“Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God”

Someone recently commented: “Incarnate Integration & Investment,” isn’t that the way Jesus did it? Is the example He set that hard to see?” and it made me think of this quote by the great Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855):

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we as Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How will I ever get on in the world?

Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming to close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”

As well as this one by Christoph Blumhardt (1842-1919):

“Nothing is more dangerous to the advancement of God’s kingdom than religion. But this is what Christianity has become. Do you not know it is possible to kill Christ with Christianity?”

Social Justice and Social Capital

Why do I keep talking about social capital?

I believe that social justice in America is fundamentally linked not to the redistribution of financial capital/wealth, but the redistribution of social capital/wealth.

Sociologist Robert Putnam in “Bowling Alone” investigates the idea of social capital and links the decline of social capital to the deterioration of American society: “Social capital refers to social networks, norms of reciprocity, mutual assistance, and trustworthiness. Some networks link people who are similar in crucial respects and tend to be inward-looking — bonding social capital. Others encompass different types of people and tend to be outward-looking — bridging social capital.”

I think some Christian communities (the ones who have been successful at creating genuine community) are either guilty of hording social capital or are ripe for leading the way in a radical redistribution of the networks, infrastructure, personal resources, education, possessions, personal example, etc. that will truly transform society.

For example: While the poor in this country (financially, socially, and spiritually poor) will take our money and donations, that’s not what they truly need — there is enough money and social programs in America. What they need is mentoring and job opportunities, daycare and rides to work, someone to talk to about their troubles, and to generally be in close contact/relationships with stable people who can help them get stable themselves.

Does this sound like incarnate ministry to anyone else?

The concept of social capital has yet to be used in a social justice context (except maybe by me), but I see amazing potential here when combined with the ideals of Christian community, the mandate for justice, and when applied to the average suburban Christian. At very least the energy of the idea could accelerate us beyond compassion and into the individual and community development stages of the social justice continuum. See previous posts.

Social Justice and the Emergent Movement (part 1)

These days, whenever talking about social justice, the emergent movement/conversation is inevitably brought up — thinkers like Brian McLaren are readily mentioned and many implications have been made about the parallels between “The Just Life” conversation and the “emergent” one.

In a recent comment to a previous post, “md” fleshed out the immediate connection in pondering:

“…I wonder if there is a difference between what the emergent church is calling ‘living missionally’, and what you’re referring to here as social justice…? It sounds like ’social justice’ is a community/personal activeness that stems from a missional lifestyle. The most obvious point of difference, I can see, being social justice’s intentionality to pursue healing and peace, rather than doing so within the confines of the immediate context. Living missionally comes to mean an evangelistic/discipleship/compassion ministry outpouring, to be bolstered by a global perspective offered by intentional social activity.”

“md” also provided this link to the “missional” end of the conversation you might find interesting: http://smerickson.modblog.com/?show=blogview&blog_id=440900

“md” is absolutely right about the connection — the emergent conversation’s ability to rearticulate the “sojourner” and “resident alien” mentalities greatly aids/parallels the new American missiology that is required to embrace what we are calling Christian social justice. Mature thinkers in the emergent circles have grown past the semantic renaming of Christian principles and have begun to cast a vision for what discipleship is all about– living missionally.

I see what I consider to be the two great movements in the western Church, “emergent” and “justice,” beginning to align side-by-side if not merge all together. I believe that the emergent conversation might just have the potential to become the missiology that the justice movement has lacked and that the justice movement may provide the sense of purpose the emergent conversation has been searching for.

Now, many of you know that I have spent a lot of time with postmodern (now emergent) thought/ministries and that I have a lot to say about as well as mixed reactions to what is called the “emergent movement.” Admittedly though, I have refrained from getting too deep into the emergent connection at this point — however, soon I would like to share with everyone my thoughts on what I see as the “golden key” question: What do Social Justice, the Emergent Church Movement, Incarnate Ministry, and the concept of Social Capital all have in common?

Worthy of interjection here is the observation that “postmodern” and now “emergent church” trends continue to take people to more and more varieties of religious experiences. As more specialized/personalized styles of worship continue to be sought out the church may recognize “biblical justice” as the great equalizer, one powerful enough to continue to draw people into community around it’s common causes. Communities committed to justice will always thrive as healthy segments of the Church. Communities only interested in the latest worship styles will be doomed to flux and potential collapse. Service has always been the great equalizer.

More developed thoughts on this in the future.

What is a Just Church?

“Charity depends on the vicissitudes of whim and personal wealth; justice depends on commitment instead of circumstance.”

Sunday we had our first foray into some unknown territory. Building off of our growing understanding of exactly what Christian social justice is we have started asking questions like: “What makes a church just?” and “What are the identifiable characteristics of a just church?”

Due to our propensity for passionate tangents and our openness to a free-flowing conversation we did not get too far into any specific answers to our new questions. So, the question for everyone remains: If we agree that “social justice” is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, then what should our church look like?

“Is life to be defined by what I pursue — or must my pursuit be defined by what life was meant to be? If the primary goal of life is a closer walk with GOD — then even the good is sometimes set aside in favor of the best. If a person does not understand that the purpose of life defines lifestyle, then the lifestyle itself is hollow and the life is squandered.” ~ Ravi Zacharias

More on definitions and purpose…

I’m finding it important to distinguish between what I see as the two sides/arenas of Christian social justice: Community and Advocacy.

