Christmas Eve: Evening Service: "Servants of God, arise"

 “Servants of God, arise!”

Christmas Eve Meditation

UCCP Maasin City

by Frank J. Hernando

Scripture texts: Isaiah 53: 1-12: Luke 2: 1-20

 

Isaiah 53: 1-12

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.

 

4Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. 9They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

 

10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. 11Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

 

 

Luke 2:1-20

 

2

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

 

8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

_____________ _____________

 

I N T R O D U C T I O N

 

Warmest Christmas greetings to all! I am glad to be with you tonight as we commemorate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve in the Presbyterian Churches in Korea where I worked with is a grand celebration because the Church School Department, or Kyoyukwon presents the colorful Christmas program after the worship service. Children, youth and young adult parents with their toddlers present their number and all groups would use colorful costumes and joyful music. Attending Christmas Eve service and the Christmas Program was daunting in the sub-zero temperature especially if you are commuting through bus and subway train. The traffic jam was terrible, as all roads lead to churches and residential areas where people would rush home after work and prepare something for Christmas Eve. 

 

O N E

As a twin sermon series on Isaiah’s prophetic utterances on God’s Servant, I would like to meditate on the images that describe the situation of the servant based on its historical context and its implications to our life as a Church and as God’s Covenant people.

 

Isaiah confronts us with the imagery of the servant who is like a young plant springing up in a hostile environment. Such a plant would be blighted and would not grow to its full beauty or proper form. This emphasizes the utter helplessness of the servant.  The servant is despised and rejected. 

 

A common theme in laments is rejection of the sufferer by the community (Psalm 22:6-8). In biblical times, people often considered prosperity and success as blessing from God. Misfortune or illness suggested that the person had sinned and God was punishing them (Job 4:7-9).

 

This points to a major issue at stake in the crisis of exile. Throughout the Old Testament there is the conviction that God had chosen the Israelites for a special purpose, as expressed in the promise to Abraham: "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3). The blessing and success of Israel were not just reward for right conduct. They were a witness to the world of the nature and character of Israel’s God (Numbers 14:11-19).

 

Patrick Horn, a writer made a summary of the story “Twelve years a slave.” This story is biographical and a movie was produced in 2013 and I was able to see the film sometime in 2015 on Netflex. This is the summary:

 

Solomon Northup was born a free man in Minerva, New York, in 1808. His father, Mintus, was originally enslaved to the Northup family from Rhode Island, but he was freed after the family moved to New York. As a young man, Northup helped his father with farming chores and worked as a raftsman on the waterways of upstate New York. He married Anne Hampton and they had three children together. 

 

During the 1830s, Northup became locally renowned as an excellent fiddle-player. In 1841, two men offered Northup generous wages to join a traveling musical show, but soon after he accepted, they drugged him and sold him into slavery. After years of bondage, he came into contact with an outspoken abolitionist from Canada, who sent letters to notify Northup's family of his whereabouts. An official state agent was sent to Louisiana to reclaim Northup. 

 

After he was freed, Northup filed kidnapping charges against the men who had defrauded him, but the lengthy trial that followed was ultimately dropped because of legal technicalities, and he received no remuneration. Little is known about Northup's life after the trial, but he is believed to have died in 1863.

 

In the film, details of his slavery showed how he was whipped when he violated his master’s rules in the farm or in the household chores. He struggled so much and writing letters to his family was clandestine, or hidden from his masters. But he did not surrender to his fate, or to the calamitous situation he was forced into. Finally, was freed about some intervention from an abolitionist of slavery in Canada. His story fits well the description of prophet Isaiah of the Israelite servant. 

 

Our history of colonization by Spain and the U.S. was characteristically brutish and the colonizers subjected our fore-parents to violent punishment or were killed for disobeying the rules of the colonizers. The initial preaching of the Christian Gospel in the Reformed or Protestant perspective in  Iloilo and the entire Island of Panay by the American missionaries was met with resistance by the Roman Catholic priests and the loyal adherents of the Catholic faith and in obedience to the rules of the friars. In 1901, the converts to the Protestant Christian faith were excommunicated by the local priests. From that experience the Protestant churches that grew up in a barren religious soil felt they were the oppressed servants of God.

 

T W O

The elaborate description of the suffering Servant of God by prophet Isaiah has come to a point where the God’s servants were physically abused that allowed their physical bodies to gave-in to the extent of violence inflicted on them. Most interestingly their persecutors or tormentors them sacrifices to appease themselves of the sin—the violations of God’s covenant to themselves and appear justified before God. But the suffering servant/s of God, took all the burden of sin. It is a kind of transference of the guilt of sin to the innocent victim. 

 

Part of the disturbing aspect of the exile was that the nations would look at the downfall of Israel and conclude that Israel’s God was not really God at all. The Israelites had not honored God themselves and so had caused the nations to scorn God and His people. If Israel remained a laughingstock, despised and loathed by the nations, then God’s people, and therefore God, would have no witness in the world, says Dennis Bratcher in his commentary on the text. The major theme of this section of Isaiah is that the community would be restored to again fulfill its mission to the world as a "light to the nations" (42:6, 49:6; 60:1-7; note Ezekiel 20:9-22).

 

The servant has borne our infirmities . . .our sorrows. The realization here is that the servant’s pain is not just his own. He is bearing the pain and grief of others. Jeremiah had touched on the idea that the exiles in Babylon were bearing the consequences of the past sins of the entire nation. Individually the exiles were as sinful as other people. 

 

But as a group they were innocent (v.9). They should not have to withstand the pain of exile for the entire nation, past and present. Here the community begins to realize that if they have a future, it is because innocent people suffered the consequences of someone else’s sin.

