ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- Christians cannot proclaim God's peace if they fail to seek justice for all people and live "God's justice," said Mercy Oduyoye, a Ghanian theologian who delivered the sermon at the opening worship at the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) convention.
The Fourth Triennial Convention of Women of the ELCA is meeting July 8-11 here at the America's Center. The organization's three-year theme, "Live God's Justice," is unveiled at the convention amid Bible study, keynote addresses, workshops, business sessions and elections.
"We have talked but not walked," said Oduyoye. "We continue to proclaim God's peace while failing to live God's justice. We continue to heal the hurts of God's people lightly, for justice is absent from our lives."
Oduyoye is founder of the Institute of Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological College, Legon, Ghana. She said Africa has been the site of several significant events cited in the Bible, including a place of "refuge for the holy family," the place where the Gospel of Mark was written, and the birthplace of the Coptic Church.
"Since the days of Mark, people of good will from all over the world have come, proclaiming the love of God and bringing the peace of Christ," Oduyoye said. But she said Africans had peace provided they "acquiesced with slavery" and "cooperated with colonial exploitation."
"We had peace, yes, but it was not God's peace," she said. "We have not lived the justice of God, so how can we experience the peace of God?" Through experience and study, Oduyoye said she learned that Christians have spoken of "solidarity without acting out our accountability to God."
She told a story about two missionary wives serving in Ghana and how they interacted with students in schools. One consistently treated young students with love and respect; the other didn't, voicing "insults and veiled racism" toward students, alienating them, Oduyoue said.
"It is the story of how we banish God's peace when we proclaim peace without dealing justly and with compassion," Oduyoye said. "We banish peace, when we pretend to love, when deep down we are filled with hatred and spite. Oh how we banish peace, when we do not live out God's compassion-filled justice."
The challenge of living "God's justice" has never been easy, Oduyoye said, who suggested peace with justice is "a question of faith." She urged the convention's 4,000 participants to sow the seeds of peace with justice and to bring health and healing "to all who are deprived of these by unjust and uncaring systems and structures."
The writings in Isaiah and the Psalms in the Bible suggest the promise of God to fill the Earth with justice is already happening, Oduyoye said. "We are the ones to intensify its presence," she added. Oduyoye urged the participants to help people in need and break "the power of the oppressor."
"We shall be and do all this and more only if we proclaim God's peace by living God's justice," she concluded. "This should be our pledge to the one who came, that we might have life, and left us the peace that is beyond our understanding."
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