God's call for justice requires care for hungry, archbishop says

Published: 2005-06-20

ATLANTA (CNS) -- Preaching in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta challenged listeners on National Hunger Awareness Day to respond to God's call for justice and to work to feed the poor and address root causes of poverty as an essential part of fidelity to God. "When we as religious ministers invite people to see our response to the hungers of people as an acceptance of the divine command for justice, then will our hearts be changed and God's providence made clearer in all of our hearts," Archbishop Gregory said, speaking in the home church of late civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "We gather in a place of worship that is deeply identified with the pursuit of justice," the archbishop said June 7. "Here in this place an extraordinary, prophetic preacher called people of his day and time to see that injustice was incompatible with God's kingdom. We can do nothing less in response to the injustices of our own day. "Surely the alleviation of the causes of hunger in our society and the feeding of the poor are works of justice and in strict conformity with God's design as the very word of Scripture repeatedly makes patently clear," Archbishop Gregory added. He spoke at an interfaith service held in the contemporary sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church, across the street from the smaller, historic church where Rev. King preached. The service was sponsored by the Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta.

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