 

The long history of our churches in the UCCP shows that in many ways we have suffered because of being a minority I society. But then looking inside and out of our churches we realize that we have suffering servant’s pigmentation in our minds and hearts. Our churches came into being as alternative faith communities to the dominant Roman Catholic church. However, the North American missionaries asserted the credibility and effectivity of their mission work through the establishment of schools in villages and towns, even the remotest villages of the Cordillera region, there are mission schools that are struggling to stay afloat just to serve the educational needs of the communities. The early development of our churches including Maasin Church was focused on evangelization, education, women and youth ministry. 

 

There was a clear expression of diakonia or social work among the economically depressed communities, but then middle class members who have political clout and economic power created a donor-receiver relationship in the church, rather than mutual sharing of resources. So the master-slave relationships that has been embedded in the Filipino culture persisted and conditioned our church leaders to act as if they are the landlords of the church, rather than a humble servant. The innocent ones suffer because of the sin, or breaking of the law of just sharing and love for God and neighbor. 

 

Is the UCCP still a church that emulates the servant spirit in its mission and ministry? Do our programs embody the values of the Kingdom of God? Are the ethical norms of our relationship in the church express our commitment and loyalty to God in Christ? Are we working together to achieve the common goals that the church has set as a community of faith? It looks like the personal and family vested interests predominates the relationship in the church. I believe that God would want to see us help strengthen the unity of the church, for we all belong to the oikumene/ household and just economy of God.

 

When the National Executive Council was able to raise some funds to help support church workers who were adversely affected by the lock down, the church workers who receive it were appreciative of the help they received. Also, the church ought to be sign of hope and restoration to those homes and livelihood were damaged by strong typhoons. The fishing community in Bosoboso, Laurel town, Batangas was impacted by the eruption of Taal volcano about a year ago receive 10 units of basic shelter from the Church through fund assistanc from a Korean partner. The Church as God’s servant people must respond appropriately to the issues and concerns, carrying with her the servant spirituality.

 

T H R E E

The New Testament writers understood the connection of the prophesies of Isaiah with regards to the Servant of God who will give them a new beginning, a new way of leadership of God’s people. The experience of social alienation and economically depressed are building blocks for visioning for a brighter future. Many people around the world have always dreamed of abundant and peaceful future. For Isaiah alongside the Israelites both in captivity in Babylon and the restoration, saw that a new community of God’s people had arisen through the forgiveness of God because of the suffering of exiles in Babylon. 

 

As they witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus, they grasped the truth that in Jesus God was again allowing The Innocent to bear the consequences of the guilty. Only this time it was on a far greater scale. And this time it was God in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)!

// 

So this is Christmas Eve and we celebrate Jesus Christ birth in Bethlehem. Our Gospel writer articulated the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Savior. 

 

John Petty, tells about the text from Luke, he said:

Luke was not writing history.  He was writing theology in narrative form, which is much more important and much more interesting.  He starts off by noting the big wheels of the world and how they like to jerk people around.  Roman power makes Joseph dance to its tune, sending him across the country to get "counted" so that Rome could get more efficient at taking his money for taxes.

 

Whenever Caesar, or local governors like Quirinius, ran censuses, there would be uprisings and revolts.  The tax burden was already excessive, and people lived in a grinding poverty, under the bootheel of Rome, that was getting worse, and not better.  Some historians trace the emergence of the zealots--we could call them “pro-palestinian rebels”--to the uprisings against the census of Quirinius.  The zealots, in turn, were part of a chain of events that led to the Roman-Jewish War of AD 66-70.

 

Luke is writing about the true "savior of the world," one from the line of the great King David.  He looks to Bethlehem, the city of David, and not to Rome, the city of Caesar. 

 

Jesus is identified as Mary's "first born son."  The word is prototokos.  So time came when Mary has to deliver her baby and there was no room for Joseph and Mary in the kataluma or the upper room of a house, the guest room--not, in other words, some wayside hotel, barn, or cave.  In the case of Joseph and Mary, the guest room was already taken-and they had to stay in the other "room" which, at night, would be home for animals, but during the day would be cleaned up and used by the family. 

 

The birth is announced to shepherds in the field, and not to the powerful in rich palaces.  The scandal of the virgin birth is not so much that Mary was a virgin. Lots of famous people were said to have been conceived by various gods, including Caesar Augustus himself.  The scandal was that Jesus--a poor kid from a remote town--was born of a virgin.  

 

Angels tell what is happening from the perspective of God.  The shepherds are bathed in light (perilampo)--the glory (doxa) of the Lord!  The shepherds were absolutely terrified—but were instructed not to fear. The angel announces "good news (euangelion) of great joy for all the people"—a joyful message to you, a great gladness, which will be to all the people." 

 

Luke didn't invent the word euangelion.  It was a word that was commonly applied to Caesar.  "Euangelion!  Good news!  Caesar is victorious in Gaul!"  In the case of Jesus, the "good news of great joy" is for "all the people-not just the powerful, in other words, as was commonly the case, but rather all the people, even, ironically, the very people who thought "good news" was only for them.

 

The word savior was a politically-charged term since, after all, Caesar Augustus was known as "the savior of the world."  He had brought order to the world after a long war.  Luke's announcement of Jesus as "savior" is a way of saying, "Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not."  Moreover, this "savior" comes from the house of David.  He is not only "lord," but “messiah."

 

The angels go into heaven, and the shepherds "said to one another. All the shepherds are involved in the discussion. They were not told what to decide, but decided themselves. Discussion in the New Community is egalitarian, not top down.

