I gotta agree with Rick on this one. While we as adults need to monitor how our kids engage with social media, we do a disservice to kids if we don’t show how to use them as tools (as opposed to time wasters).
WOW is not the way I want kids to learn about online communities.
And P.S. I am glad I stumbled on your blog. You keep addressing topics that are near to my heart as a Christian and a mamma. Keep up the good work.
“That should give our anger at injustice a bit of grace infusion.” Absolutely! Grace must be central. God told us to love mercy right after he told us do justice, right?
I think my fear is that too heavy a focus on grace might lead to muddy thinking that freezes us into a place of inaction.
I am interested in your idea of militancy in the Church around issues of social justice. Can you help understand what you are speaking of specifically? I can be uninformed and a little slow.
Hi Rich,
Do I think mercy and compassion are weak? No. In some ways they are harder than justice. They challenge us to be “angry and not sin” (something I am still working on).
We can think that compassion is laying out a Gospel of John and a glossy full color invitation to an impossible to get to church on an inner city homeless person’s bed so we can feel good about “spreading the love of Christ” (actually saw that Tuesday- made me burning mad). How is that compassionate or merciful? It is not. It is self serving and rude.
Later that day I met a woman who also hands out to my homeless neighbors – socks, candy and an ear to hear what they need and guide them to it. She is in that world even though she is not of it. No drive by “loving” there. We were at an event with city politicos, homeless activists and addicts, social workers, reporters, college students spending their spring break focusing on housing issues, and other people with a desire to seek justice.
I am sorry, but the anonymous tract dispenser is much more militant than any of these folks. See Wikipedia definition of militant “The word militant refers to any individual or party engaged in aggressive physical or verbal combat, usually for a cause.” It is aggressive to enter someone’s home, spew your ideology and leave when they have no chance to engage in dialog. The fact that this person couldn’t conceive that they were violating another person’s space and dignity is a reflection of how self centered our “mercy and compassion” can be.
Christianity not a “cause,” it is about how we relate to others. Is my “compassion” building a relationship? Or is it dumping my used sweaters on beach in Sumatra so I can feel good? Isn’t dumping our trash on a village suffering from a tsunami in the name of Christ a bit aggressive? That was done as an act of mercy.
I do not have access to little girls suffering in Cambodian brothels or little boys being flogged bloody so that Nestle can deliver some Chocolate Quik to my local Safeway, but as a Christian I am obligated to examine my relationship with them. Is supporting the lawyer who puts the little girls’ kidnappers and rapists on trial militant, or is it acting in right relationship to both her and her oppressors? Is forgoing Tollhouse cookies aggressive? I think these are acts of mercy and compassion because they are about justice.
I am hearing that Jesus was this gentle, loving almost passive person. I am confused by that. Loving – yes. Gentle – sometimes. Passive – no. Jesus flipped tables over at the temple, stood up to a mob ready to stone a woman, escaped violent crowds, halted a funeral procession, told off the corrupt leaders of his day, broke the rules to feed or heal when it was needed, went outside the circle of those considered socially acceptable and sought out the disenfranchised. How many of us are acting like that? Is it militant if we do? Is it militant if we do it out of love for people we have not met? If we do it because we are in love with Christ? How about when we do it for our church? Or for Christianity?
I think the last two are where we get in trouble. As Christians, the notion of social justice requires us to think for ourselves instead of blindly following our leaders and to lay our self serving behavior before God. Ouch. We don’t like the pain (and some of us don’t like to think), so we act “compassionately” because it feels good and the church held a bake sale or clothing drive.
The Christ told us “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) And then he started talking about very intimate relationships that would be severed when we “take up our cross” – because we are entering into a new community where compassionate behavior is how we achieve our calling. The final example he gave when telling us how to pick up our cross and follow him was giving a cup of water to a child. It is our job as Christians to take care of children even if we are offensive or “militant” in the process.
Sometimes that means digging a well. Sometimes that means chatting up a prostitute who is a single mom trying to feed her kids and having a bad night or standing with a homeless friend outside city hall, giving money to the people working with child soldiers in Uganda or fighting your way through to a little girl enslaved on a rice plantation.
You can’t separate justice and mercy. It is ineffectual and condescending to just “do mercy.” Doing justice without mercy lacks love.
Compassion denotes that we are standing “with” the sufferer, thus the “com” part of compassion. Compassion is an emotion of community. Mercy is not just judicial clemency, it is compassionate action. Justice is the quality of being fair and righteous.
Maybe if we spent more time seeking justice for people who need mercy, we wouldn’t have the bad reputation our “compassion” has given us and wouldn’t have to contemplate softening the word. True community may have been built with “others” and they also might understand us and the God we try to serve.
Hmmm. I understand what you are saying about how we as Christians need to be dispensers of mercy as well as justice, but I think that social justice is an excellent term.
We have many compassion ministries that will feed, clothe, disciple, shelter or in other ways serve those who need.
What we are lacking IS social justice. We need those who will go into brothels full of kidnapped little girls and bring the perpetrators of the crimes against these children to justice – so that others are not forced into slavery. Mercy and compassion for future victims (and there will be future victims) will not happen by softening justice for those who are raping children now. Getting land back to widows in Kenya through the seeking of justice so that they no longer “need” our compassion is a much more effective plan giving them and their children some rice and an old t-shirt (as compassionate as that may be when they are desperate).
