Justice for All People

God wants justice for all people, Isaiah proclaimed as the word. My servant will bring forth. Justice will Faithfully, bring forth Justice. Or again. God will not faint until he has established Justice in the Earth. God gives us a clue what this Justice will look like. When we read, I have given you as a covenant to open the eyes that are blind to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon. Isaiah, it's more to God's vision and chapter from chapter 61 where we read that the spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. God has sent me to bring good news, Studio, press 2 to bind up the Brokenhearted to Proclaim, Liberty, to the captives, and release to the prisoners. And it is this Proclamation, that Jesus claims as his mission in the same words of Isaiah, that we just heard.

All this is simply to reiterate the God not only wants justice, but they God sees it as having to do with how human being. God's children treat one another. Now the word justice I use has been used in various ways. It is frequently translated in our scripture tradition as judgment. It is our final Reckoning day, the last judgment, the Judgment Day and so forth. Judgment in this context, usually means punishment will be meted out to the bad guy today. When a prosecutor says, we will be brought to judgment, we interpret that as punitive in nature. However, that word judgement is also seen as something. Different is sometimes used as Justice. The commentator on Isaiah James Muhlenberg calls us to regard Justice and its highest since having to do with one's right relationship with God and therefore with others. Doctor, Martin Luther King Junior had the right idea in his letter from the Birmingham Jail. He wrote a just law is a man-made code that squares with the law of God. In another setting he wrote. Justice is love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which would work against love or human personality is a just law and then a law that degrades human personality is an unjust law. Dr. King believed that the Universe, the universe is on the side of Justice.

Or today's sermon Justice will be seen. As first of all, the framework for carrying out, God's love. and secondly, establishing a right relationship between people

Because of these are driving and motivation, and motivation forces that come from God.

What's ground theoretical with some reality? Where does God want Justice? What our granddaughter was 11 years old. She told her parents that she wanted to be a model for justice. This surprise and please your parents asked her how she plan to live committed to Justice and love. As a few other questions came or would she frowned and said, oh no, not clothing store.

That was not for they thought this was all calling. But God does want Justice to Prevail and family life, too. Often their baby, the self-centered adult around whom everyone else's life. Must revolve, the parents who is inconsistent in regards to her or his expectations in regards to moral Behavior. The child who refuses to share the load when it comes to household and family needs. The one sibling who rules another by intimidation and fear the child who thinks only of himself or herself.

The teacher tells of one of her students and his winter boots. He asked for help and she could see why with her pulling and him. Pushing the boots still did not want to go on, but find me when the second boot was finally on. She had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered. When the little boy said, teachers are on the wrong foot. She looked and sure enough. They were she managed to keep her cool as they work together to get the boots back on this time. On the right feet. These aren't my boots. She bit her tongue again, rather than letting it get right in his face and scream. Why didn't you say so? Once again, she struggled to help him pull the fuel fitting boots off. He then said they're my brothers boots. My mother made me wear them. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots back on his feet again. She said, no.

Such behavior is funny in this context but a selfish self-centered child is nothing to laugh that God wants Justice and family life. And then God wants Justice in community life where too often long lines. Can represent poor planning do too insensitive planning or what business is have hopelessly messed up our accounts or when government and to answer these have needlessly, frightened, and intimidated us or large and complex health systems that have confused or for underserved. We all have our stories. God wants Justice between cultures and Nations such as pensions has existed for thousands of years. We read about him in the Bible as well. Players may change, however, but the basic crazy, please continue racism is shifted up from the more obvious to the more subtle and covert instances of racial profiling are denied by some, but such incidences are out there, but for those who are accustomed to being treated as second-class Citizens, it generates real fear suspicion, a lack of trust. A conflict between nations will never be resolved unless prejudices and fears, our first sorted out. Lack of attention to a destructive virus and disease in third world. Countries can at least partly be due to racial and cultural prejudice. God deals with pain and all these instances of Injustice in Family, Life community relations in international interaction, God Longs for the time when we've been to God's Will and become as dr. King encouraged to be a drum major for justice, a drum major, for peace, a drum, major for righteousness. From the beginning of creation. God has worked for and toiled for this Justice. And today's passage from Isaiah wearied of the sufferings one of the one of the suffering, servant poem. God is to place a servant on this Earth to establish justice exactly who God had in mind has been up for questions. It was up for questioned, even though in the time that it was first was written written. Read a specific King, Isaiah has a has time has been freed from captivity in Babylon. The nation of Israel itself. Who is this servant? But we are sure that God will bring Justice and with our new testament glasses on. We see his promise, definitely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God, so desire Justice and Reconciliation, that God sacrificed his own son for the cause. In the 11th, chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, reread of the imprisoned, John the Baptist inquiring, if Jesus is Jesus message back to him, is the blind. Receive their sight. The lame walk lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear, the dead are raised in the poor. Have good news brought to them. Jesus clearly sees himself, as the one, fulfilling the promise and Isaiah God will Faithfully bring forth Justice.