 

They go immediately to Bethlehem and see "this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known (ginosko) to us."  

The shepherds share what they have learned.  Already, we get signs of the mutuality and reciprocity of the kingdom of God.  The shepherds share with each other, and with Joseph and the words of the shepherds stir "all" who hear them.  They return praising God.

 

Jesus Christ is born the true savior of the world--not Caesar Augustus, the oppressor, false savior of the world, protector of those with power and privilege, but Christ the Lord, whose birth is "good news of great joy for all the people.

 

______ ____

References:

1.     Dennis Bratcher, http://www.crivoice.org/isa53.html

Christmas Eve-Dawn Service: “The Exalted and Startling Servant of God”-

 “The Exalted and Startling Servant of God”

Dawn Service

December 24, 2020 5:00 AM

UCCP Maasin City Church

by Frank J. Hernando

 

Scripture Texts:  Isaiah 52: 13-15; John 1: 1-18

 

Isaiah 52:13-15

 

13 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him-- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness-- 15 so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

 

John 1:1-18

 

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

 

5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

 

15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

 

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1.   Introduction

Good morning sisters, brothers and children of the loving Creator God. Maayong buntag mga kaigsoonan. I thank God for a safe journey from Quezon City to this serene City of Maasin. I arrived Monday of last week the 14^th and I was allowed by the LGU to come home as Authorized Person Outside of Residence (APOR) the other category of arriving persons in a local community. I thank the leaders of this church for allowing me to hold my required seven-day quarantine period in the guest room. 

 

I bring warmest greetings from the Office of the General Secretary of our church, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Serving as the executive secretary in the national secretariat is both a blessing and a challenge. It is a blessing in the sense that I was given the opportunity to use my professional skills in personnel and program management. It is a challenge because my term of office has been directly affected by the series of natural calamities, the pandemic of covid-19 and the human caused calamities. 

 

I am grateful to UCCP Maasin City for their unfailing support to the conference and the general assembly through their remittance of the Wider Mission Support. Also, we thank the Southern Western Leyte Conference and the College of Maasin for their sustaining support to the nationally coordinated programs, specifically their financial recent contribution to the church’s relief and rehabilitation program in calamity stricken communities from Nothern Luzon Jurisdictional Area to the Southeast Mindanao Jurisdictional Area. I also admire your response to social concerns for your immediate community during this time of the pandemic by delivering food packs to the those adversely affected by the quarantine lock down. Especially in this season of Advent and Christmas, you are giving out food packs as while gift for the poor people. 

 

2.   Meditating on my chosen texts this morning, I ask, Why God’s people in captivity, if not God’s people in their restoration, with all their sufferings as exiled people in Babylon or the equivalent of social alienation is called a “servant”? 

 

Ang “bagong bayani award” is an OWWA award given to outstanding OFWs for fostering goodwill among people around the world, enhancing and promoting the image of the Filipino as competent, dignified worker and for greatly contributing to the socio-economic development of their communities and country as a whole. It aims to provide proper recognition to deserving nominees, thus setting examples for others to emulate, and for the country to be proud of.

 

This program sounds noble in its intention, but I think this has too little to contribute to the depressing and precarious situation of millions of OFWs around the world. We know for a fact that the long historical development of forced labor migration has its attendant issues and problems and government laws and labor policies have not alleviated the labor arrangements between the Philippines and the labor receiving countries.

 

The tag “bagong bayani” is a contradiction in terms of articulation and efficacy. Could there be decent names or honorable titles for our OFWs? Regardless of the honorific title like the new heroes, the images of OFWs working in the dangerous, difficult, dirty jobs would take some time to change, as the phenomenon of modern day slavery seen in lopsided international labor arrangements are always at the advantage of the foreign companies that employ cheap and docile labor of Filipinos.

 

I have emphasized this, because millions of OFWs experience what it means to be, “servants” literally especially for women domestic workers in the Middle Eastern countries, in Western Europe and North America. The 6^th century BCE prophet Isaiah, or known as the second Isaiah anticipated the liberation of the Israelites for Babylonian captivity and have witnessed the restoration of their nation as the People of God. 

 

Prophet Isaiah used the word "servant" in a figurative sense. The "servant" usually refers to the collective nation of Israel as the chosen people of God. "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen . . .you are my servant, I have chosen you . . .for I am your God" (Isaiah 41:8-9). The prophet continues to use this imagery other places such as in chapter 44, God promises the community of Israel, in the figure of the servant, forgiveness and a day of new things. 

 

In chapter 49, the community speaks as a servant commissioned to bear witness of God’s deliverance "to the ends of the earth" (49:1-13; note v.3). In Isaiah 56-66, "servant," usually occurring in the plural, always depicts the restored community of God’s people who will faithfully follow Him (65:9-15). But the context suggests that the imagery is the same in these as well. The servant is a poetic symbol to describe the community of God’s people.

 

3.   Furthermore, the Filipino people is God’s servant too. They may not identify with the collective identity as such, but they are a socio-cultural-religious identity gained in the process of integration into their churches or religious communities. 

 

Majority of us Filipinos is Christian, whether adheres to organized religious services or not, Protestant of Catholic, we are Bible readers and listen to the doctrinal lessons from religious workers and leaders. I would attempt to allude that we, as Filipinos as believers of the God in Jesus who is revealed in the Scriptures are categorically “servants of God’ in the global community of Christians and religious peoples. 

