Category Archives: social justice

Holiness and justice – two legs for pursuing a loving and deeply involved God

I was just listening to a lecture by Walter Brueggemann on the Old Testament Law, and he mentioned something and one of the questions asked him by the audience mentioned something that finally shaped a more complete concept in my mind of the role of holiness and justice in Christian life.

Brueggemann doesn’t hesitate to use specific examples in contemporary U.S. American society, specifically addressing the animosity between the largely homogenized polar opposite groups of conservative/Republican/evangelicals and liberal/Democratic/secularists. His specificity in addressing these two camps, and this particular comment about Old Testament Law, helped “unite the two so long divided” in my mind. Psychologically speaking, another epiphany moment where a long-held division of dissonance was resolved to unite my experience, beliefs, and behavioral values in a way that is really rather exhilerating.

Something was mentioned about the Old Testament’s call toward two innate attributes of God. Both these attributes are supported by the Old Testament law, by the narratives told and retold throughout Jewish history, and the teachings of Jesus. From all these founts of wisdom come a testiment to God’s holiness, and a testament to his justice. These are inseparable in our one true God – he is completely Holy and calls us to that same holiness. And he acts on behalf of the poor, oppressed, and enslaved – he is justice, and he calls us to that as well.

These two paths are inseparable – justice and holiness bond and reinforce each other in chemical-reactionary type way. Without holiness, the pursuit of justice is pretentious, pejorative, non-sustainable, and exhausting. Without justice, holiness is divisive, self-absorbed, incomplete, and numbing. These two must go together, as we learn they do in the Bible. The Law is given to create a holy people, one set apart from the other nations in their obedience to God. Holiness. The Law also details protection for the widow, the orphan, and the illegal alien, and how a society can live together peacefully by ensuring all its members are cared for. Justice.

The recipe for a whole-hearted pursuit of God is one that is rooted in love, love for him and his holiness, and love for others in a compassionate response of justice.

Brueggemann also makes a critical generalization about U.S. American society that I feel holds true across party lines. Consumerism and materialism is a plague, or at least an ungodly cultural pressure, that infects everything about our daily lives. To perpetuate its momentum and keep consumerism running, our society is kept in a state of fear instead of hope. We see this technique used across party lines.

http://fpcknox.org/daily-readings/walter-brueggemann/

Ballad in Plain Red

Ballad in Plain Red

Derek Webb
I See Things Upside Down


I’m robbing Peter, I’m paying Paul
I’m changing my name back to Saul
I got to them and you know I’ll get to you

I’m turning shepherds into sheep
and leaders into celebrities
It’s holy sabotage, just look around you

‘Cause everything’s for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century

Don’t want the song I want a jingle
I love you Lord but don’t hear a single
and the truth is nearly impossible to rhyme

But i know the songs with all the hooks
and i know some lies that will sell some books
so grab ‘em fast, I’m running outta time

Just keep selling truth in candy bars
on billboards and backs of cars
truth without context, my favorite of all my crimes

what works verses what’s right
Hey what’s the difference tonight?

Take out the sign, forget the meal
we’ve got a gym and a farris wheel
I swear it’s just like the country club down the block

‘Cause you can make your life look good
You can do what Jesus would
but you’d be surprised what you can do with a hard heart

I think you’ve got trouble in the 21st century
So welcome to the struggle, it’s the 21st century
I never thought I’d make it to the 21st century
Lord, I love the 21st century

I write these words from the grave
‘Cause it’s the only place that I’m safe
and only the dead are permitted to speak the truth

This Too Shall Be Made Right

This Too Shall Be Made Right

Derek Webb
The Ringing Bell



people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things that you cannot keep straight
people judge you on a curve
and tell you you’re getting what you deserve
this too shall be made right

children cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells
whose waters quench all the fires of Hell
this too shall be made right

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made right

there’s a time for peace and there is a time for war
a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives
a time for hunger and genocide
this too shall be made right

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right