Published in the United Church of Christ devotional booklet 'Rise Up: Spirituality for Resistance' (June 2017).
Then God said ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ Genesis 18
What do Progressive Christians need for social justice work?
We need a lot, actually. Curiosity, valuing relationships, having a healthy dose of anger, being willing to tell personal stories in public, we need all that in spades.
But we also need a good sense of humor.
Because, honestly, when we say we’re going to change the world, who do we think we are? Progressive Christians are a tiny bunch of radicals prone to pining for the 1970s, of all things. Super PACs don’t exactly start quaking in their boots when church groups grab our cardboard signs.
Progressive Christians, how do I put this delicately? “It has ceased to be with us after the manner of important people”.
But make no mistake, God is calling us to change the world.
Go ahead and laugh. People can’t help but laugh when the utterly unexpected arrives like a toddler launched meatball landing on white chinos (we were having PB&J, where did that even come from?!).
Go ahead and laugh. We need laughter. It heals the soul, it makes room inside us for God to work miracles.
Sarah laughed when God said she would bear a child at ninety. But then she got to work on the nursery. God is calling us to change the world.
Start getting ready.
Prayer: God, are we seriously the best plan You’ve got? Wow. That’s a bold choice.