me of why I am there...it reminds me of why we are there.

That was never more true that this past Sunday. I shared with my congregation the following thoughts.

You see in a congregation like our's, there were folks who gathered to worship who applauded the decision of the Zimmerman verdict. At the same time, there were folks who were outraged and hurt by the decision of the Trayvon Martin case.

But you see, the most radical thing that was taking place at the Little Church on the Prairie that Sunday and every Sunday that people gather to worship was that people were declaring that the hope of the world was not in the hands of some jury, or court system, or the political system of a country.

The hope for our communities was not in correcting an injustice or celebrating the justice system at work.

Our gathered community was the visible demonstration that the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.

And because of Jesus Christ and all that he had done for us on the cross, we the gathered people who might disagree passionately about what happened with the case and other many important issues were going to treat people we even disagree with with love, respect, dignity, honor, and grace.

We commit to treating all people with love, respect, dignity, honor, and grace because we believe that our calling from Christ is higher than any political or social calling.

We were declaring by our gathering that our hope for the world and our community was in folks who call themselves Christ-followers treating others, regardless of political, social, educational, financial, racial, differences with love, respect, honor, dignity, and grace precisely because Jesus is our Lord.

Our gathering was a visible protest against the ways of the world and against the powers that be, that our only hope is in Christ and Christ alone.

That's what our church proclaims every time we gather to worship the risen One.

Jesus is the hope of the world.

So every time we gather for worship, know this: We are in the right place. There is no other place God would have us to be than right here in God's house worshiping God!