Beloved Community: The heart of Christian social justice is in the way that a personal faith in Christ can wonderfully transform people into a new body of believers where there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, rich nor poor, black nor white (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:10-11). And when the unsaved, after hearing the gospel, ask where they can see that happening we can show them such a place without hesitation. A place where materialism does not rule and no believer has too little or too much. A place that bears witness to the Prince of Peace in a violent and suffering world. A place where Christ is all and is in all. Social justice in this respect is spoken in terms like racial reconciliation and the radical redistribution of social capital.

Legal-Political Advocacy: American Christians in particular have been given remarkable opportunity to participate in the government and have an added responsibility to make the most of the opportunities that democracy provides – our government provides tools too powerful to pass up. Christians, motivated by faith, are fully justified in taking a public stand for biblical ideals but they must do so in harmony with democratic principles. Using legal and political advocacy to directly combat the sinful structures of this world quickly becomes a conversation about responsible citizenship for people of faith in a liberal democracy.

As I’ve stated in group my primary goal at this point is to 1. Place the Christian ideals of social justice back into the center of the life and practice of the Church where it belongs, and 2. Gather together the members of this community behind a unified vision for and disciplined commitment to social justice.

We are continuing to educate this congregation about social justice and beginning to create fellowship around our shared conviction. Advocacy is on the horizon.

“It is not enough for the Church to be engaged with the State in healing social ills, though this is important at times. But when the world can turn around and see a group of God’s people exhibiting substantial healing in the area of human relationships in their present life, then the world will take notice. Each groups of Christians is, as it were, a pilot plant, showing that something can be done in the present situation, if only we begin in the right way.” ~ Francis Schaeffer, The God who is There

Where do we go from where?

I’m really wrestling with this question and the countless questions it spawns. I’e only just begun to organize my thoughts and the thoughts of the group…

If a church does not know what social justice is or whether it is even a proper concern of the Church, then of course they must start at the beginning — and do it together.

Many communities do recognize the need for more direct attention to social justice and the fact that we have a long way to go.

I’m not all that concerned at the moment about whether or not the church has an officially articulated position on social justice, because that’s the sort of thinking that gets us started on the wrong foot. Social justice is not a mere political issue to be decided on — it’s a core matter of mission, leadership, and discipleship (missiology and orthopraxy) — the church should be a living example of and force for social justice in the world. The real questions for a congregation are: Are we that sort of community? If not, how do we become such a community? What are the identifiable characteristics of a “just church?”

From there the task at hand is to honestly asses where the average congregant is personally and theologically in relation to our individual and corporate responsibilities to justice. The questions then become: In what areas do we need growth? What problems specifically afflict our community? What sort of teaching and leadership is needed?

If the community is behind a personal and corporate commitment to justice then further assessment must be made about the resources the church has and what God would have us do with them. Clarity needs to be gained about what specifically we are trying to accomplish (are called to accomplish). The questions to be answered are: What can be done? What should we do? What will we do?

Then, we need to begin investigating and disseminating practical ways we can be a “just church” — with our prayers, with our giving, with our purchases, with our vote, with our voice, in our minds, in our homes, in our community, in our city and globally. What are the daily practical changes each of us can make to cultivate justice?

One thing is for sure, the church can not refer to practical social justice solutions in ways that sound like “if you have time or opportunity,”or “if you’re into that sort of thing.” Instruction and leadership is needed to mobilize a congregation to make time and go out and seek ways to live for justice.

..more thoughts to come. Please pray about all of these questions.

A few thoughts on biblical financial stewardship

It’s naive to think that social justice is about exposing injustices so that the “good” people of America can eliminate them.

Financial stewardship a fundamental issue that each of us must come to terms with and the answer to that question can shape our entire view of social justice.

Does Jesus want us to be poor? The answer is No. God wants no one to be poor. Asceticism is not the answer. What then is the responsible God honoring stewardship of wealth? I will post more direct thoughts on this in the future.

2 Cor.8:13-15: 13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”

Ron Sider would warn: “Rich Christians must be careful not to distort the biblical teaching that God sometimes rewards obedience with material abundance. Wealthy persons who make Christmas baskets and give them to relief agencies have not satisfied God’s demand. God wills justice for the poor, not occasional charity. And justice means things like the jubilee and the sabbatical remission of depts. It means economic structures that guarantee all people access to the productive resources needed to earn a decent living. Prosperity without that kind of biblical concern for justice unambiguously signifies disobedience.”

More to come!

Hillsong United and “The I Heart Revolution”

Hillsong United is a remarkable church in based in Sydney Australia with an exciting new justice project called “The I Heart Revolution” documentary DVD. Check out the trailer:

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www.theiheartrevolution.org
www2.hillsong.com

Agents of Change: Charity Water

Learn from charity:water, a nonprofit organization stimulating greater global awareness about extreme poverty, educating the public, and provoking compassionate and intelligent giving - give $20 and give someone clean and safe drinking water for 15 years.

Charity:water
www.charityis.com

Agents of Change: Genocide Intervention Network

The Genocide Intervention Network envisions a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities. Their current mission is to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. They are currently focusing efforts on improving civilian protection in Darfur, Sudan.

Learn more from them: www.genocideintervention.net




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