05/29/2026
Peace with Justice Sunday ~ Sunday, May 31, 2026, 10 am
Peace with Justice Sunday is celebrated on May 31, 2026. The day honors The United Methodist Church's commitment to global reconciliation, calling congregations to engage in advocacy, peacemaking, and community actions that address the root causes of conflict and inequality. An offering is taken on this Special Sunday to support programs and ministries to educate, equip and mobilize actions in support of Economic justice, Health access, and Gender inclusion.
You are invited to the Peace with Justice Sunday Service on May 31, 2026 at 10 am. You can worship live on ZOOM by clicking the link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9658816441 Meeting ID: 965 881 6441
You can also watch Sunday services at your convenience by going to our website “watsonville1stumc.org” and click YouTube or Facebook. Each Sunday worship will be uploaded on Sunday afternoon for your viewing.
Children’s Time: “Peace Pilgrim Story” by Pastor John
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” ~ Matthew 5:9
Special Music: Let There Be Peace (Words by Kennedy; Music by Irish Melody; Arr. By C.D. Abenoja for SATB & Piano accompaniment collaboration with Marina Thomas)
Message: “Social Justice Over Pelvic Theology” by Rev. John Song
Pope Leo XIV’s first landmark teaching document published on Memorial Day, June 25, titled “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity” in the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.” But the subject has remained overshadowed by the absolute moral law regarding sins of the flesh.
Dedicating his first encyclical to social justice would show how much Leo, like his predecessor Pope Francis, is trying to shift Catholicism away from the near fixation on “pelvic theology,” or sexual morality, that has come to define Catholicism, especially in Leo’s home country, the United States.
The concern is that decades of focusing on “sins below the waist,” as Pope Francis memorably put it, has fueled the church’s culture war agenda and driven many people away from the central teachings of the Gospels. It has also left workers and the marginalized with a weakened moral voice against the structural economic injustice that perpetuate human suffering.
Leo was more explicit last month. When a reporter on the papal plane returning from a trip to Africa asked him about a controversy over the blessing of gay couples by priests, Leo said: “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”
His response dismayed and even infuriated many social conservatives, both Catholics and Protestants. But Leo was not forging some new doctrine. On the contrary, he was articulating an older Christian tradition of placing justice above personal chastity.
Micah 6:6-8 ~ What God Requires of You
“With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and What does the Lord require of you,
but to do justice,
and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
United Methodist Social Principles 2025: Jesus calls every generation to wholehearted discipleship: opening our hearts to the people we encounter daily; practicing compassion with our families and neighbors; honoring the dignity and worth of all people near and far; recognizing the systems that destroy human lives through poverty, war and exclusion; and advocating justice and care in our churches, communities and social structures. God calls us further to be stewards of creation, caring for the skies and waters, soil and plants, and all beings.
