2021: A Year in Review

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

Worship

God With Us: A Social Justice Advent Guide for Families
God With Us: A Social Justice Advent Guide for Families
Nov 4, 2013
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

God With Us: A Social Justice Advent Guide for Families

Because the season of Advent is a time of awaiting the Christ child and the risen Christ, it is a perfect time to think about social justice issues. Christ’s ministry, which is explored in other seasons of the Christian year, focuses on lifting up those whom society regarded as worthless or weak, including the poor, the ill, the foreigner, women, and children. Social justice was at the core of Jesus’ ministry. Based on the Advent readings for Lectionary Year A, this guide will assist you in slowing down this season by taking 20-30 minutes one night a week to focus on social justice.
The Ecumenical Journey
The Ecumenical Journey
Apr 24, 2013
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

The Ecumenical Journey

Rev. Michael Kinnamon (School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle University)

Where does this leave us today? How can the ecumenical impulse be revitalized in such an era as ours? The answer to this may be suggested in the distinction between optimism and hope. Optimism involves the expectation of a better future based on a reading of present circumstances; hope involves the trustful anticipation of genuine newness, perhaps beyond our imagining, based on the promises of God.
Preparing the Way: Blessed are the Peacemakers
Preparing the Way: Blessed are the Peacemakers
Mar 26, 2013
Aleta Payne, Former Deputy Executive Director

Preparing the Way: Blessed are the Peacemakers

Sojo.net

Jesus was a peacemaking, blessed child of God, but he also was an “other.” Reviled and persecuted, he was the paperless son of displaced immigrant parents. The prophetic iconoclast. That guy who hung out with those people, the type most modern leaders would not associate with, except for a photo opportunity at a Thanksgiving Day soup kitchen. Let us remember on Sunday when we celebrate his resurrection, that Jesus was crucified because he was an outsider whose way of doing things scared and angered the powers-that-be.
Lectionary: Celebrating Abrahamic Faiths (4th Sunday in Lent)
Lectionary: Celebrating Abrahamic Faiths (4th Sunday in Lent)
Feb 17, 2013
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Lectionary: Celebrating Abrahamic Faiths (4th Sunday in Lent)

From Acts of Faith: Free Lectionary Resources for Prophetic Worship

Date: 4th Sunday in Lent – March 10, 2013
Topic: Celebrating Abrahamic Faiths
Focus Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

From the pastoral reflection: “Nadia dramatically called us into the reality of her life and away from our being disengaged onlookers. Angrily, she described the early morning hours onslaught as she, her husband, and three little children huddled on their bedroom floor, bullets ricocheting around the room for half an hour. They assumed they would die in the hail of gunfire. But surviving the experience, the family began cleaning up their devastated home and quickly recognized the telltale imprint of American military hardware: spent shells that they knew came from American-made equipment.”
Christian Scriptures and Farmworkers
Christian Scriptures and Farmworkers
Nov 18, 2012
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Christian Scriptures and Farmworkers

From the laws and histories of ancient Israel to the life of Jesus and the letters of Paul, themes related to the treatment of farmworkers emerge consistently throughout the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Many of these passages suggest that a community’s relationship with God is in fact defined at least in part by its treatment of foreigners, laborers, the poor, and the marginalized. Below is a brief selection of Bible verses that support the idea that farmworkers should be treated fairly.
Sharing the Story: Empowerment through Radical Hospitality
Sharing the Story: Empowerment through Radical Hospitality
Nov 15, 2012
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Sharing the Story: Empowerment through Radical Hospitality

Thank you for your decision to conquer evil with good. You have decided to defeat opposition and resistance with diligence and perseverance. But above all, thank you for allowing love and hospitality to prevail over hate and hostility. When I arrived to this country it was precisely people like you, women and men of faith that practiced hospitably and your Christian love, who left an impression and transformed my life forever. Please don’t have any doubt that God uses every gesture of Christian love and radical hospitality that you make towards an immigrant in order to transform lives.
Lectionary: Interfaith Connections (4th Sunday of Easter)
Lectionary: Interfaith Connections (4th Sunday of Easter)
Apr 18, 2012
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Lectionary: Interfaith Connections (4th Sunday of Easter)

From Acts of Faith: Free Lectionary Resources for Prophetic Worship
Date: 4th Sunday after Easter, April 29, 2012
Topic: Interfaith Connections
Focus Text: John 10:11-18
From the pastoral reflection: In 21st century North Carolina we have many and various ways to come into contact with “other sheep.” Will we stick to our own kind, work to create a Christian enclave where we feel safe and secure, free from any risk? Or, will we be the welcoming face, the open hands, the purposeful feet, and the compassionate voice of Christ in the world so that all may know the love of God?
The Story of Two Sons
The Story of Two Sons
Apr 1, 2012
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

