Picture a gymnasium-sized room full of round tables. Picture those round tables filled with good food for everyone to enjoy. Picture those tables full of people of different generations, backgrounds and ethnicities paying attention to each other and swapping stories.
Next, picture the hundreds of people around those tables being educated about the different pockets of pain in our society. Picture all of those people being equipped to engage society’s pain in ways that create long-term, sustainable benefit without creating unhealthy co-dependence. Picture the people’s hearts being moved, minds being stirred, and spirits being compelled by God’s Spirit to the beautiful work of justice.
In case you are triggered by the word justice these days, I would like to define justice in the way the Bible does. Justice in the Bible is about making wrong things right. The Bible uses the word justice in regard to relationships — relationship to God, one another, and the natural world around us. When wrong is done in our relationship with God, people, or the natural world, it is injustice. When the Bible talks about producing the noun justice, it uses verbs like heal, restore, redeem, reconcile, and free. And, in one very important verse in the Bible, the word justice is used as an action: “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
Now, picture all the people being presented with a variety of well-prepared, well-thought-out, user-friendly opportunities to do justice right here in our city. Picture those individuals signing up and committing to do justice for the month of October and allowing Jesus to guide after that. Picture teams forming as each individual signs up for a specific opportunity. Picture the friendships and encouragement, fun and memories being created as each team becomes a missional community.
Finally, picture two worlds colliding.
I remember a moment in Mexico, when about thirty high schoolers and I had just emptied out of a couple of vans at an orphanage. At the same time, about fifty boys and girls, from toddlers to teenagers, spilled out of the orphanage’s dorm rooms. There was about twenty feet of desert sand between us and them. The orphans had a look of excitement and anticipation. The high schoolers had a look of deep compassion mingled with uncertainty. I remember taking some steps toward a couple of little boys. When they saw the big smile on my face, they immediately ran to me and jumped all over me. The next thing I knew, we found ourselves wrestling in a pile of sand and laughter. After a moment, I remembered the high schoolers and looked to find every one of them connected with an orphan child, and all were covered in pure joy.
Please stick with this email a moment longer. If you are not careful, you may be picturing the scene thinking the high schoolers and I were the ones bringing the positive change. Though I do believe we were able to bring some positive change, there is no doubt those orphan children brought a lot more, long-lasting, positive change to us. As Father Greg Boyle puts it, “We go to the margins so that the folks at the margins make us different.”
As you read this, I hope your heart is stirred a bit. And I hope you will take out your calendar and block off three Wednesday nights: September 22, 29 and October 6, to make what we have pictured here a reality. These three Wednesday nights have so much potential we long to see become kinetic. Our church has so much potential we long to see become kinetic. And you, yes you, with all the gifts, strengths, experiences, scars, and compassion have so much potential we hope to see become kinetic.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
David