The Social Justice Tradition
I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it here before, but this quarter I’m involved in a small group with some good friends from church and our pastor. We’re going through Renovare’s six aspects of a balanced vision for faith. We’ve talked about the Contemplative (meditation, lectio devina), Holiness (pietistic), Charismatic (Holy Spirit-empowered), and Social Justice (umm…social justice?) traditions up to this point. We’ll round out the discussion by approaching the Evangelical (word-centered) and Incarnational (sacramental) traditions. I’ve been really excited to engage in some honest discussion about each of these traditions because I’ve looked into the Renovare curriculum before, while reading Dallas Willard’s "Divine Conspiracy" and I was very excited by the ideas of rounded spiritual formation that it presents.
This week’s discussion on the Social Justice tradition, which
touched on notable individuals who have acted out on behalf of the oppressed
or the voiceless (Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Bono), as well as focused on how we can do things that do
the same, has left an impression on me. Specifically, I have begun to
reflect on areas where I can make better use of my voice to stand up
for the oppressed. I recall my research on Archbishop Oscar Romero of
El Salvador for my senior history paper. His call to be the "voice of
the voiceless" resounds with me as I think about ways I can act
according to this Christian tradition.
Being a voice for justice doesn’t have to mean standing on the
street corner, yelling your message. I think it doesn’t always have to
be audible. Maybe it’s a written word. Maybe it’s making a conscious
decision to buy Fair Trade coffee. Actions can be very vocal (louder
than words right?). And sometimes this does play out in our speaking
up. For me, this is harder because I hate confrontations, but sometimes
sticking up for something we stand for takes vocal response.
Basically this week has brought to my attention the need for me to
take my place as a wealthy, healthy, blessed individual much more
seriously, to understand that I have a voice that should be used to
help the "least of these." Where are you doing this then, some might
ask? I’m trying to find my voice, specifically here on this blog, to
address acts of injustice (my previous post is an attempt). I have
tried to train myself to speak up when I know I should, in public, to
friends and family. I think something that has changed the last week,
as I’ve reflected on the greater tradition of engaging social justice,
is the excitement to make these actions a bigger priority to me. As the
Christmas season approaches, maybe now it’s good time to start acting
out in ways to help others. Rather than whining about the issues I have
with the Season of Giving (cough, commercialism, cough, cough), maybe I can do something to make this year better for someone.
Enough rambling, I’ll end this one with a question. How are you choosing to act out against injustice? What are the conscious decisions you make because of this tradition?
(I ask because I know a lot of you who read this are good examples of people who live this tradition out and I respect you as models of this tradition).
Man, this topic has really weighed on me a lot lately! There are so many verses in the Bible about poverty (physically, emotionally, spiritually), wealth, and service for people in need. It seems like lately in my devotions, I can’t escape from the theme of social justice and my responsibility. Although it is a joy to give, in some ways it is haunting. It is haunting because I don’t know specifically what I am doing to satisfy that responsibility. This feeling, matched with the commercialism of Christmas, makes me a little crazy. Christ’s birth is a billion dollar business of mediocre gifts while other people really need help. So, what am I doing? Certainly not enough and I have a guilty complex. The eye of that needle looks so awfully small!
I think in a lot of ways I am very lucky to have a job so closely connected to issues of social justice, but at times I find it becoming just that…a job. Pictures of poverty surround me all day and at times the faces become little more than statistics and maintaining a sense of passion and zeal for the poor is something I struggle with. However, I find that God always brings me back to one of my dear friends in Kenya who makes less than two dollars a day…he is my face and he is my passion.
I think your question highlights a very important issue and also exposes a difficult flaw. I believe we have been given passions by God (as you alluded to in your final sentence) and we are each in unique situations to contribute to the destruction of social injustice. The flaw I mentioned is, I think, we assume we are all superhuman and we each have to individually change the world (I can do it myself thank you very much) and we lose a sense of community action. We will never make much of a change individually, but communally we can make a difference. Additionally, you mention different avenues for action, written word. I would also include your money as one. In a consumer driven society, what one chooses to support monetarily may be one of our loudest voices. Is what you buy consistent with what you say you support?
Good comments, gentlemen. Nick, to answer your question about spending, I have started to think about this alongside thinking about acts of justice. Actually, the way I’m going about this is to understand where all of my money is actually spent, not just the cash I spend out of my pocket, but where my savings, my checking, where my banking institution actually invests. So, I went down to the bank last week and asked them to find out how they invest money like mine. My banker is working on a report for me this week, detailing the kinds of businesses US Bank invests in and is helping me figure out what in/just causes they might be helping.
My individual spending will be another issue to look at, but to think about the whole picture has helped me see that by even investing bank in an institution, for holding (savings, credit, checking, etc.), I’m agreeing to serve their investment purposes. We need to figure out whether those purposes and our convictions align. Food for thought I guess.
Thank you for the dialogue, interest, and responsibility we all shared regarding social justice. I am blessed to be in a position to address and act on social, institutional, and community/cultural injustice on a daily basis. Education, in many ways, is becoming the greatest civel rights issue of our time. Because of this, I am also reminded of my past silence and inaction when presented with “opportunities” to “change the wind” just a bit. One author calls this a “firm persuasion” to our work-knowing that what you are doing is right for the world and for yourself all at the same time. This “firm persuasion” can be applied to be our vocation and our daily lives as citizens and as Christians. This is our responsibility and charge.