Saturday, November 15, 2008

This justice thing

I'm reading a remarkable book, one to digest, savor and not let the words die when it finds a home on my bookshelf. At the same time, our new church, all of ten weeks old, is in prayer and discussion on very specific ways we will go to Kingdom-work in serving others and seeking to do justice. This is built into what we see this good news of Jesus Christ to be about.

Three thoughts from this book are on my mind this morning, and they feed into what we are considering as a community seeking to follow Jesus in the way of service, social justice, compassion and peacemaking. This is from N.T. Wright's most recent book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.

First: in building for the Kingdom with respect to our calling and mission as the church, Wright notes that justice is not an add-on. With regard to the specific issues in our day and context, he believes "the major task that faces us in our generation, corresponding to the issue of slavery two centuries ago, is that of the massive economic imbalance of the world." (p. 216) He calls this the "number one moral issue of our day." If this is on target, what does this imply for the mission of the church?

The second thing that I am pondering this morning is the idea of holiness. Oh, boy; sounds real "churchy" or religious. Without going down some rabbit trails on this term, and some of the intricate biblical definitions, for our purposes here I'll use it to mean: seeking to live our lives in concert with the ethics, values and morality of the Kingdom of God. God is holy; we seek to live our lives as God revealed himself in Jesus.

One of Wright's phrases is particularly relevant here: "Christian holiness consists not in trying as hard as we can to be good but of learning to live in the new world created by Easter....Personal holiness and global holiness belong together." (p. 253) Our personal lives are not isolated and severed from the call to do justice and to be a voice that will address specific issues of social injustice. If we are not endeavoring to live a just life, it will be difficult to call for justice in other places.

The third nugget is that we need one another. The "church." Or whatever we want to name this (sometimes a name loses its meaning if it is distorted over time)- community of faith, a community of Jesus' followers, etc. We will be called individually, in clusters or collectively as a church to serve needs in our city or to be agents of the Kingdom helping to bring about justice. And, in Wright's words, "All will need one another for support and encouragement. All will need to be nourished by the central, worshipping life of the church." (p. 268)

I find energy in considering these aspects for our church, and, I would suggest, for other churches and communities. These have concrete, practical application for the church:
  • We will need to be people of prayer and discernment to be led to the specific areas where we are called to serve and to address social injustice. What are the great moral issues of our day? What are we called to do as individuals and as a community?
  • The connection between personal and global holiness is especially vital today. Many are disillusioned with the "church" because of the disconnect many see or perceive. People want to see what we say. This is not about perfection; it is about spiritual transformation.
  • This must all be based in community. We are not isolated islands of individuals. When we are called by God to serve in a particular capacity (tutoring disadvantaged kids, feeding a homeless population, visiting a discarded, lonely senior, becoming an agent of change for in public housing, etc.), we will need support from others. And this is not just any community; it is spiritual community rooted in Jesus. We need life and nourishment that comes from prayer, scripture, and worship of God, the source of our life.

The possibilities are endless for a community of hope!

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