Justice in Churches

My friend, the Rev. Jacob Breeze, has a phrase that describes the absence of a critical element that defines an institution. Jacob says, “it’s the thing without the thing that makes the thing the thing.” An example would be decaffeinated coffee: It’s the thing without the thing (caffeine) that that makes the thing the thing. So you may ask me, “What is the role of the social justice in the church?” The answer is that it is one of the things that makes the thing the thing.

Scriptural Christianity

On June 19, 2016, the 150th Anniversary of the first Juneteenth, Rev. Sean J. Nickleberry stepped into the pulpit of Hope AME in Prairie View, Texas. A century and a half earlier, news that slavery in the United States was over had finally reached the pulpit of another AME Church, Reedy Chapel, in Galveston, Texas. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had taken place two and a half years earlier in 1863, it took time for the news to be proclaimed in Texas.

A Christian Justice for the Common Good

In the letters of the Apostle Paul, the righteousness of God is made manifest in Jesus Christ. That is, God has put things right in Jesus Christ. God’s righteousness, God’s justice has been done in history and will be ultimately completed in Christ’s return.

In Paul, God’s righteousness involves at least three major dimensions of God’s justice.

Our Goodly Heritage

We encourage you to share the following with your church leaders, teachers, volunteers, and small-groups.

Originally printed in Strength for Service to God and Country: Daily Devotions for Those in the Service of Others, second revised edition copyright © 2002 by Abingdon Press/Nashville. All rights reserved.

 

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.—Ps. 16:6

 

When it comes to riches and marvels of native land, when it comes to benefits and blessings, when it comes to rights and privileges, and when it comes to opportunities and possibilities, we, the people of these United States, have a goodly heritage—something we are in danger of forgetting, unless we remind ourselves of it from time to time, especially in view of the fact that there are some among us who are always finding fault with our country. We would be wiser and better citizens if we would spend more time in evidencing our appreciation of what we have and less time in complaining about what we do not have.

Praising America More than God

With the U.S. Independence Day holiday coming up, many churches will be holding patriotic worship services extolling the virtues of the nation. However, other congregations and pastors struggle with what kind of relationship the church should have with the nation. How should we acknowledge our gratitude to a country that allows us to worship freely without fear of persecution or censorship without abandoning our prophetic call to proclaim God’s kingdom on earth? There is no easy answer, and every situation is unique, so let me share about how it came up in my ministerial context one time.

Got Your Six

You can’t hang around a church for any length of time without hearing someone use the term missional. It’s hard to believe that this mainstay of our lexicon was introduced to us less than twenty years ago when a group of six professors and pastors published their research in a book called Missional Church: A Vision of the Sending of the Church in North America. Since then, the majority of churches has become more focused on the theology of mission work and has created flourishing ministries, reaching out to all the sub-cultures of their communities . . . all, that is, but one. The military.

”Maybe its the ‘can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees’ type dynamic,” says Gary Sanders,

founder and president Military Missions Network (MMN), a non-profit organization in Chesapeake, Virginia. “But the majority of churches do not have any kind of organized ministry for the military. That’s been surprising to me.”

Unity In Diversity

 

Many of us who identify ourselves as Christians are allowing ourselves—and Christ’s Church—to be hijacked for partisan, political purposes. At best, many of us have remained silent about the blatant racism and fear mongering that have helped to fuel campaigns and pollute the airwaves and political process. At worst, some of us have become complicit, hitching our wagons to the stars of politicians and platforms that little reflect the love and inclusive community of Christ.

Jesus calls us to be engaged in the political process to serve the world without becoming entangled in the partisan divide. It’s hard to actively participate in God’s redemptive work when we allow ourselves to be enmeshed in worldly ideologies and values.

What’s the Cost?

A reflection on Mary of Bethany from the story found in John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

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What will it cost to be who you truly are? Anyone who’s been alive a while—no matter how long—knows that being yourself can be risky and costly. Being who we are in the world without trying to fit into others’ expectations or cultural constrictions can cost us friends and family. In these days of extreme polarization in our culture and church, even sharing a perspective can cost valued relationships—or at least followers on Facebook or Twitter.

For me, “being myself” involves being a woman. And I have had women’s issues on my mind a lot lately. Through my work on the soon-to-be published CEB Women’s Bible for which I am an editor, I was reminded of the degree to which women’s stories and voices in the Bible are, with rare exception, relegated to the background if they appear at all. Part of the gift of this new Bible is that every woman—named or unnamed in the text—is lifted up and given some attention. That is encouraging.

Your Church Can Faithfully Battle Xenophobia

This presidential campaign season—as in no other of recent memory—Xenophobic, exclusionary, fear of the Other has been used by politicians in an attempt to garner votes. Xenophobia is more than a matter of preference for people whom we enjoy hanging out with, or those with whom we feel most comfortable. In Xenophobia we separate ourselves from others to better oppress, exploit, expulse, confine, hurt, or deny justice and access to others whom we have judged to be so Other as to be beyond the bounds of having any bond between us or any claim upon us.

In recent debates over whether or not to admit Syrian refugees, questions have been raised like, If we let them in, what’s the cost? Will our nation be less secure? Will property values in my neighborhood be diminished? Will these newcomers help or hinder the economy?