 

Have we not associated ourselves with programs of the churches that express diakonia or social service and have felt comfortable with the title as “servant of God”? Yes, we do. In our entire life as the people of God or as a Filipino nation is being judged by God with reference to the biblical moral and ethical imperatives. This means that we cannot do away with the basic ethical norms that set the standard of how should the Servant People of God should carry out its life in accordance with the covenant or pledges and commitments we have made to God and our fellow citizens. 

 

At the beginning of the quarantine lock down due to Sars-2 Covid-19 pandemic in Metro Manila, I would not give in to fear. Me and my colleagues living in the staff house were issued a quarantine pass by barangay Project 6, Quezon City. I was at liberty to get my food supply from the supermarkets or in the Talipapa. One day I went out to get some cash from an ATM and I went to several ATM outlets but the BPI machines were running out of cash, meaning, the bank personnel were not refilling the supply of cash in the ATM machines. But I manage to get some cash from another bank’s ATM machine. 

 

Even if there were only few vehicles running the highway of North EDSA, I couldn’t cross the road on the ground but has to walk up the overpass pedestrian bridges to cross to the other side. I took pictures of North EDSA in late afternoon and I had a mixture of feeling of what I saw, I felt sad, and felt remorse and questioning God, why would a pandemic like this, would make a big metropolis dead, lifeless and the pulse of civilization was at its lowest level. It looks like I was seeing scenes from apocalyptic movies where cities became uninhabited after a pandemic has killed majority of the people in the city. The city has become a howling wilderness and the few survivors were struggling to find the vaccine to overcome the disease and for them to live and save a remnant of humanity.

 

From the looks of North EDSA in March, April and May, the Filipino nation as God’s people was lost. Its remaining goal was how to survive from the pandemic, and we were told to stay indoors as a matter of policy and violators of the quarantine protocols were punished. Millions of families have suffered the impact of the long lock down of their communities and the health care system was overwhelmed in the months of June, July and August. The nation was in economic collapse for the last 8 months of the year, but the government would not dare accept it. 

 

Many people were confused, the Churches opted for virtual worship and prayer services. We heard sermons on the internet-run social media platforms assuring us that God will help us overcome. Health workers called the “Frontliners” died due infection and complications of the virus. There were disruptions of food supply as entry and exit points of food delivery was controlled by uniformed personnel and by bararngay tanods.

 

The fact that people were consigned to stay indoors and workers have to stop working and joined their families at home, depended on the relief food packs delivers alternatively by the Barangays and the municipal or city government. Relief assistance delivery systems were tainted by favoritism and corruption. We got to know small time corrupt persons, but the bigtime corrupters were hidden from view.

 

The Filipino nation should have been better prepared for the worst situation in the occurrence of natural and human caused calamities. As a nation we have failed God and failed our fellow citizens. Our assent to God’s work of justice, that of treating our neighbors with equality, care for the weak, the vulnerable and supporting them just like our families or the inter-family and inter-city solidarity relations through social work have not been very active or has been forgotten. Selfishness pervaded the nation and greed overrun the process of fair-sharing and collective efforts to overcome dire economic and health situations brought about by the pandemic and the series of typhoons that visited the country.

 

Prophet Isaiah prophesied that the servant of God will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him-- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness. We as God’s people and those whole lives were put at stake during the calamity will assume a disfigured appearance, but God will exalt them, people will startle at seeing them. 

 

Dennis Bratcher said, by all appearances the servant, the nation of Israel, had been humiliated and defeated (Lamentations 2:13-15). In exile in Babylon, the servant no longer appeared to be chosen by God. But appearances are not everything! Although the servant appears finished, the message of God is that, he will not stay down! God will raise the servant to a new position of responsibility before the very ones who had celebrated his end (v.15; NT writers use this contrast: John 13:12-17, Philippians 2:6-11).

 

We have witnessed past and recent events where persons were murdered extrajudicially, from the common people to the professionals, doctors, lawyers, religious leaders and rights defenders. They are members of the servants of the God who, in their genuine commitment to God’s mission for justice, fair-sharing and interclass solidarity, have been sacrificed by the members of the people of God who are obsessed with power and wealth. Collectively, we are accountable to God for our failure to live within the ambit of God’s reign in justice and shalom/peace.

 

4.   Three days ago, many have witnessed the great spectacle in our solar system, the conjunction of the nearest distance of space travel of planets Saturn and Jupiter. NASA narrated, “What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.” I was enthusiastic to see a heavenly spectacle similar to the Christmas star that shone around at the birth of Jesus, our Lord. 

 

Biblical theology or the understanding of the unity of the entire Scripture in terms of God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ would make direct connections with the Isaiah’s imagery of the servant to Jesus’ mission and ministry. The challenge however is how to connect the prologue of the Gospel of John that describes Jesus Christ as the ‘living word’ in English and ‘polong’ in Visayan languages. 

 

"In the beginning was the logos."  Scholars believe that the original meaning of the word was "to gather."  It later came to refer to human reason.  By the time of Jesus, logos had come to mean the creative power of God and the kingship of God over all things.  Philo, a first century philosopher, saw logos as flowing from God himself, and as the mechanism through which God created the universe.

 

John Petty, an exegete, further explains that Logos translates the Hebrew dabar, a word which commonly refers to God's self-communication, or the relating of God, who is unseen, to the created world.  Logos combines the concepts of thought, deed, and power.  For the author of the fourth gospel, logos is an expression of God's innermost nature which is present in the world.

 

So we associated with the work logos or polong or salita with the expression of disgust with persons who do not stand on their word, “wala kang isang salita,” which also means, you are not trustworthy. We have witnessed how the contest for the speakership in Congress pursued just over a month ago. We have heard of the very male oriented cliché “gentlemen’s agreement” is violated, or he has not gave into what was agreed upon.

