News
During a service at the Riverside Church in New York City, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit brought a greeting that explored what kinds of wisdom churches can bring to today’s world from Matthews 11:19.
“In this church you have a legacy of addressing the challenges of the time, offering words of wisdom to those in power and to those in need of support, to those who need new thoughts and new impulses for their lives,” said Tveit. “What is the wisdom we as churches and as a fellowship of churches can bring and should bring in our time?”
Wisdom is vindicated by its deeds, he noted. “Today we need more than ever further reflections about what it means that God is creating and sustaining this world every day.”
Climate change is making everyday life less predictable and very difficult for farmers, particularly in poor areas of the world, to live from the earth, he continued. “Again, our understanding of what it means to believe in God the Creator must be revised. God has given us a role in taking care of this creation that we cannot ignore. We cannot just hope that God will fix it some day.”
As the USA also continues to struggle with many dimensions of racism, church unity and the unity of humankind must be two dimensions of the same calling, said Tveit. “We cannot have unity in the church and not work for unity of humankind. We cannot believe in God and abandon God’s creation or the sanctity of life in all of God’s humanity.”
People at the Riverside Church, he said, have made the unity of the church a matter of their attitudes of inclusiveness and outreach. The church, an interdenominational, Interracial, and international congregation, has 1,750 members and affiliates who come from more than 40 different denominational, national, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
“Let us continue to work and pray together, to see how our spirituality and our advocacy for justice and peace can be even stronger, in this country and worldwide,” concluded Tveit.
The Riverside Church is a member of the American Baptist Churches, USA and the United Church of Christ and cooperates with the Council of Churches in the City of New York, and with the New York State, National and World Council of Churches. Senior Minister is the Rev. Dr Amy Butler. In the worship service Rev. Michael Livingston preached on the theme “Slaves, Sinners and Saints”.
Read the full greeting by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
