Social justice – what does that have to do with worship and church? What comes to your mind as you hear that phrase? Is it images of passionate activists demanding redress for real or perceived injustices? Is it an image of the legal system and the demand for safe communities that are free of violence, crime and drugs? Is it that fleeting twinge of guilt when we see images of hunger in the faces and bodies of starving children in Africa? Is it life for the millions of children who have been lost to abortion in the past 30 years? How about immigrants from other countries? Displaced workers? Living wages? Glass ceilings? Prison reform? Lack of affordable health care? Affordable housing and decent places to live? Welfare roles and benefits? Intransigent poverty levels? Peace in the Middle East? An end to terrorism? The list goes on. . .

Let us take a look at a sampling of Scriptures and what they might have to say to us about social justice. We begin with the prophets of the Old Testament.

Isaiah 58: 2, 3b, 6-7

I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

Ezekiel 34: 15-16

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Zechariah 7: 8-10

Obviously, these few verses demonstrate God’s great concern for the helpless and oppressed. Now, consider these examples from the life of Jesus.

Teachings to the crowd on a mountainside. (Matthew 5-7)
Picking grain and healing on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12: 1-14)
Showing a Roman coin to the Pharisees. (Matthew 22: 15-22)
Confronting the Pharisees about neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness. (Matthew 23:23)
Holding little children on his lap. (Mark 10: 13-16)
Throwing moneychangers out of the Temple. (Mark 11:15-19)
Eating with Zacchaeus. (Luke 19: 2-10)
Talking with a rich ruler and the disciples about eternal life. (Luke 18: 18-29)
Talking with a Samaritan woman at a well. (John 4: 1-26)
Suffering "outside the city gate". (Hebrews 13: 11-16)

Concern for the helpless and mutual responsibility were hallmarks of the earliest communities of Jesus’ disciples. Consider these passages from Acts.

Acts 2: 42-47

Acts 4: 32-35

I believe that God is intimately concerned with what we call social justice in this world. God wants us to love Him and to love our neighbors and He is concerned for the welfare of people – not simply for this life and the issues and concerns that confront our world, but because God is the God of love, mercy, compassion and justice. God’s reign is one that is rooted in justice, righteousness and goodness and that reign is in our midst right now. It’s not complete, but God is breaking into our lives with His Kingdom reign. He sent his Son to draw us near to Him – to break down barriers, to defeat sin and evil and to form a relationship with God. We are a reconciled people based on God’s love and justice – a justice we don’t deserve, but one that God wants to share with us because He is love and justice and mercy and compassion and truth and light.

Too many times, we (the church – the Body of Christ – a peculiar people) can easily dismiss calls to engage in and show justice because somehow we feel that the situations and circumstances don’t apply to us. It’s someone else’s problem. It’s too distant. It doesn’t affect me or my family or my friends. But what if it does affect us in ways we don’t realize.

What if demonstrations of justice are God’s way of nudging, pulling and pushing us into a deeper relationship with Jesus?
What if it is one of the ways God shows the world that He is God – through his chosen and reconciled people who are called to live and breathe his love and justice on a daily basis?
What if truly living in Christian community as an alternative culture is a visible demonstration of God’s justice – in all of its fullness?
What if the "work of the people" – worship – is really about loving and seeking justice for families, friends, neighbors, co-workers and enemies and not simply going to church and giving lip service to God once or twice a week in a safe and controlled environment?
What if it’s about being the church in a countercultural way that challenges the way we’ve always done it and challenges the kingdoms of the world with God’s "upside down kingdom"?
What if it’s about forming worshiping, caring, serving, praying, working communities of transformation and reconciliation that actually demonstrate Christ’s prayer for unity in John 17?
What if it goes beyond abstractions and legalities and lawsuits and what’s mine – to the risky and messy business of engaging in the ministry of reconciliation that Jesus invites us to?
What if it goes beyond our tendency to be comfortable with "ministry from a distance" and helps us take the risk to engage and relate to people who are different or who are suffering from the injustices of this world?

Do people see our worshipping and praising communities as havens of refuge, love, justice and connection? Do they see Jesus in our midst?

Maybe justice is inseparable from worship – and being the church is an act of obedience that positions the Body of Christ as a visible demonstration of God’s justice in the world – not only from a so-called "spiritual" perspective, but from the very practical and real "it makes a difference here and now perspective" of the kingdom of God. God has given His church the "ministry of reconciliation" and he wants to work through the church to touch lives with the fullness of the love – truth – justice of the alternative reality of His reign. Maybe when we are gathered in our "post-modern/pre-christian" manifestations of alternative culture and relationally based church, we are witnessing to the justice of God through Christ whether we realize it or not.

The search for authentic community and relationships with other Christians is good and admirable – but life in Christ goes way beyond that. Christ has called us to be a unique and peculiar people. He calls us to step outside the camp and walk with him – to demonstrate the visible kingdom to those that the world easily ignores and passes by. Justice isn’t simply an abstraction, political agenda, referendum, policy or issue – it is part of who God is and who He wants us to be through our worship and work.