 

After relating the creation of the world, the fourth gospel asserts:  "In him was life and the life was the light of humanity.  And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it."  Life, light, and humanity all appear at once.  Then, the "darkness" is acknowledged, though not defined--yet, no matter what, it proves to be, it cannot "overcome" or "over-power" the light.  Nor, it should be said, does the light "over-power" the darkness either--not yet, at least.  The darkness cannot "win," but the victory of the light is yet to be established, added John Petty.

 

God’s servant has been made real in the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the epitome of the Servant, both as the God’s people and as the Servant who will save God’s people from their darkness, their disregard and disobedience to the covenant that bonded together God and God’s servant people. John’s profound description of the Messiahship of Jesus clears up the cloud of uncertainty in the relationship of Jesus Christ with God’s self. The unity of God’s self as God the Creator, Son the Redeemer and Sustainer, the Holy Spirit, assures us that in their united action will help us and support us in changing the course of history as a nation and as a global community.

 

Dear God, as we come close to Christmas day, we are getting aware of who we are as God’s servant people. May your compassionate love and abounding grace encourage and strengthen our wills to be truly God’s committed servants, consoling those in the dark abyss of life, the economically impoverishes, those who are treated unjustly and those who long to live in peace. We pray in the name of the great logos, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

 

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT 2020

 First Sunday in Advent 2020

Sermon Title:  “Be the hope, make real God’s sustenance and generosity”

Scripture Texts: Psalm 121: 1-8; Matthew 10: 42

By Rev. Francisco J. Hernando

Biblical References: PSALMS 121:1-8, MATTHEW 10: 40-42 (RSV)
A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot be moved,
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade
    on your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not smite you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
⁸ The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and for evermore.

INTRODUCTION

Greetings from the Office of the General Secretary. I know that you have been affected by the long lock down whether in the National Capital Region or in Davao or wherever you are. I thank you for the invitation to preach at this service on the First Sunday of Advent and on this first week of Advent Season. The start of Advent this year as preparation for Christmas celebration is tainted by the pandemic wherein most of us have been prevented from face-to-face gathering as congregation, or institution, or even as families. Many are preparing for Christmas homecoming, but too many quarantine requirements have burdened those preparing to travel home this Advent Season. 

 

Well-meaning Christian believers have been debating with friends and family members how they may return their lives to normalcy, even with the threat of infection of the SARS-2 Covid-flu virus. The much coined word, “New-normal” has its conditioning effect, that there is less possibility of returning to the “old-normal” lives that people have. In many instances, even the strongest of immune system and sturdy personalities have succumb to anxiety and some have been traumatized by the threat of Covid-19 and the fear of consequent death due to infection. 

 

We have all journeyed into the quarantine lack down for the last eight months of the year. Our very own UCCP hospitals were not spared from the impact of the pandemic. Although our hospitals did not cater to Covid-19 patients, but the health protocols were followed. Amidst all these, we try to figure out where would help come, and where does our greatest hope lies.

 

O N E

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come? The Psalmist was trying to embark on a journey, perhaps like the refugees and migrants stranded in an island in Greece waiting for immigration pass to Western Europe, would asked the same question. Such a question is quite natural— whether one is thinking of a geographic journey through dangerous territory, a lifelong journey through many ups and downs, or a spiritual journey to discovery seeking a homecoming to God.

Like many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), even if there is a promise of better economic life for themselves and for their families, yet at every departure from home country, their minds and hearts are fearful and ask the question from whence help would come when life threatening situation occurs  while working abroad. As youth and adults, we know for a fact that Life is full of many dangers. The physical: disease, injury, accident, war, infirmity, or natural disasters. The economic: recession, depression, unemployment, outsourcing, downsizing, insolvency, debt, or theft. The spiritual: doubt, sin, evil, corruption, fundamentalism, extremism, or false teaching.

What more natural question to ask than, “From whence shall my help come?”

Residents from typhoons Rolly and Ulysses devasted communities, 24 hours after the typhoons destroyed their homes and their livelihood, and not having food and drinking water to nourish their bodies, cried out for help, “Tulungan nyo po kami!” The 3 meters high flood waters that sent residents on their roof waiting to be rescued, were shouting, “Tulungan nyo kami!” If I were in this of situation, I should have died of exhaustion right there on the roof, waiting for rescuers, who came late or did not come at all. From whence shall my help come?

The psalmist answers his or her own question with a confession of faith: “My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.”

The help the  badly need will come from our God, the Creator and Redeemer. How does that operate in concrete situation? We have the strongest of faith affirmation that God will rescue when we cry for help. But we cannot stand or sit idly in our house or office and wait for God to reach out and lift us up from where we are. God’s help is operative when believers like us have utilize our native human intelligence and material resources to help those in need. 

In our recently launched International Solidarity Forum, we used the thematic call, “Cry-out, ‘Rescue us, O God!’”. Not less than 40 human rights cases were experienced by our church leaders and lay leaders. These cases ranging from red-tagging, arrest and detention due to trumped-up criminal cases, extra-judicial killings. On the night of November 17, our virtual Cry-out to God for help was responded by God through the messages of support and solidarity from our national and overseas partners and mission organizations. 

God extended help through the Church’s relief food pack distribution to less-served communities in Metro Manila, in the jurisdictions and conferences. But it is quite interesting to note that with little resources, we were able to share with those in dire need. Political institutions and agencies that have more resources, have not adequately served the people they pledge to serve. The State rather took advantage of the look down and quarantine protocols by instituting repressive laws and policies.

