Social justice has become a widely held concern in our world, permeating most areas of public life. Businesses commonly contribute to charities, and boast of practices and values that uphold justice. More voters on both sides of the fence ask questions of how our government treats other nations, especially when said nations are underprivileged. Due to greater availability of technology, we are more aware than ever of injustice around our world. Likewise, we are seeing more opportunities than ever to contribute to a more just world. People want to participate…to feel like they are making a difference in the world. This sentiment becomes amplified in our area, not simply because of the oft-cited “liberal bias” that exists on our campus, but also because of the high-education level of Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents, our diverse demographic makeup and the abundance of information and resources in our area also contribute to our interest in social justice. While we might feel that we are in the minority by trying to “do the right thing”, I find it important to acknowledge that social justice is more relevant now than at other times in the past.
We are privileged to be challenged by the call of justice in our area. God has placed justice on the hearts of many people in this community, and we must respond in kind. Yet, we are not simply being relevant by loving justice, because God loves justice far more than anyone in our community. God demands justice, and as such, whether they acknowledge it or not, God’s heart resonates within our community. Graham has reminded us for years that worship and justice are two sides of the same coin, and that one must accompany the other. When we worship God, we also commit ourselves to seek justice in the world. To serve our community, we need to take the search for justice seriously, and to hold our community to an even higher standard of justice.
Up until this point, I imagine that everyone is on board with what I’ve been saying. Now, I want to explore the danger of living in an area that champions justice. On the one hand, we win the acclaim of our peers when we seek justice, because, as I stated earlier, our community champions justice. Recently, I have found myself thinking back to the music of my teenage years…the years in which I bought my first CD (Weezer), and music was a tool for describing the turbulent emotions I felt trying to fit in (or not fit in), to find a girlfriend (or explain why I didn’t want one), and to figure out my place in the world. Bands like Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, the Breeders, and Alice in Chains created a heavy, angry sound with lyrics for youth disillusioned with the world. The world was run and ruined by people who just wanted to fit in. Fitting in was not enough. We should not seek justice because we can feel more comfortable and simply fit into a society that seeks justice. We seek justice because we want to feel what God’s heart feels, and because when we seek justice, we worship God.
On the other hand, a feeling of well-being and satisfaction accompanies acts of justice, because we are “doing the right thing.” The same feeling accompanies the accomplishment of any of the other cardinal virtues (courage, moderation or prudence). Unfortunately, following the wrong motivation, well-being and satisfaction can eventually become pride. Augustine famously stated, “The virtues of the pagans are glittering vices.” We must seek the proper motivation for growing in virtue, because even though pride can motivate us to accomplish great feats, it will ruin us as people. If pride corrupts our acts of justice, then we will miss the chance to grow into Christlike people.
Finally, if we listen too closely to our community, we will give justice too high a value in our lives. God loves justice, but justice is only a part of God’s heart. God wants us to be loving, hopeful, faithful, modest, courageous and prudent. To assign justice the highest value in our lives is to conflate justice to the level of God. The world needs God, and with God comes justice, love, hope and the rest of the virtues.
Thus, our motivation for seeking justice, as well as any virtue, should be worship of God. Paul says to the church in Corinth, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” The Corinthian church consisted of a diverse spectrum of Christians, from mature Christians to infants in the faith. Some Christians were confused at the high standards at which other Christians lived, and these more mature Christians seemed to view themselves more highly than the more immature Christians. Paul’s statement puts everyone in the same boat: whether we are able to commit to great acts of virtue, or we are taking on a few commitments, or we are taking the first steps to living virtuous lives, we all need God, and should live to worship Him with our lives. No matter where we are in our journey to being more Christlike, we should all be motivated by our worship of God.
As a church, we are united by God’s love, and in turn, by our worship of God. This worship should motivate us to seek justice in the world, which also means bringing God’s love into the world. As such, we are going to seek a goal together as a church. I don’t want you to see this goal as a requirement to your salvation, or as a measuring stick by which to judge your “righteousness”, but as an opportunity to grow, not only as an individual, but also to grow as a church.
We have a significant amount of people in our church involved in justice with regards to food. Steve and Teri, Joy and Beka have all made career and life commitments to seeking justice with regards to health and nutrition, as well as farming. Emma, Kevin, Cammie, Veronica, David and others have participated in different amounts to supporting Nourish International through hunger lunches. George, Joy, Emma, Graham and many others have traveled to different parts of the world, and have seen how nutrition can negatively affect certain areas. We all live in a country whose consumption of resources, especially with regards to food, affects most of the world in a less than flattering way. I don’t want to go into every detail of how the consumption of food is an issue of justice in our country, because I don’t want to overwhelm everyone, but I do want you to see why this issue is relevant to us as a church and why God cares deeply about hunger and consumption. Typically in the Old Testament, especially in the period of the Hebrew monarchy, evil was depicted as the wealthy withholding farm land and resources from the less fortunate. For example, one of the great stories of transgression in the Old Testament describes how Ahab stole a vineyard from Naboth, robbing him of his inheritance and source of income and sustenance for his family. The way that we consume matters to God, and we can seek justice by making sure that our consumption happens in an ethical way.
I realize that this issue is broad in scope, so we will start with a simple, quantifiable goal. Graham has provided us with a Christian, financially accountable organization called World Vision. World Vision will distribute purchased animals to needy communities, in order to provide food for families…especially children. We are going to start with a small goal: a goat and two chickens, which price at $100. These animals are easy to raise, provide essential foods for children to grow, and extra offspring can be sold in order to bring in extra income for the family. On the way to this goal, we can discuss other goals for the future. Begin to pray about how we can seek justice in this issue. We can continue to raise money to help people overseas. We can look locally, to serve schools, soup kitchens, food shelters or farms. We can also educate ourselves on how to make better food choices. Invite non-Christians to participate in these discussions and projects, and when you do, share the gospel with them. There are many possibilities, and one can easily get overwhelmed…yet, as Joy will quickly point out, its better to take small steps than to take no steps at all. I also realize that some people are already sensitive to different issues going on in the world, and I don’t want to replace the desires that God has already placed within you. However, I do encourage you to look at this as an opportunity to grow in love with your Christian brothers and sisters. We worship together, we do life together, we bring Christ into the world together, and we must also seek justice together. As we do so, we grow in God’s love, and grow further in our discipleship with Christ. Lets begin our journey together with prayer.
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