Isaiah 58:6
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”
This is week Four in our “Imagine a World with More ...” series and today we are looking for a world with more Justice. It seems to me that each week the topic is becoming harder and harder to define. Much like the infamous non-definition of pornography, “I know it when I see it,” (which actually came from a 1964 Supreme Court ruling) we probably all think we know what justice is—or at least, one or two segments of it but do we truly understand how far-reaching the concept is?
I feel we need a better definition—a clearer understanding of what Justice is before we can tackle how to create more of it, so I went searching through what the Disciples offer on this topic and found a wealth of information. Much of this message is going to be direct quotes from the Justice Primer issued by the Disciples Home Missions division of the Christian Church around 2016.
The writings of the Old Testament prophets are filled with calls from God to treat each other with shalom, which does not simply mean “peace” but carries through in Christian thought as “the realm of God.” It is the vision of a life on this Earth that is filled with justice and right relationship. Justice is always a part of shalom. We simply cannot have one without the other.
Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann wrote, “The central vision of world history in the Bible is that all of creation is one, every creature in community with every other, living in harmony and security and joy toward the joy and well-being of every other creature … Shalom is the substance of the biblical vision of one community embracing all creation.”
Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” I could quote you dozens of these calls and if we had time I'd share a few. For now, just accept they are all over the Old Testament.
This same passion for justice fills the life and teachings of Jesus. All we have to do is read Jesus’ own “inaugural address” found in Luke 4: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Or read Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes (or most any part of Matthew, for that matter). There can’t be any doubt that Jesus firmly believed his task here was to teach us to live with justice. Because of his passion for justice, Jesus not only lifted up the plight of the oppressed, but also uncompromisingly challenged the unjust use of power by both religious and political leaders.
We know that Justice is truly scriptural and perhaps the central call of our faith. But how do we do it? How do we not only imagine, but bring into being a world with more justice? Here the Justice Primer once again helps us see just how far reaching this core belief is:
We live in a world swimming in injustice, in our social systems that declare one group less than another, less worthy of equal treatment; in accepting that some people live unhoused or under-fed or without health care because of their own choices; in acquiescing in the belief that money means you get to make the rules; in believing that God’s beautiful earth was created just for humans to pillage. There is so much that is wrong in this world it is hard to imagine it can ever be fixed. But that is our task here...to imagine just exactly that.
Our Imagining a World with More ... curriculum reminds us, finally, that local church communities are often deeply invested in meeting the immediate needs around us by working with ministries like food pantries and homeless shelters. This is a good thing! Don’t get me wrong. This is a good and necessary thing that we churches do.
But scripture call us to go deeper, and to examine the systems and structures that have created issues of hunger and homelessness and all manner of power imbalances in the first place. How did we get to the point where so many people are unhoused? What role has systemic racism and other systemic injustice played in keeping our neighbors from having enough?
Our church helps fight homelessness and hunger through our support for Plowshares and our local Food Bank. Again, these are good things. But imagining a world without injustice eventually demands that we go deeper and seek out the reasons for injustice. We can’t undo these evils until we discover the reason they exist so that we can remove that reason.
How do we imagine our way to something better than putting a band-aid over a gaping wound? All the gaping wounds? Where do we start?
Let us imagine together and build a better world...together.
I feel we need a better definition—a clearer understanding of what Justice is before we can tackle how to create more of it, so I went searching through what the Disciples offer on this topic and found a wealth of information. Much of this message is going to be direct quotes from the Justice Primer issued by the Disciples Home Missions division of the Christian Church around 2016.
- “Grounded in the Biblical vision of shalom (true and full physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness), justice is how we treat each other in community. It becomes a reality when we truly affirm and respect the inherent dignity, worth and equality of each person as a sister or brother created in the image of God and included fully in the family of God.”
The writings of the Old Testament prophets are filled with calls from God to treat each other with shalom, which does not simply mean “peace” but carries through in Christian thought as “the realm of God.” It is the vision of a life on this Earth that is filled with justice and right relationship. Justice is always a part of shalom. We simply cannot have one without the other.
Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann wrote, “The central vision of world history in the Bible is that all of creation is one, every creature in community with every other, living in harmony and security and joy toward the joy and well-being of every other creature … Shalom is the substance of the biblical vision of one community embracing all creation.”
Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us: “Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” I could quote you dozens of these calls and if we had time I'd share a few. For now, just accept they are all over the Old Testament.
This same passion for justice fills the life and teachings of Jesus. All we have to do is read Jesus’ own “inaugural address” found in Luke 4: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Or read Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes (or most any part of Matthew, for that matter). There can’t be any doubt that Jesus firmly believed his task here was to teach us to live with justice. Because of his passion for justice, Jesus not only lifted up the plight of the oppressed, but also uncompromisingly challenged the unjust use of power by both religious and political leaders.
We know that Justice is truly scriptural and perhaps the central call of our faith. But how do we do it? How do we not only imagine, but bring into being a world with more justice? Here the Justice Primer once again helps us see just how far reaching this core belief is:
- Whenever we struggle against the powers of personal and institutional racism; whenever we call upon our nations to legally receive the stranger as a welcome and valued member of our increasingly diverse national families; whenever we work to protect God’s creation from those activities that threaten it; whenever we stand up for the equality of women and men; whenever we work to overcome the exclusion and domination of any person or group.....whenever we advocate for public policy that helps bring health, wholeness and well-being to all God’s children; whenever we, as the diverse but united body of Christ, come together as true equals around the Lord’s Table --whenever we do these things, we do them as Bible-believing, Spirit-led and Table-fed Disciples of Christ who share in Jesus’ undying passion for justice.
We live in a world swimming in injustice, in our social systems that declare one group less than another, less worthy of equal treatment; in accepting that some people live unhoused or under-fed or without health care because of their own choices; in acquiescing in the belief that money means you get to make the rules; in believing that God’s beautiful earth was created just for humans to pillage. There is so much that is wrong in this world it is hard to imagine it can ever be fixed. But that is our task here...to imagine just exactly that.
Our Imagining a World with More ... curriculum reminds us, finally, that local church communities are often deeply invested in meeting the immediate needs around us by working with ministries like food pantries and homeless shelters. This is a good thing! Don’t get me wrong. This is a good and necessary thing that we churches do.
But scripture call us to go deeper, and to examine the systems and structures that have created issues of hunger and homelessness and all manner of power imbalances in the first place. How did we get to the point where so many people are unhoused? What role has systemic racism and other systemic injustice played in keeping our neighbors from having enough?
Our church helps fight homelessness and hunger through our support for Plowshares and our local Food Bank. Again, these are good things. But imagining a world without injustice eventually demands that we go deeper and seek out the reasons for injustice. We can’t undo these evils until we discover the reason they exist so that we can remove that reason.
How do we imagine our way to something better than putting a band-aid over a gaping wound? All the gaping wounds? Where do we start?
Let us imagine together and build a better world...together.
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