By Stephanie Ahn Mathis, Pastor, West Hills Covenant Church
Our church’s Advent theme this year was “Let There Be Light”. In the beginning, the first written words we have of our Creator God is to speak creative, life-giving light into an empty, formless darkness. Throughout biblical and modern history, we recognize the meta-narrative that God continues to speak for light to shine in the darkness through God’s people.
On December 1st, we began our Advent series in collaborating with five Covenant churches (Irvington, Access, Tigard, Bridge, and West Hills Covenant Church) to co-sponsor Rev. Dominique Gilliard (ECC’s Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation) to speak about his award-winning book, Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores. Pastor Dominique explored the history of racism in America as well as the white evangelical churches’ role in sustaining and silencing their oppression through mass incarceration. He offered critical socio-historical analysis with a pastoral, prophetic, theo-ethic hope for practical change through God’s people with both an unfiltered truth and a gentle grace.
I was moved to see people from disparate backgrounds theologically, politically, ethnically, and economically gather to learn, worship, and lament. I could see light bulbs going off in people’s minds and hearts as they shared their reflections with me.
God has invited us to be kingdom children, kingdom citizens, and kingdom ambassadors for the whole gospel which is to the whole person (social, intellectual, physical, spiritual, ethnically, economically, and emotional), whole community (both individually and systemically, locally and globally), and to the whole world (every tribe, nation, and tongue). We have been called to be messengers of God’s good news of great joy that Jesus holistically saves us from darkness and death through grace through faith. Romans 6:23 says that what we deserve for our sin is death, “but the gift of God is eternal life in[a Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s redemptive justice is restorative, not punitive. The American prison system is broken and doesn’t reflect the restorative justice of God who wants to speak into the darkness of personal and system pain, “let there be light”.
For those of us who hope to pursue Jesus’ many-colored, just kingdom (and maybe need some help), we have a great resource in the ECC’s Love Mercy, Do Justice team. They long to see this beautiful mosaic of God’s people and are competent to help equip others. They are disciple-makers for the whole gospel. We don’t have to do it alone.
Even a dim light can impact the darkness but a collective group of lights can overpower the dark. The friendship and work with the other Covenant pastors and colleagues in our denomination remind me of this. Yes, we are better together. And, we are also certainly brighter together.
So, let us rise up, O Church, with bold love, to embody God’s first spoken phrase in the darkness of human souls and systems that punishes and dehumanizes, and be witnesses to God’s great light bearing good news of restorative justice full of love, mercy and compassion. Let there be light!
Brighter together with you,
Pastor Stephanie Ahn Mathis
Co-Senior Pastor, West Hills Covenant Church
