ISAIAH : Faith in Democracy

Isaiah 1:17 (NRSV)

 "Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, 

defend the orphan, plead for the widow." 

On Sunday, July 20 we celebrated the 170th anniversary founding of our church. It was that same year, 1855, that John Wesley North is credited with the founding of Northfield. Both the founder of the church, Mr. McKinley and the founder of Northfield, Mr. North, were Christians. They both held deep belief and conviction that to be Christian means to be connected to the well-being of the wider community. For Mr. North, who had trained at a Methodist seminary, this meant that he needed to stand against slavery, for women’s rights and for temperance. These were not necessarily popular opinions in the church or at the time. However, he committed his life to this, and in Northfield and elsewhere, he actively worked to end slavery and to advocate for the dignity of all. 

As I listened to a sermon about this, I thought about the work of Isaiah. The focus of the work of Isaiah is for the well-being of all. We stand on the shoulders of these leaders of 170 years ago. They set our precedent of social engagement. Today, Isaiah is concerned about legislation that will disproportionally affect children and the elderly. Our action has been to stand against the budget bill that was recently passed. We held a prayer walk in Faribault. You can read about it in the Wednesday, July 9 Northfield News. 

Calls to the state representatives did not have the result we hoped for, yet we continue to work on behalf of those who will be harmed and negatively affected. In addition to the prayer walk there have been house meetings to learn of matters that are important to rural residents, and research visits with local officials. I invite you to join Isaiah in its actions. Please let me know if you would like to be added to the action list to be informed of upcoming activities. —Mary Lynn Oglesbee