In the midst of dangers, calamities and pandemic, the Church and its institutions should always think and find means to be the hands and feet of God in providing help and support to the poor, deprived and oppressed in our land in the world. We are always confronted by God’s Word, when we fail to be God’s carriers of good news to the suffering people in the land.

 

T W O

Exegete Rolf Jacobson mentioned that verses 3-8 emphasized the key word keep/keeper — which translates the Hebrew word shamar.  The logical movement here is from God’s identity and character --to God identifying and characteristic actions. Who is God? God is a keeper. God’s identity is to protect, shield, watch over, guard, keep. God does this like a watchman keeping guard over a city (130:8) or a bird shielding its young in the shelter of his wings (91:4).

From abstraction to abstraction, the poor and marginalized people and communities could not fathom how God can be their keeper. It looks like that the God revealed in the Scriptures is a distant God, and therefore can be considered a watchman or one who watch over. This symbolic station separates God from the people. Our middle class theologizing can be comforting to ourselves because we still have our jobs and our salaries, the oligarchs and those who have more in live are not worrisome, they worry not getting enough profits from their investments. 

 

Yes, God is our keeper and watchman, but only when our churches and institutions are able to manifest this God in programs and services that responds to the needs of the majority of people. In the narrative I composed about my experience of lock down, I said:

Employment and wages lost ...

 

Millions of people have to stop working, 

the pandemic revealed the ugly consequences 

of the nation's class society. 

The metropolis was in a standstill. 

The nearby public school has no more children playing, 

or chanting their songs and rhymes, 

 

No longer can be heard the noisy Lambada music from the jeepney 

leaving the compound to have its pasada to Quiapo and Pier

The jeepneys have been parked here since the first day of ECQ 

drivers are either stranded in location 

or gone to their homes, and just like us, locked down.

EDSA has been decongested of vehicles 

and the noisy deafening beep sounds of impatient motorists gone,

And there was silence, at times eerie. 

 

Thus the jeepney drivers were begging for alms on highways saying that they could no longer fend for their families because they stopped driving as government lock down policies and they can be penalized for violating the policies imposed by the government. I was emotionally and spiritually aching deep within that the God I believe in and active in the life of the church could not reach out to distressed jeepney drivers. Our faith in God as keeper, guardian and Creator has been tested in these difficult times of our lives as God’s people and as a nation.

 

T H R E E

What does God promise to do? God promises to keep you. God will guard you as you go on your journey of life, and as you return home. As you go out and come in. As you face the dangers of the day and of the night. 

It is good to emphasize God’s promise of protection, because it quickens our spirits and our immune system enables to fight the varieties of infections. Our faith as support us in maintaining our sanity and mental health. 

The list of promises here is not meant to suggest that those who walk in the shelter of God will face no harm or that nothing ill will befall them. The Psalter knows all too well that the wicked are everywhere and that they thrive unjustly. 

We know for a fact that during the pandemic many people have experience confusion and the vulnerable ones have lost their sense of psychological balance. Some people have opted to end their lives. Even our church workers of their share of the fear and anxiety of the pandemic. Some did not get their salaries or honorarium. But their hope in God was not diminished, they keep on finding means to serve our congregations.

God’s promises, however, are meant as characteristic promises — these are the sort of things that the Lord does for those who rely on him. And the words of blessing and promise evoke God’s protection and our awareness of it. For this reason, it is common for Jewish families to post Psalm 121 in the delivery room, or in baby carriages, or in a child’s room.

Rolf Jacobson believes that the genre of blessing is under-utilized in today’s world. He asserts that every child of God should give and receive a blessing every day. The words of Psalm 121 make a great blessing. Perhaps close the sermon by asking the congregation to bless each other, making the sign of the cross on each other or raising the hand of blessing and saying, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time on and forevermore.”

 

FINALE

Finally, The Bible reflector in the UCCP Advent and Christmas guide, emphasized: The psalmist affirms that God is the source of every blessing (121:7-8). The Lord’s care extends to all despite adversities, as God is sovereign over all affairs of life, especially the life of God’s own people. Whatever God’s children do or whatever challenges in life they are facing, the Lord will watch over their affairs and assures them to keep their lives now and forevermore. 

 

These affirmations about God the Creator, the Guardian and the Source of every blessing must weave into the fabric of our lives by showing our compassion to others. 

 

Those who are able to say “yes” to these affirmations are ready to become the ”guardians” of all that God have made and are ready to share their blessings to others so that those who thirst can drink, the hungry can eat, the oppressed can be liberated and those who are blind can see. Our highest thanksgiving to God is by doing all these so that God’s goodness remains not only in us but also extends to others. 

 

I hope that this Advent and Christmas season we will find meaning in the anticipation of remembrances of the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s precious gift for the world. Let us meditatively reflect on all the pain and sufferings we have as individuals, families and as a nation. 

 

This Advent and Christmas is the season of relief and rehabilitation work in devasted communities by typhoons that visited the country. The response to fund campaign for relief and rehabilitation work has been amazing. We pray that our people who receive our help and support will say, From whence my help comes? My help comes from God, my keeper and Savior.

 

PRAYER

We may not have the nearby mountains to which we gaze and say, “from whence does my help comes?” but we believe in you --our loving and compassionate God as our great Helper and Sustainer. We thank you for reminding us of your unfailing mercy for us, your frail children. Release us from the fears brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 

Merciful God, be our guide and strength as we continue to journey in these times of pandemic, calamities and State’s persecution of the Church. Firm up our hopes and strengthen our faith in your healing power. As we build up our courage and lengthen our resilience to face the challenges in life, lift us up from the pandemic fatigue and rise to the measure to which we are called to respond and serve. And now may the sustaining and caressing Spirit of God, uplift you, the healing touch of the Redeemer restore you, and the recreating accompaniment of the Creator God abundantly bless you and make you whole again. Amen.