The Fulfillment of that promise impacts you and me. We now know, justice will prevail because God prevails it's part of our spiritual emotional and even physical being. As we see and experience the multitude of Injustice in our world within our communities within our families. We know that they are not the final outcome.

I once knew a man who refused to come to Sunday morning worship anymore. The last time he attended not here to someplace else, a person of different color than he sat down next to him. He did not want to take the chance that it might happen again. So church now was off his list. At first, he made me very angry, but then I remembered that God not only love this, man. The god would not give up on him. I never was able to. I tried to follow up and then lost track that I do not know how it worked out. But I knew that God would eventually Faithfully bring forth Justice. Abraham heschel once road to defy, Justice is to block Gods Almighty Surge, and I know that this is this Almighty search cannot ultimately be turned away. That was considered that the role you and I play in helping to a hotel God's call to establish justice. You want to consider just briefly one the personal acceptance of our just and right relationship with God and then secondly, how we can be agents for God to Justice today. We can never give up and Rich inning and deepening our own relationship with God. Guess we need to begin by acknowledging. That we do not deserve God's love or patient. We do not even earn God's love God. Certainly sees our sinfulness our weakness, our self-centeredness yet still reaches out to us. How forgiving and just God is and how we respond. Well, first of all, by simply thanking God and second like committing to being an agent of God's justice. Establishing. Justice need, not be a noisy business. In March of 1965 people calling for equal voting rights. Begin a protest march to Montgomery, Alabama from Selma. They were met by police at the Edmund, Pettus bridge, in Selma and driven back with billy clubs and teargas, many were engine injured, the day, or so, later, Seminary students from Boston University School of Theology filled a bus and travel to Selma. They're our purpose was to participate in another attempt to march to Mark to Montgomery. We were told that leaders were engaged and behind-the-scenes negotiations. They wanted the marks to be peaceful for everyone. They wanted to avoid the terrible at the bridge. So conversations were held with law enforcement, officer officials and others to discuss plans agreements were finally made in the March then proceeded. How are the students from Boston? Had then return back to Fosston. Justin made significant inroads in the civil rights movement because of discussions behind closed doors. Justice need not be a noisy. Business. Justice can be addressed in the quietness of a child's room. Justice is often fulfilled in the confidential dialogue, in the boss's office Justice can Prevail in the one-on-one conference between Teacher & Parent. We need that always shout to obtain Justice. Establishing Justice. Remember? We are talking about a Justice as a right relationship need not destroy one person. So another might win. Isaiah says that the gods sent servant will be gentle with the bruised Reed and not Quince the dimly-lit of those whose faith is weak. They must not be treated harshly but maybe in a marginal condition and not and cannot be pushed over the edge. Gentleness can make a difference taking time with the angry tire store clerk listening to the alienated church member praying with our for one who seems to hurt you. Kindness, sympathy and empathy gentleness go a long way toward establishing at Justice. God calls you and me to be attuned. To the Injustice is in our families. Our world may be a letter and yes, sometime, perhaps the picket sign, it's a no. And so knowing that Justice is about a right relationship, righting a wrong changing, a policy lobbying for change. Justice is based on what God has already been already done for you. You need just to tap into it. This is not always easy to remember. Soon after a four-year-old, little girl little girls. Brother was born, she began to ask her parents to leave her alone with her new baby brother. The parents were not so sure they were worried that like most four-year-olds. He might feel jealous and want to hit our or Shake him. So the parents said no, but she showed no signs of jealousy. She treated her baby brother with kindness and are pleased to be left alone with him became more and more urgent. They decided to allow it elated. She went into the baby's room and shut the door. But the little crack in the door open, does the parents look through to see what happens and it listen to what happened. They saw their little daughter walk quietly up to her little brother, put her face up close to his and say quietly, baby. Tell me what God feels like, I'm starting to forget.

But it's not forget how God has justly treated us and how God through Jesus Christ. Helps us create a right relationship between ourselves, God and others and then ingratitude and Thanksgiving. We will be able to be God's agent Justice. Let us pray.

Glorious God. We bow before you this morning as your servants. We know we have let you down on many occasions. Yet. You continue to forgive us care for us. Reassure us leaders your son, through your spirit are here to re-energize and encourage us. You have created us to be social beings. We need one another, we depend upon one another, we leaned on one another. You have not meant for us to go It Alone. Help us. God to maintain the bridges between us and our family. Our friends ones. We know or whom. We may not know may your will for us to build community and not walls, never be forgotten. You showed us by means of your son. That right relationships are the keys to Justice, help. Each of us to take, seriously to call a Christ to act out our love for you, as we strive to love our neighbor as we love our self. May those within our own congregation know and feel your healing. Love, we pray for Chick-fil-A. For a Joe and static, Gail Joanne, Dickerson. We also hold in our prayers are sisters and brothers in Christ from the Ravenna night, United Methodist Church. We are frequently troubled by the danger of weakened relationships in our community and World help us to find that. You may seem like something to this. So what may seem like something too small to make a difference between with others, who feel the same way. Never let us forget that power and strength gains and inspired through. You let us never forget that that can bring through to our world and then your name, we pray, man.