BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPPRESION AND THE YOKE OF ...

PREAChing message of the free grace of God to all people” (Barmen VI). Because, in the
Bible, justice is first and foremost a summarized rephrasing of God’s own good
works. The Psalms declare: “How wonderful are the things the Lord does …his
righteousness endures forever” (Ps 111:2f.). Hence, “the heavens proclaim his
righteousness” (Ps 97:6) “and from one generation to the next … shall sing aloud
of [his] righteousness” (Ps 145:7).
God’s justice (i.e., righteousness) – that is, his active caring for his creation – is
his attentive accompaniment of his people; that is, his saving deeds and his good
guidance. Justice – that is, his constant listening to the cries of the suffering – is
his strong arm that liberates the captives; and in all this is God’s passionate love
for his people, which can rage terribly about their wickedness and stupidity, but
which can do nothing else except be “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
abounding in steadfast love” (Ps 103:8). Where the justitia is blind, indeed inevitably
must be blind to avoid being dazzled by the specific case at hand, it is
said of the God of Israel: he watches, he listens and he yields – he applies the
freedom of his love by doing justice to each of his creatures in a way that is conducive
to his or her life in his or her particular situation. Justice: that is the way
of our God through the time and space of his creation, the way on which he
keeps his covenant and faithfulness to Israel unto eternity, and through Israel to
the whole world, and never abandons the work of his hands. And hence: in the
path of righteousness there is life (Prov 12:28a).
Also in the AC, this prae of God’s justice takes precedence before all human endeavour.
That is why the statements of faith always start with confessions of belief
in God before going on to the rejections of economic injustice and ecological
destruction.
In this context, I �believe �it is important � to explicitly � praise � the confessional character
of the Accra Declaration. For, in a very specific way, it corresponds to the
fact that for us Christians standing up for justice is not a matter of political belief,
but the response to God’s own words and deeds, through which we live and
to which we, in faith, bear witness.
In order to make this clear, the sermon will, however, have to make the praise for
God’s justice resound more clearly and comprehensively than the Accra Confession
did or was able to do. I draw attention again to what was said at the beginning
regarding the distinction between confession and sermon. Whereas the Accra
Confession recalls God’s action in rather dry theological sentences, the sermon,
guided by Bible stories, tells of the salvation work of God in such a way
that it becomes clear: what happened at that time is also true today; the (hi)story
of God with his people also embraces my world and my (hi)story. God is able
to change my world and my life, and he will do so!
Hence, the sermon should avoid speaking “gesetzlich” (which means mixing
gospel and the law) about the gospel (Manfred Josuttis). This always happens
when the impression is given that human deeds could/should take the place of
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– PREACHING ON JUSTICE – 15