Dream it! Believe it! Do it!
The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life – indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest. - John 10:10
Some translations of this text say “I have come so that they could have life, and have life abundant.” However you put it, Jesus makes it clear that he has come so that people may not just survive, but thrive.
I am asked in several circles what it means to me to have a vision of the world that is healthy, whole, and healed. What does it mean for our church, our city, our country, our world to have live abundant?
My answer is the same: “It looks like everyone has enough.”
The United Women in Faith sent me to their General Assembly this year in Indianapolis this past Wednesday – Sunday. Assembly happens every four years, two years after the General Conference. This year the theme was “Dream it! Believe it! Do it!” The hope was that, leaving assembly, attendees would come away with empowerment to step into the world in courage and in faith to make a difference.
It was a profound experience to attend Assembly and to be in the same place with women from around the connection, from around the world. The thing that spoke to me the most, and the thing I want to share with you, is the thing that the Theologian in Residence, Rev. Stephanie York Arnold (General Secretary for The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women) had to share with us.
Rev. Arnold shared that Jesus clearly cared for the communal life of everyday folk – that he cared deeply that all people “experience life fully – not just his disciples, not just Jews, not just men, not just adults, not just those who followed the right rules or had the means to provide for themselves. Jesus interacted with all types of people, regularly crossing boundaries that made others uncomfortable.”
Arnold continued: “But I know that you and I both know that this is not the world we are currently living in today. We are living in a terribly divided world that is being militarized more every day. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer. Those who look like me, have the citizenship I have, and the generational privileges I have are safe if we maintain the powers-that-be status quo, while those who push back against injustice, have more melanin in the skin, whose first language isn’t English, or who might be a citizen from another country have less and less security as some have deemed their lives less worthy of abundance.”
As people of faith, it is our mandate to bring justice to a world that discriminates based on – well, on anything. As Christians, and as United Methodists, we are called to walk with those on the margins, helping to provide their daily bread. Putting systems in place so that they can thrive, not just because that’s what we want for them but because that is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to do.
Arnold, in that opening worship, called on us to follow Christ’s example. She called on us to make sure life is experienced abundantly by all of creation:
The neighbor to your right and left
The neighbor on the other side of the city, the country, the world
Documented or undocumented
Black, white, and every color in between
Gay, straight, or undefined
Male, female, or nonbinary
Disabled or not disabled
Employed or unemployed
College-educated, trade-school taught, or high-school dropout
Democrat, Republican, or hasn’t voted at all
Abortion-rights advocate or gun-rights advocate
Assembly called on us – and on me – to live boldly into the call that God has placed on my life to love those whom the world has cast aside. I learned in workshops ways to reframe The Lord’s Prayer and how to lean into the central message of that prayer – that we are known and loved by a God who sees us.
I was affirmed in our work that we are doing to support women, children, and youth in our community. I learned more about grassroots advocacy and confirmed that we were on the right track in our learning about affordable housing in our community.
And, while I left empowered and uplifted, I also left acutely aware that some women who had planned to attend could not due to visa restrictions.
As United Methodists we are constantly working toward a world that reflects the Kin-dom of God, and we do that in our congregation in so many ways. By teaching the children, by volunteering in our community, by feeding the hungry, by paying someone’s electric bill, by protesting injustice, by speaking up at City Council meetings, and so much more.
I see that Kin-dom work tangibly reflected whenever someone picks up my daughter to bring her to the service because I can’t, when she runs to welcome a new friend she has met at church, when she tells me the stories of Jesus that she has learned, when she begs me to help someone she sees who needs help.
We are not yet living in a Kin-dom that reflects God’s abundance, but as a congregation, we are doing everything we can to move the needle that direction.
Theodore Parker spoke: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight, I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”
In this time, and in this place, may we all be empowered to dream it, believe it, and do it. As people of faith, it is our mandate to create a world of abundance for all. I am on that road with you – let's do it, together.
Yours in Community,
Rev. Rachel