Minute for Mission: A Social Creed for the 21st Century

September 2, 2024

The common good is rarely a “trending” topic. Across various platforms, the latest guffaw by a politician or celebrity inevitably outperforms reflections on this concept, as do spectacles of spending and images photoshopped to perfection. Perhaps the challenge to locate threads dedicated to, let alone acting from, the common good has to do with the complexity of its component parts. In a society marked by polarities, how do we even begin to determine what is “common” or what is “good”?

Yet the complexity of the task need not deter but inspire possibilities! When an ecumenical study team gathered to develop A Social Creed for the 21st Century (2008), they lifted up a “vision of society that shares more and consumes less, seeks compassion over suspicion and equality over domination, and finds security in joined hands rather than massed arms.” This vision also sought “to awaken a new spirit of community,” wherein “tax and budget policies … reduce disparities between rich and poor, strengthen democracy, and provide greater opportunity for everyone within the common good.” In 2024, we find ourselves a little over 15 years after this call to compassion, equity and justice, to generate shared resources and sustainable practices. Nevertheless, an invitation and a question linger: How might we — today,  tomorrow and in the years ahead — continue  to awaken a new spirit of communal vitality?

Prayer and expanding our understandings of what it means to be with and for one another in ways that reflect God’s love are essential to innovative and enduring communities. Another way to attend to the Spirit’s work across the street, the country and the globe is to connect with denominational agencies, projects and programs. The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, as one example, serves the prophetic calling of the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by providing the General Assembly with careful studies of pressing moral challenges [Resolution on Race, Reparative Justice and the PC(USA)], media for discussion and discernment of Christian responsibilities (Gun Violence, Gospel Values) and policy recommendations for faithful action (Investing in a Green Future: A Vision for a Renewed Creation). If there are policies that you think might awaken a new spirit of community, we invite you to submit topics to the committee directly.

Dhawn B. Martin, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy

Today’s Focus: A Social Creed for the 21st Century

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Hery Ramambasoa, Mission Coordinator II, Asia & Pacific Office, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
Ed Ramsey, Network Support Engineer, Information Technology, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)  

Let us pray

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, open our hearts, minds and bodies to your work in and through the world. Illumine those practices and policies that nurture the common good, that reflect your goodness, that address pressing problems in ways that bind up what is broken and heal what is wounded. Amen.