Towards Practical Answers

“Becoming a just church is not an afterthought we ‘tack on’ to our normal way of doing church; it is a fundamental shift in understanding and practice.”

This week we have begun our journey out of the theoretical and into the practical. Building on our discussion thus far we have charged ourselves to begin uncovering the daily things each of us can do to begin living the “Just Life.”

What does the lord require? (Micah 6:8) With our prayer, in our minds, in our homes, in our community, in our city and globally, with our giving, with our purchases, with our vote — What do we do tomorrow that we didn’t do today? How are we to live?

St. John of the Cross said in 1591 “A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.”

I do believe it is helpful to use the “justice continuum” we have been discussing to help us keep our eyes on the goal of going beyond compassion to true biblical justice. You can review the previous post on this here.

I also think it is helpful to recap the distinctions we have made between Community, Social Wealth, Financial Wealth, and Works as the four fundamental elements of a just life/church:

· Community: We seek the “beloved community” built on the spiritual disciplines of submission and fellowship that reflect Acts 2 and Galatians 3:28.

Social Wealth: We desire to foster the spiritual discipline of simplicity so that we can free our lives, talents, networks, resources, etc. for the sake of others.

· Financial Wealth: We know we are to honor the spiritual discipline of stewardship and give not just a tithe of our earthly wealth but everything we have back to God.

· Works/Action: The spiritual discipline of service calls us beyond compassionate acts of charity to a life of sacrificial service to others — to loving as Jesus loved.

“God wants us to relieve suffering, pursue justice, facilitate reconciliation, and free the heart to love, but He desires for us to do so in a way that reveals His Character. It is not enough just to do well for others or to do things well. We must do well in our unique way in order to reveal the vast creativity of a God who loves to bring change through the most unlikely channels.” ~Dan Allender

I look forward to all of your thoughts.

Social Justice and Discipleship

“Live like Jesus did and the world will listen.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The more I read, study, work, and dialog the more I see that to be a force for justice in this world is far more about discipleship than about insightfully analyzing social problems. Why might I think that a lack of discipleship is the real reason social justice efforts have been so difficult? Do social justice and the ministry of reconciliation truly require the highest level of discipleship? Is it right to intimate that the life of sacrifice and commitment that justice requires is true discipleship?

What do we really mean when we assert that social justice is at the core of what it is to be a Christian? What is discipleship? What is its cost? What does that have to do with a social justice conversation anyway?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s most famous quote might be: “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” I have always believed in the high cost of discipleship and we can see in scripture how the response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not merely a confession of faith in Jesus.

To borrow from Bonhoeffer again: “It is not enough for man simply to recover right ideas about God, or to obey his will in the isolated actions of his life. No, man must be refashioned as a living whole in the image of God. His whole for, body, soul, and spirit, must once more bear that image on earth.”

Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us that “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” And 5:11 tells us to “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”

Galatians 2:20 says of the Christian: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

What do these tenets of the Christian faith have to do with a social justice ministry? What do you think of when you read these verses and then go back and read through our conversations thus far and the admonition of the prophets (Isaiah 1:11, 17, Amos 5:21-24, Isaiah 58:6-7, Micah 6:8, and 100 others we’ve yet to look at).

We can read through Psalms and Proverbs to know that “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you” (Psalm 89:14) and that “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.” (Proverbs 28:5) and how “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” (Proverbs 29:7).

What will it take to be a just church? Please pray, meditate, and share you thoughts on these things.

Social Justice as the “new monasticism?” NO!

For a while now I’ve kept this article from Christianity Today on file as an example of Christians engaged in the community development level of social justice (for better and for worse) and who exhibit the high discipleship required to live for justice. These Christian community development efforts are kin to the CCDA organization we have talked about.

However, this article also causes me great frustration as it is a prime example of what is fundamentally wrong with the mainstream church’s perception of such efforts. (Don’t even get me started on the insinuation that these noble causes are for the single, the radical, or the sexually confused).

While I am in the mood to express my aggravation with the author (Rob Moll) and CT I am no way trying to take away from the examples used in the article. Nor am I saying that Christians are called to “œcommunes.” Give the article a read and then consider these words of admonishment from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“…Thus monasticism became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity and the cheapening of grace. But the Church was wise enough to tolerate this protest, and to prevent it from developing to its logical conclusion. It thus succeeded in relativising it, even using it in order to justify the secularization of its own life. Monasticism was represented as an individual achievement which the mass of the laity could not be expected to emulate. By thus limiting the application of the commandments of Jesus to a restricted group of specialists, the Church evolved the fatal conception of the double standard — a maximum and a minimum standard of Christian obedience. Whenever the Church was accused of being too secularized, it could always point to monasticism as an opportunity of living a higher life within the fold, and thus justify the other possibility of a lower standard of life for others.”

I would like to write on this more in the future, but for now I’m content to let the great Dietrich Bonhoeffer speak for me. Really, is it any wonder why our first goal must be to place the ideals of justice back into the center of Christian life and practice where it belongs?

The new monastacicm? NO! Could you get it any more wrong? Let me know what you all think and tell me if I’m venting unreasonably.