REPENT: WE NAMED PRECIOUS LIVES USELESS

 REPENT: WE NAMED PRECIOUS LIVES USELESS

In many societies, value is often measured by usefulness—by productivity, stability, and visible contribution to established systems. While such measures may organize economic life, they can also distort how human beings are perceived. When individuals fall outside these measures, they risk being treated as if their worth has diminished.

This distortion carries serious moral consequences. When people are overlooked because they lack housing, employment, or social standing, they are not simply experiencing hardship; they are being misnamed. Lives that retain inherent dignity are implicitly labeled as expendable or without value.

The Gospel challenges this misnaming. The life and ministry of Jesus consistently directed attention toward those who were overlooked or marginalized. The Cross itself stands as a reminder that human judgment can fail profoundly, treating a life of immeasurable worth as though it were disposable.

To say “Repent: We named precious lives useless” is therefore to acknowledge a failure not only of systems, but of perception. It calls for a reconsideration of how value is assigned and how dignity is recognized within society.

Human worth does not originate from usefulness, nor does it disappear when usefulness is no longer visible. It is inherent and enduring. Recognizing this truth requires a shift in vision—one that resists reducing people to their economic role and instead affirms their full humanity.

Repentance, in this context, is not merely an emotional response. It is a reorientation of understanding. It invites individuals and communities to see differently, to correct the language and assumptions that diminish others, and to affirm the dignity of every person, especially those who have been most readily overlooked. 

Pastor Steven G. Lee 

St. GMC Corps

April 21, 2026