“And Jesus answering said unto them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17
Today may be a taxing day for many…many are scrambling to get their taxes done. Many are waiting until today to send in what they owe in taxes. Many are just ignoring the fact they even need to file a tax return…may I respectfully suggest that you might want to consider filing a tax return. And many of us are not at all bothered by April 15th as our taxes are done and filed and paid or we have received our refund. You can hate us later.
Paying our taxes is a privilege we get to do because it helps to fund a lot of services, we naturally take for granted. Like police departments, fire departments, schools, sewer services, and so many other benefits. And yes, I am not ignoring the fact that many of the funds we pay into our governments, whether local, state, or federal, are mismanaged. Anytime you have large budgets, that more often than not will happen. It is why it is so important as citizens we are proactive in learning as much as we can about how our government operates so we can write letters or go to meetings or other ways we can be watch dogs for government entities.
Of course, the only way we can actually make a difference in that way is to have people power. We must organize, show up in mass, so our elected officials know we want and will insist they do what is best for the entire community and not just a select few. One way we can do that is by being part of a justice ministry organization. DART is a good example of one. People organize around issues, not candidates, to say to our officials, we have done research around a specific topic, and we think this is going to be the best way to fix the wrong inherent in this system so all people have equitable access to the goods or services solving this issue will help facilitate.
It is important to know that all our systems in our nation are broken to some degree and all of them need to be worked on. Just because a system is in place doesn’t mean it will still work 30 years into the future. They need constant tweaking. Constant refining so they work generation to generation. Ours have been ignored for too long. All of them.
From a Christian vantage point, God has called us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Doing justice is a part of our faith walk. So, the question we should ask ourselves is this: How are we doing justice?
At Grace we are part of BRIGHT, a justice ministry network of churches who are working on two issues right now. The first is affordable housing. This will be a long term issue that will take years to find just the right combination of solutions so we can get more affordable housing built in our area. Right now, we are in need of over 13000 affordable housing units. This is a big number! Which is why this is a long-term action.
The second issue we are working toward is to get science-based reading tools into our schools. We have done the research and know that the current reading program being used in our schools is not doing the job. The test scores proves that as 44% of all third-grade students in Brevard County failed the reading tests. We can do better on behalf of our children.
For those of you living in Brevard County Florida, please come out to our action at Suntree UMC at 7:00pm. You will learn more about who we are as we confront these two issues for our county. We live in a beautiful area with a lot of things to do and see from beaches to the Space Center. But it is not good for too many of our community members. Let’s join together to make Brevard a wonderful and safe place to live for all people.
Peace,
Pastor Beth
Beth's Blog 