Jesus ministered through relationships. He called people to transformed relationships and our relationship with Christ and with one another is a radical witness to the transforming power of Christ. It is a witness to the world that God is a God of justice and mercy. Our community should be one of visible transformation and caring relationships that draw people to Christ because they sense a different reality and a different society – a reality and society rooted in the love and justice of God in Christ.

As we engage in transformational relationships with Christ and with one another, a logical extension is to engage in transformational relationships with those "outside the camp". Too often the church has been reluctant to do so. Maybe that reluctance has been grounded in our overly individualistic approach to confronting people with the invitation to "accept Christ". Maybe we need to focus on demonstrating to the world how Christ has accepted us and how we can then accept one another in love and justice. Maybe the visible demonstration of being the church is a key in being witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

Maybe we make the mistake of inviting people to come to church and accept Christ before we take the foundational step and risk of sharing our lives with them. Sharing Christ and the gospel means more than simply encouraging people to accept Christ through a verbal proclamation – we are the Body of Christ and He calls us to demonstrate the radical grace and justice of the Good News through how we live. God calls us to experience Christ so that others can see and share in that experience. The Good News is rooted, visible and proclaimed in the midst of shared relationships – with God, with one another and with others. Accepting Christ means accepting God’s rule and way in our lives and living that out on a daily basis for others to see. Living the gospel in transformed community lays the foundation for discussing, sharing and inviting others to experience and accept Christ.

Maybe the movement to connect with Christ and one another in deeper, more passionate ways is God’s way of calling His church back to worshipping in spirit and truth. Maybe small, worshipping, caring and praying communities of faith are God’s ways of showing love, justice, mercy, hospitality and truth – the Good News of Jesus Christ – to an alienated world that somehow hasn’t experienced the church truly being the church.

This all may sound good (or not so good) in theory, but what does it mean in real life? I just received a complimentary copy of a new book co-authored by a friend of mine. The book is entitled "A Revolution of Compassion" and deals with how "faith-based" organizations are critical pieces of the fight against social problems in our society.

Many people are involved in working in soup kitchens, volunteering in homeless shelters, donating food and clothing, mentoring kids, or volunteering as tutors. These are all commendable activities, but sometimes they simply do not go far enough. We all hear stories about people who are homeless or on welfare but what do we really know of the life stories of people. Do we really know someone who is homeless or receiving welfare benefits? Are they among our circle of friends and acquaintances? Are they part of, or touched, by our worshipping community? Are we in a position to understand the decisions and complexities that led to their current situation? Do we share and build stories together with them?

As my friend points out in the book, sometimes we need to engage in advocacy or justice to make a difference and that implies that we really know someone and the story behind their circumstances. Advocacy is rooted in relationship – not unlike Jesus’ relationship with us. He is our advocate before God and He became human in order to provide salvation for all of us. His story becomes our story.

As my friend points out, "often our neighbors in distress need a ‘cup of cold water’ – a bag of groceries, subsidized child care, or some other service. Sometimes, however, they need a defender and advocate – someone who will challenge the powerful on their behalf."

Consider the following:

• Instead of a welfare check, a mother needs someone to help her persuade an official to make her children’s father pay the child support he owes.
• A young mom needs the welfare check but cannot get it unless someone will intervene to persuade the caseworker to overturn an erroneous decision to deny benefits.
• A mother and father are determined to support their family by starting a small business, but they cannot to it until the city council overturns complex and expensive requirements that hobble entrepreneurial small businesses such as nail care and hair braiding salons.
• Families in a local neighborhood are doing their best, but progress is undermined because the police do not aggressively challenge drug dealers, jobs are scarce, the public transportation system does not connect the inner city with the areas where new jobs are being created and, despite periodic promises, the neighborhood public schools are neither safe nor effective at teaching.

"In situations like these, charity is no substitute for justice and service is no substitute for advocacy and action." (from Dave Donaldson and Stanley Carlson-Thies, A Revolution of Compassion", Baker Books, 2003).

In each of these situations the church has the opportunity to be the church and to show, not only God’s love, but also His justice. It seems that in our small, worshiping and caring communities that there is an incredible opportunity to bear prophetic witness with people in these and similar circumstances. Through God’s radical hospitality we can connect with people who have been marginalized by society. We can take the risk because God has called us together – to worship and make a difference. We can stand together – with one another and with others, to show the world what a redeemed community looks like.

In all of this, I see worship, evangelism, caring for one another, serving others, planting churches and engaging in advocacy/justice as inseparable threads of God’s – already in our midst, but not yet fully realized – reign.

My prayer is that in our zeal to engage in deeper worship and relationship with Christ and one another that we see "social justice" not simply as an abstraction or dry policy, but as intimately connected with what is means to be the Body of Christ and a royal priesthood – a chosen people that "live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." (I Peter 2: 12).

May we go and do likewise.

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