Annual Meeting Theme Introduction Given by Vincent Lui, member of University Baptist Church in Baltimore who serves on The Mid-Atlantic CBF Coordinating Council

Good morning, everyone! So good to be with you. We are indeed better together than apart.

It is in times like these that we are reminded that “brothers and sisters are born to share adversity” (Proverbs 17:17) and that “we fulfill the law of Christ” when we “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).

Welcome to our 2025 MACBF Annual Meeting!

We thank God for the leadership of CBF and MACBF, raising our voices in solidarity with our neighbors, the immigrants among us–who are no less our sisters and brothers. For whenever we care for the “least of these brothers and sisters of [Jesus]”--whether the poor, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant–then we have done it unto our Lord.

As we begin our day, I was asked to share a few words about our theme: Standing Together as Neighbor - Voices of Solidarity and Mission.

We find ourselves once again struggling against the bad news, harmful theology, and unright spirit of Christian nationalism, classism and oligarchy, and various other -isms. Right now, us-versus-them conflict and separation is more appealing to some who call themselves Christians than the Good News of unity-in-diversity inaugurated at Pentecost, when the Spirit of God–the Holy Spirit–poured out on all people.

In both missions and advocacy throughout Christian history, there has always been the temptation to speak for others, over against the call to stand with the ones that society has marginalized and made into “Other.” There has always been the challenge to be in solidarity with our neighbors rather than to maintain the divisions of human categories: “Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female” (Gal 3:28).

But “the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ This is Paul writing in Galatians 5:14, compressing Jesus’ original summary in Matthew 22 even more.

This is what liberation theology was founded on decades ago, when Gustavo Gutiérrez affirmed that love of God is expressed through love of neighbor. He called it the “preferential option for the poor.” Some thought it was controversial.

Whether then, now, or in Jesus’ time, our temptation is always to ask, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).

Jesus, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, flips the question, asking: Who was a neighbor to the victim of violence and injustice? Essentially, not “who is my neighbor,” but: How can I myself be neighbor?

Or, to paraphrase someone in one of my Bible study groups recently–who put it into verb form: How do we neighbor those around us who are in need?

This puts the ethical responsibility on us as followers of Christ to see the people who are oppressed and marginalized, and then to make the choice to become their neighbors, standing with them.

In solidarity, our voices don't say, “Grant justice to them,” those people there who are oppressed. Instead, our voices say, “Grant justice to us,” for “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and oppression of “neighbor” becomes oppression against all of us who have assumed the role of neighbor to the oppressed.

When ICE threatens to come into our congregations to take people away, they are threatening not just some of us, but just us–plain and simple.

And how does mission fit in? If we are to go and make disciples, what message ought we to bring with our voices besides the message of becoming neighbor? Assuming the role of neighbor authentically is a key part of mission.

Later today, our featured speaker, Mr. Elket Rodríguez, who is CBF's Global Migration Advocate, will be preaching about the intersection of Missions and Advocacy. And I am greatly anticipating him sharing much more when he brings the Word to us.

But I would imagine if someone were to go on mission long enough, that “missionary” would hopefully become an advocate. If not, then the bad news would be: I came to share some words of theology, but I can’t use my voice and stand with you in solidarity. The Good News is: God so loved the world that he sent His one and only son–God with us, Immanuel–with us and for us (Romans 8:31); and so we do the same: Being with and for whomever God sends us to.

As we come together today, to learn and to share, and to sharpen and encourage one another, let us seek Jesus’ heart, he who is “God with Us,” who became our greatest neighbor.