The Story of Two Sons

Rev. Jill Edens, United Church of Chapel Hill

Though the disciples have left everything to follow Jesus, the discussion as they travel to Jerusalem reveals that they are profoundly unready for what is to come. In this pivotal moment we encounter blind Bartimaeus who Mark holds up as a model for discipleship: “As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’”
November is American Diabetes Month
November is American Diabetes Month
Nov 3, 2011
Willona Stallings, Former Program Coordinator – Partners in Health & Wholeness

November is American Diabetes Month

The American Diabetes Association has launched a new faith-based program called “Live Empowered” which is designed to assist churches with integrating diabetes awareness messages and life application principles into worship services. Also, in observance of American Diabetes Month, the American Diabetes Association is sponsoring “Super Diabetes Sunday” on November 13th. Super Diabetes Sundays will include materials and giveaways to help your congregation join the fight against diabetes.
Proper 24, Year A
Proper 24, Year A
Sep 8, 2011
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Proper 24, Year A

The payment of taxes is one of the ways we demonstrate we are an extended family as citizens of this state and nation. While we hardly agree on how much we should be taxed, or how our taxes should be used, there is agreement that the burden falls to all of us in some measure. But here is where my family metaphor breaks down in discussing tax policy. Whereas we would never expect a family member with few resources to pay as much of his or her money for the family’s living expenses as another family member with greater resources, our current tax system does just that. Or worse.
Proper 20, Year A
Proper 20, Year A
Aug 17, 2011
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Proper 20, Year A

In Jesus’ economics, the one represented here by the generous landowner, all workers received the pay they needed in order to survive, even if it seemed unfair to those who had worked all day. Sabbath economics is Jesus economics. As Ched Myers notes, Sabbath economics is about the grace of receiving what the Creator (employer) gives and the responsibility not to take more than is needed. Wide gaps between rich and poor are not part of God’s plan, and God’s people are called to be part of God’s generosity so that all have enough on which to live.
Proper 19, Year A
Proper 19, Year A
Aug 9, 2011
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Proper 19, Year A

In a community of Christians, the hopeful possibilities present in conflict will only be realized when we deal with the tension in a productive way. When a congregation faces conflict openly and directly with the people involved, there is a good opportunity for the situation to result in positive change and closer relationships between people. When conflict is handled in a way that cuts off communication and silences questions, the conflict can escalate and become destructive.

Why Acts of Faith is Important
Why Acts of Faith is Important
Jun 28, 2011
Lee Foster, Former Duke Divinity School Intern

Why Acts of Faith is Important

Growing up in church, it would be fair for me to say that most sermons I heard were either concerned with A) theology or B) decrying certain practices in our contemporary Western culture. Neither of these is wrong or unimportant, as theology is the bedrock of faith, and there is much to decry in the world. The one thing I rarely heard preached on, however, was issues of social justice. And when preached on, it was through standard channels—witnessing/evangelism, donating food and clothing to our church’s pantry, and giving offerings. These are all well and good, but can we do more than these traditional categories?
Ascension of the Lord, Year A
Ascension of the Lord, Year A
May 2, 2011
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Ascension of the Lord, Year A

As I look from my living room window at the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, I am compelled to rush to my car radio to listen to the news for further updates, if any are currently on! Tidbits of information from the streets come my way and it is shocking what I hear. Roads are flooded cutting off routes of escape from the city west toward Raleigh, east toward Kenly, and some say you can’t get through Rocky Mount.
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Mar 10, 2011
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A

If there were such a thing as a six o’clock news cast in the first century, Jesus the felon would appear walking down the street escorted by the police of his day—handcuffed—if you will. The announcer would tell us that the vandal who destroyed Temple property and repeatedly broke Jewish laws; the welfare king who relied on the generosity of unsuspecting middle class women to promote his suspicious doctrine; the man known to frequent the establishments of tax collectors and prostitutes—and claimed to be God, had finally been apprehended and was awaiting sentencing. Yes, in the minds of this first century felon’s accusers, he was little more than a common criminal.
Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A
Mar 3, 2011
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A

The blind beggar healed on the Sabbath was a threat to them! His healing, his liberation was an assault on their traditions, their values, their power, their very lives. They felt attacked. And when we are threatened, we are reactive! We do not want to let go, holding tenaciously to what we know to be true. One slip, one exception, and everything we know would crumble. Must one person’s liberation be another person’s threat?
Epiphany Sunday, Year A
Epiphany Sunday, Year A
Dec 6, 2010
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Epiphany Sunday, Year A

