by Marcia Mount Shoop
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
“Herein lies the collective grief of our current cultural moment. American culture has been long schooled in the narratives of competition, in the narratives of commodification–that our worth is only in our winning, that we are only worth what produces wealth or what makes others wealthy. These narratives of white supremacy capitalism create a fundamental rupture in our sense of belonging. It is no wonder we feel so adrift and on edge–when we so deeply need a different way to engage in community.
Our social arrangement in a capitalist economy where dominance and supremacy are valued, where poverty and oppression are seen as an acceptable price to pay for the wealth of a few, where conformity is enforced through intimidation and white washing not just history but the present moment–it is death dealing to the humanity we are born with and born expecting from others.
Right relationship is the repetitive practice of welcome and belonging to our irreducible uniqueness. The deep grief we feel when we the world does not meet us in ways that dignify who we are and how we are made–this is a grief that shapes the course of our lives, shapes our capacity for healing, shapes our sense of possibility.”
Watch the full GCPC service on 3/30/25 here
(Scripture and sermon begin at 1:20)