Beloved Community
“Only a refusal to hate or kill can put an end to the chain of violence in the world and lead us toward a community where men [sic] can live together without fear,” Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in 1966. “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”
The Holy Spirit, poured out at Pentecost, made possible the kind of community of which King spoke, a community rooted in mutual love, understanding, and justice. That Spirit is still among us today, empowering and calling us to live into the Beloved Community that God desires for us. This series helps us to reclaim that vision, to follow Jesus’ call to justice and care, and to live intentionally as Beloved Community.
This series was created by members of EPA&GNJ’s Commissions on Religions and Race and EPA’s Healing the Wounds of Racism.
Week 1: The Vision of Beloved Community | Acts 2:1-21
Beloved Community can feel like a distant or unrealistic goal but Acts 2 tells us that the Holy Spirit is already creating and calling us into a fully inclusive, mutually supportive community.
Week 2: What Hinders Beloved Community? | Matthew 23:1-5, 37-39
Jesus laments the absence of Beloved Community when the expressions and traditions of our faith become empty gestures, or worse, tools of cruelty. He calls us to listen to the truthtellers in our midst.
Week 3: Moving Toward Beloved Community | Matthew 25:35-40
Beloved Community begins with seeing Christ in one another—especially in the most vulnerable—and responding not only with acts of mercy but with the commitment to create a more just world.
Week 4: Living Out the Beloved Community | Romans 12:9-21
Beloved Community is not an optional add-on. It is an intentional and active way of life that we are empowered to live daily by the Holy Spirit. It is hard, beautiful, and worth it.
Included in Dropbox:
Series Overview
Liturgy & Music Suggestions
Preaching Resources
Children’s Moments Resources
Small Group Guides
Daily Scripture Readings
Slide Deck
Supporting Graphics & Images