 

 

----------- ------------

Source reference: Rolf Jacobson https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-psalm-121-6

 

 

 UCCP COUNCIL OF BISHOPS

PRESS STATEMENT 

28 September 2020

 

UCCP LEADERS INDIGNANT OVER COMPLAINT FILED AT THE DAVAO CITY

PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

 

“This harassment on the Church by the military establishment and the government itself must stop!” An emphatic statement coming from UCCP General Secretary, Bishop Melzar Labuntog upon knowing on mass media, from PTV and from internet news portal Davao Today that several UCCP national leaders both past and present were named in the formal complaint at the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office. 

 

“The complainants have the face of indigenous people or Lumads, but they have been under the influence of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), and this is an instigation of the National Task Force to End Localized Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)” explained Bishop Hamuel Tequis, the Davao City based UCCP Bishop.

 

Reliable mass media sources disclosed that, on September 15, some Manobo tribesmen filed complaints before the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office against several church leaders of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Haran and other individuals they tagged as members of the New People’s Army. 

 

Several of the forty eight (48) persons charge are UCCP leaders and members, others were not fully identified for violations of Republic Act No. 9208, as amended by Republic Act No. 10364, or the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act (RA 9208), and Republic Act No. 7610 (RA 7610) or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act”, and Republic Act No. 9851 (RA 9851) or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity. [1]

 

Furthermore, the alleged violations of the laws herein mentioned are trumped-up accusations on the UCCP and the Lumad leaders sheltered in UCCP Haran, as government solutions to the several years of hiatus in the negotiations of return of the Lumads to their ancestral domain in Talaingod, Davao Del Norte. This complaint comes in a series of legal build up to crush the organized resistance of the Lumads to the NCIP’s conditions of their return which do not conform to their agreement stipulating that they should return to the ancestral land and not in a resettlement area, the land they left behind few years ago escaping for their survival because of intense militarization of their communities.

 

The Council of Bishops recalled the many instances when President Rodrigo Duterte, then Mayor of Davao City in 2016 have personally assured the Church that he will, within his power, judiciously support the unhampered return of the Lumads in Haran, to their ancestral land. 

 

The forced evacuation of the indigenous peoples was not solely a phenomenon in Davao Del Norte, but a reality as well in Agusan del Sur, Misamis Occidental and in Northern Luzon. These have been going on because the peace talks and peace process between NDFP and the GRP has been stalled accompanied by attendant problems and concerns of social justice within their tribal communities and the larger society, the Council of Bishops stressed.

 

Rev. Daniel Palicte, Conference Minister of Southern Mindanao District Conference believes that this is a campaign to smear the reputation of the Church that has been providing refuge for numerous Lumad families in its Haran Compound in Davao City for more than five years already. But he declared that UCCP Church leaders are unfettered in their resolute commitment to do God’s compassionate mission for and among the indigenous people in Mindanao and the entire country. 

 

Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza, former UCCP General Secretary and National Council of Churches in the Philippines incumbent General Secretary commented that the charges hurled at the Church leaders are persecutory measures from the government agencies that are supposedly working out probable and sustainable solutions to the needs of the indigenous people or Lumads for their safe return to their ancestral land. Instead of working out solutions, these agencies have never stopped harassing the Church and recently permitted paramilitary elements to forcibly and violently entered Haran rampaging Lumads’ sleeping quarters and classrooms and looted their food supplies and cash. They have also red-tagged our church leaders like Bishop Hamuel Tequis and others. 

 

Interestingly, NTF-ELCAC has no scruple in filing their complaints in the prosecutor’s office because it got huge budget for 2019.  The Philippine News Agency, which stated that around P20.150 billion of the budget will be used this year for cleared villages, while the remaining P16.288 billion will be appropriated next year for development projects. [2] It is disconcerting to know that the hard earned taxes of the people are used against the very interest of the people instead of serving them. Congress itself has cast doubts on the use of the huge budget of NTF-ELCAC.

The UCCP Church leaders suspect that this persecution of the church is intended to stop the church from it sprophetic witness in the midst of intensifying authoritarian regime in the country even in the midst of the pandemic. Political dissent is being suppressed as the tyrannical nature of the government is revealed in the passing of the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020, the increasing number of extrajudicially killed especially human rights workers and advocates, peace negotiators, peasant and labor leaders.

 

Finally, the UCCP leaders and the Council of Bishops demand that this complaint be immediately quashed by Davao Prosecutor’s Office. They also expressed their readiness to dialogue to settle the differences with the government agencies and the military establishment. There are weightier matters that must be addressed by the government than persecuting and harassing the Church and the Lumads, the very people that government agencies have pledge to serve. +

THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS

28 September 2020

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[1]  http://davaotoday.com/main/human-rights/haran-displaced-manobos-slam-ntf-elcac-for-trumped-up-charges/

 

[2]  https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1327217/zarate-asks-coa-to-audit-multibillion-budget-of-ntf-elcac#ixzz6YtrTbWYk

 UCCP COUNCIL 0F BISHOPS

REAFFIRMING OUR COMMITMENT TO

SERVE THE DOWNTRODDEN AND THE LEAST PRIVILEGED

 

(A Pastoral Statement of the UCCP Council of Bishops on Haran’s Case)

‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ (Matthew 25: 40 NKJV) is a constant reminder that keeps the United Church of Christ in the Philippines dynamic and actively engaged in the ministry for the least privileged and disadvantaged sectors of our society. 

