2020 Worship Guide

Page 24 2020 Worship Guide LINCOLN DAILY NEWS December 2, 2020 Satan, thereby bestowing upon us the freedom to struggle against suffering which destroys humanity. God chose the poor and the oppressed by being born into a poor Jewish family. God is not merely sympathetic with social distress of the poor but became totally identified with them in their agony and pain. The heartbreak of the oppressed is God’s lament, for God takes on their suffering as God’s own, thereby freeing them from its ultimate control of their lives. In choosing the oppressed, the Divine identifies with them. As the infant Christ grows into the prophet who spoke truth to political power, we see the call of the Church — to incarnate the love of Christ in our struggle to liberate the suffering from their pain. The manger affirms the poor, and the cross liberates them to fight against suffering while not being determined by it. The Divine is with those then who fight for the realization of humanity — the Incarnation of God in Christ. And those are the ones who believe in creation, liberation, incarnation—and resurrection. All of which are necessary for salvation.