There are moments that call for repentance and resistance, courage and conviction, faith and fortitude. We live in a crisis moment. The question is, what will we do now?
Response to Crisis
This information is from The Moravian Church Northern Province Racial Justice Team. The content is US-oriented but refers broadly to what is evolving in North America. Read to be informed.
“A Call to Christians in a Crisis of Faith and Democracy.”
USA Today wrote about the initiative. 
The group created an insightful Bible study on immigration from a biblical perspective:
Responding to God’s Call for Mercy: A Bible Study on Immigration
The purpose of this study is to help:
- hear the biblical directives that relate to migration and the sojourner among us;
- better understand the immigration process and its related legislation, particularly in the US;
- hear the voices of the immigrant and appreciate some of the root causes of migration and the challenges for those who migrate; and
- consider our own responses to immigration and how God might be calling the church to address the dilemma of immigration that we are experiencing today.
I signed on to support the following initiative in North America.
Faithful Witness
We face a cruel and oppressive government. Citizens and immigrants are demonized, disappeared, and even killed. Hard-won rights and freedoms are eroding. There is a calculated effort to reverse America’s growing racial and ethnic diversity. All of the above are pushing us toward authoritarian and imperial rule.
What confronts us is not only an endangered democracy and the rise of tyranny it is also a Christian faith corrupted by the heretical ideology of white Christian nationalism. The church needs to equip its members to model Jesus’s teachings and fulfill its prophetic calling as a humanitarian, compassionate, and moral compass for society.
We call on all Christians to join us in greater acts of courage to resist the injustices and anti-democratic danger sweeping across the nation.
In moments like this, silence is not neutrality—it is an active choice to permit harm.
Civic Renewal
This call is particularly dire as the US commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It’s a time for celebration and reflection on historic racial and human rights progress and setbacks, as we seek both democratic and civic renewal.
However, current trends and forces assault our core rights and freedoms and threaten to derail and even destroy our democracy. This is not a distant danger or a future possibility. It is a present and urgent reality.
The government-sponsored cruelty and violence we are witnessing stands in total opposition to the teachings of Jesus. We refuse to be silent while too many people who call themselves Christians aid, abet, or simply stand by and allow these atrocities.
Temptation To Power
This political crisis is driven by people who have fallen for the temptation of absolute power—undermining democratic checks and balances, entrenching economic inequality, exacerbating divisions, and normalizing corruption and the indiscriminate use of violence.
Freedoms and rights once assumed to be secure are being stripped away, redefined, or selectively applied.
Sadly, the crisis is not only political. It is driven by a moral and spiritual collapse showing up in alarming levels of polarization. Our faith is being tested. Christians cannot pretend otherwise and must make a decision to act.
Resistance
We refuse to baptize domination or sanctify cruelty. We refuse to confuse authoritarian power with divine authority. And we choose to resist, calling forth the righteous demands of our faith rooted in the teachings of Jesus. Religion should not be used to deify politicians or justify their abuses. When it is, faith ceases to be faithful and becomes a weapon of both heresy and hypocrisy.
As Christians, we must never preach nationalism as discipleship, confuse American and Christian identity with whiteness, or mistake allegiance to modern-day Caesars for faithfulness to Christ. We must never surrender our prophetic voice by aligning with powers and principalities rather than with the One who calls us to be purveyors of justice and righteousness.
Boldness
Now is the time to boldly embrace fidelity to the message of Jesus. To defend the image of God in every person. To love our neighbours — no exception. We are called to reject retribution, and extend grace, mercy, and compassion. Reflect the radical counterculture of the Beatitudes and live out the call of Matthew 25 with special care for persons who are poor, vulnerable and marginalized.
As followers of Jesus, we must take these principles seriously. Its ours to seek to renew, deepen, and fortify our faith, resist false religion, build Beloved Community, and become a truly multi-racial, inclusive democracy.
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