 

The recent filing of a criminal case by certain Ata-Manobo individuals against a number of our members, local church leaders and church workers including fellow bishops is a sad reflection of high-handedness and hostile attitude of the powers that be towards the Church. Said filing of case is apparently stirred by the military and Atty. Marlon Bosantog, head of the legal affairs office of National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP).  

 

We take this case as part of a grand design to shame and smear the integrity not only of those accused individuals but of the whole United Church of Christ in the Philippines for its staunch advocacies for the protection of Lumads’ rights and indigenous people and for our active engagement in peace and justice ministries. 

 

Over the past year or so, the UCCP and some of our members and leaders had been among those red tagged by the military. In fact, one of our former Conference Ministers in the Bicol Region had been arrested and detained on the basis of a trumped-up charge filed by the military. In plain sight, therefore, the case filed by Ata-Manobo in Davao City Prosecutor’s Office is just another act of harassment and intimidation.

 

We recall that in a dialogue with no less than the newly proclaimed president then, held in Malacanang in 2016, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, assured us that he will do his best to bring the Lumads back to their own homes. UCCP did not invite nor encourage the Lumads to come to UCCP-Haran. The Lumads actually came to Haran seeking for refuge as a result of militarization in their places. As a church, the UCCP cannot but accommodate them in gesture of support and solidarity.

 

In 2016, then Davao City Vice-Mayor Paolo Duterte personally came to Haran and offered the Lumads free vehicles that would bring them back to their homes, but the Lumads refused the offer. The same was done in 2020 by Gov. Edwin Jubahib of Davao Del Norte but also to no avail. Clearly, the UCCP did not prevent the Lumads from going back to their homes neither did we oblige any of them to remain in Haran. It was solely their decision to remain under the refuge of Haran. 

 

As a Church of Jesus Christ, we remain true to our commitment as declared in February 1990: “the United Church of Christ in the Philippines through its Council of Bishops and the Executive Committee in session on February 21-23, 1990 declares as sanctuaries and zones of peace all its church buildings, parsonages and lands, hospitals and schools, and other church-owned institutions and their premises. As sanctuaries, these places and premises are open to all people, regardless of color and creed, sex and status, and of political and religious affiliation, at all times, in all circumstances of need. We welcome those needing sanctuary to use these places for protection, study, reflection, retreat, prayers and meditation, or simply for rest and quiet.”

 

Let it be made very clear that the UCCP is ready to face the accusers in court to prove the innocence and guiltlessness of our members and church workers who are among the respondents. All the allegations in the case are unfounded and tall tales that are too incredible to be true.

 

As leaders of the Church, we abhor such act of falsehood even as we also call on the accusers and those behind their action to stop besmirching our church, our members and church workers. As the Prophet Isaiah puts it, in Isaiah 5:18: “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope…”

 

We also call on al UCCP faithful to join us in sober prayers and support for our fellow UCCP members who are drawn into this quagmire of trickery and sham. Let us continue to be ONE in living out our shared calling as God’s ambassadors of peace, justice and love! “With Christ on our side, even the gates of hell will not prevail over us!” (Matthew 16: 18).+

 

UCCP COUNCIL OF BISHOPS

28 September 2020

UCCP Council of Bishops

Statement on Red-tagging of Bishop Hamuel G. Tequis, 

Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza, Rev. Irma Balaba, et al.

 

 WHOEVER MAKES A PRACTICE OF SINNING IS OF THE DEVIL . . .

The  COUNCIL OF BISHOPS of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines strongly abhors the most recent spiteful tagging of our fellow Bishop and Council of Bishops member, Bishop Hamuel G. Tequis of UCCP-Southeast Mindanao Jurisdictional Area (SEMJA) as a CPP member as contained in a propaganda poster posted near the building of Sta. Ana Catholic Church in Davao City, seen early morning, August 13, 2020 by concerned witnesses. Copies of the same poster are placed in electrical poles near the same area in Davao City. 

 

In the same vein, recently, Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza, UCCP Bishop Emeritus and incumbent general secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCCP) has been maliciously red tagged as communist by the Facebook troll page “Timek ti Cagayan for speaking up against the Anti-Terrorism Law. Similarly, on July 24, Rev. Irma Balaba, UCCP church worker of United Metropolis Conference was tagged as surrendered member of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA). Without consent, her picture was posted on the Facebook page of the Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

 

This persecution of the Church does not exempt the laity members such as Karlo Manano, son of Rev. Isaias Manano, Sr. retired pastor of Oriental Mindoro Conference, who was implicated as member of the CPP-NPA. There are several others and some were served warrant of arrest and have been jailed for trump-up criminal charges hurled on them, on which the Church through the Council of Bishops has spoken on their defense in assertion of prophetic witness. 

 

This is obviously a handiwork of those who aim at besmirching the reputation and integrity of peace and justice advocates as well as those in the religious sector who are engaged in the work of peacemaking and human rights. Acts like this warrant our stoutest denunciation as it denigrates our faith conviction and tramples on our fundamental right to express our Christian calling of serving the least of our people.

 

We call on those responsible to STOP HARASSING OUR PROPHETS! STOP SPREADING LIES AGAINST RIGHTS DEFENDERS!

 

Words of caution from the Bible as declared in 1 John 3: 8 ESV,

 

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

 

UCCP COUNCIL OF BISHOPS

August 13, 2020