By Pamela
Recently our interim minister Jim Symons asked at a St David’s church council meeting, “How do you do justice at St David’s?” (He was quoting Micah 6:8 - “What does the Lord require of you, O mortals, but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.”)
We recognised that he was not asking us to define justice; it was the doing of justice that he was challenging us to think about. His view is that being active in doing justice is an essential ingredient
of a Christ–centred, community-facing church. I woauld agree. We will do justice, along with acting compassionately and listening with humility, to what God calls us to be.
In 2008, Christian churches in New Zealand are more likely to be found out at the margins than at the centre of society. Does this give us a freedom that our forebears, who were the guardians of the morals of society, did not have? Martin Luther King said, “We are called to be the church that is maladjusted.” We Christ-followers are called to be non-conformists, not to support blindly the status quo with our civic religion, but rather to challenge and critique from the margins, prayerfully discerning the perspective of the Kingdom of God.
In the politics of justice, how do we discern when to speak up? Where can we make an impact and for what reason? Our passion for Christ-centred justice is so diverse - different from congregation to congregation – so who decides where we put our energy? The choice needs to be based in the loving service in which we are involved as individuals and congregations. It is about not only walking the talk, but also talking from our walk. Our actions and engagement with the community should inform the way we do justice.
It’s because the members of the Upper Clutha Presbyterian Parish each take responsibility for their impact on the environment that the parish can involve itself in advocating green policies in the Wanaka District. It’s because the Tapanui Church-on-the-Way puts energy into supporting its young people that it can raise a voice advocating for the safety and well being of all teenagers in the area.
I am grateful for the partnership of Presbyterian Support, whose staff can tell us what they find in their weekly encounters on the ground. Such information gives credibility to our advocacy on a national level as a Church concerned with those who don’t a get a fair deal in our society.
In this election year, we are already seeing a multitude of issues of public concern being raised. You will see that my colleagues, the leaders of the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist Churches and the Salvation Army, and I are reminding New Zealanders of what it is to be a just and compassionate society. We have launched a programme called “Aroha tetahi ki tetahi: Let us look after one another”. I hope you will find in these offerings a sense of the core concerns of Christ, who calls us to be his hands and his voice in a needy world.
As each congregation engages with its local community, it is earning the right to speak about the injustice it finds there. I challenge you to be a congregation that does justice in your place, both by bringing compassionate healing and by raising a prophetic voice.
Ka kite ano
Many blessings