I grew up in the South where my Church seldom addressed justice issues. Most of the sermons were about personal behavior and the plan of salvation. In fact, there was a common vocabulary used in churches that suggested Christians should not be “worldly.” It was as if the task of the Church was to save people from the world rather than transform the world. This was a theological way of escaping the justice issues of our racist, segregated society.
Third Sunday in Advent, Year A
Third Sunday in Advent, Year A
Nov 26, 2010
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Third Sunday in Advent, Year A

For 10 years I have served a very poor church. The church’s total income is way below the poverty level, especially for a family of 45. Many of the folks who worship with and have leadership at the church are homeless or unemployed. Many have black or brown skin. Monthly fellowship meals are really a feeding of the hungry as the majority of guests at every meal are without work. The church pays utilities for a day shelter for the homeless in its small basement. With only weekly offerings for income, somehow the church has no debt and a little surplus. It must be that God cares about the poor and still makes a way out of no way.
Proper 28, Year C
Proper 28, Year C
Oct 12, 2010
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Proper 28, Year C

Our lectionary texts, Isaiah 65:17-25 and Psalm 98, offer vision and hope for people of faith, a vision of ultimate peace among the whole of creation. The Hebrew word which implies such a state of being is shalom. The word shalom has a deep and rich meaning, implying not only a lack of hostility towards the creation and all God’s creatures, but also a state of general health and well being, a condition where there is “ecojustice” for all parts of creation.
Proper 26, Year C
Proper 26, Year C
Oct 4, 2010
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Proper 26, Year C

The school year of 2006 began rather quietly as most school years do. But on August 30th, a boy with a gun walked into a high school in Hillsborough, NC, and the new school year was marked by violence.

Little did we know that this August 30th shooting at a North Carolina high school would be a harbinger of a national spate of school shootings. The young shooter in Hillsborough had a deadly plan and a number of guns; after killing his father he shot and wounded a student at a nearby high school.
Proper 21, Year C
Proper 21, Year C
Sep 6, 2010
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Proper 21, Year C

We were on our tour bus, about to leave the dorm where we had been staying, when a few of us saw her. She looked about sixty years old, and she looked like she could have been my grandmother. She came quietly around the corner of the building, went straight to the big trashcan, and started digging out our thrown-away lunches. She put what she could find in a bag, and she was gone.

Sheltered life that I had led, I had never before seen someone using a trashcan as a food source.
Poisoned Sea, Impoverished Soul
Poisoned Sea, Impoverished Soul
Apr 30, 2010
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Poisoned Sea, Impoverished Soul

A Litany of Lament Over a Despoiled Ocean

Ken Sehested, pastor, Alliance-affiliated
Circle of Mercy, Asheville, N.C.

In the beginning, darkness covered the face of the deep.

Then the Breath of Heaven swept across the waters, blessing the sea with all manner of creatures.

The sea knows its Maker and roars its applause; the fish therein leap at the sound of God’s voice.

Through the baptismal waters of the Red Sea did the Israelites escape their tormentors and emerge to freedom’s demand.
Mother’s Day for Peace
Mother’s Day for Peace
May 12, 2008
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Mother’s Day for Peace

In the United States, Mother’s Day was originally suggested by poet and abolitionist activist Julia Ward Howe. In 1870, after witnessing the carnage of the American Civil War and the start of the Franco-Prussian War, she wrote the original Mother’s Day Proclamation calling upon the women of the world to unite for peace. This “Mother’s Day Proclamation” would plant the seed for what would eventually become a national holiday.
Hope For Middle East Peace – Community Prayer Day
Hope For Middle East Peace – Community Prayer Day
Jul 12, 2006
Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Hope For Middle East Peace – Community Prayer Day

The following are prayers offered for Middle East Peace during a 2006 interfaith prayer service in North Carolina.

It is good that we have been here today, not because it changes a thing, but because it reminds us that as diverse as our traditions and convictions are, our hearts yearn for similar things. And if this is true, if we are hoping and praying and working for the same ultimate goals, then we are connected in a soulful way. And acknowledging that truth can change everything.

May the One who made us for peace, give us the courage to live in peace.
May the One who made us in love, give us the compassion to reach out in love.
May the One who made us with hope, give us the strength to persevere in hope.

And may all of our sisters and brothers in the Middle East know the fullness of God’s peace, God’s hope, and God’s love. Amen.