“Do justice and love mercy.” Not “love justice.” Not “contemplate justice.” Just plain “Do justice.” That is HOW we love mercy.
God is great at giving us the command to do it and explaining the why later. (Obedience is what I am personally lacking, but that is another story.) This is a very short example. By doing justice we learn to love mercy. By doing justice we learn to love those who need mercy.
Would it be nice if the word was softer and if “justice” had a ring of sympathy or caring to it. I am not sure. Many Christians can be characterized as those seeking wrath for those they think have sinned too greatly. I hate that the way I think most other Christians do. On the other hand, I think we have many touchy-feely, feel good Christians who shy away from anything that smacks of having a back bone or really standing up to face our Goliath or stand in front of a group of men ready to hurl stones or speak to the “leper” or the “hooker” or the “tax collector” without also trying to keep their distance.
We need the word justice to keep us focused on doing real work for the “fatherless and the widows.” Chris told Judas that we would always have the poor with us. We need to seek justice for them or our mercy becomes a way to distance us from their pain. Being a Christian is not about feeling good. It is about following Christ (and we know where he ended up). Let’s not wimp out when there are so many who need us.
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Christians, are we arbiters of social justice or dispensers of grace to society?
March 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pmAwesome! Thank you!
Uhm, should Twitter, Blogging & Wikipedia really be goals for primary education?
March 26th, 2009 at 12:13 pmI gotta agree with Rick on this one. While we as adults need to monitor how our kids engage with social media, we do a disservice to kids if we don’t show how to use them as tools (as opposed to time wasters).
WOW is not the way I want kids to learn about online communities.
And P.S. I am glad I stumbled on your blog. You keep addressing topics that are near to my heart as a Christian and a mamma. Keep up the good work.
Christians, are we arbiters of social justice or dispensers of grace to society?
March 26th, 2009 at 11:09 am“That should give our anger at injustice a bit of grace infusion.” Absolutely! Grace must be central. God told us to love mercy right after he told us do justice, right?
I think my fear is that too heavy a focus on grace might lead to muddy thinking that freezes us into a place of inaction.
I am interested in your idea of militancy in the Church around issues of social justice. Can you help understand what you are speaking of specifically? I can be uninformed and a little slow.
Christians, are we arbiters of social justice or dispensers of grace to society?
March 26th, 2009 at 10:31 amHi Rich,
Do I think mercy and compassion are weak? No. In some ways they are harder than justice. They challenge us to be “angry and not sin” (something I am still working on).
We can think that compassion is laying out a Gospel of John and a glossy full color invitation to an impossible to get to church on an inner city homeless person’s bed so we can feel good about “spreading the love of Christ” (actually saw that Tuesday- made me burning mad). How is that compassionate or merciful? It is not. It is self serving and rude.
Later that day I met a woman who also hands out to my homeless neighbors – socks, candy and an ear to hear what they need and guide them to it. She is in that world even though she is not of it. No drive by “loving” there. We were at an event with city politicos, homeless activists and addicts, social workers, reporters, college students spending their spring break focusing on housing issues, and other people with a desire to seek justice.
I am sorry, but the anonymous tract dispenser is much more militant than any of these folks. See Wikipedia definition of militant “The word militant refers to any individual or party engaged in aggressive physical or verbal combat, usually for a cause.” It is aggressive to enter someone’s home, spew your ideology and leave when they have no chance to engage in dialog. The fact that this person couldn’t conceive that they were violating another person’s space and dignity is a reflection of how self centered our “mercy and compassion” can be.
Christianity not a “cause,” it is about how we relate to others. Is my “compassion” building a relationship? Or is it dumping my used sweaters on beach in Sumatra so I can feel good? Isn’t dumping our trash on a village suffering from a tsunami in the name of Christ a bit aggressive? That was done as an act of mercy.
I do not have access to little girls suffering in Cambodian brothels or little boys being flogged bloody so that Nestle can deliver some Chocolate Quik to my local Safeway, but as a Christian I am obligated to examine my relationship with them. Is supporting the lawyer who puts the little girls’ kidnappers and rapists on trial militant, or is it acting in right relationship to both her and her oppressors? Is forgoing Tollhouse cookies aggressive? I think these are acts of mercy and compassion because they are about justice.
I am hearing that Jesus was this gentle, loving almost passive person. I am confused by that. Loving – yes. Gentle – sometimes. Passive – no. Jesus flipped tables over at the temple, stood up to a mob ready to stone a woman, escaped violent crowds, halted a funeral procession, told off the corrupt leaders of his day, broke the rules to feed or heal when it was needed, went outside the circle of those considered socially acceptable and sought out the disenfranchised. How many of us are acting like that? Is it militant if we do? Is it militant if we do it out of love for people we have not met? If we do it because we are in love with Christ? How about when we do it for our church? Or for Christianity?
I think the last two are where we get in trouble. As Christians, the notion of social justice requires us to think for ourselves instead of blindly following our leaders and to lay our self serving behavior before God. Ouch. We don’t like the pain (and some of us don’t like to think), so we act “compassionately” because it feels good and the church held a bake sale or clothing drive.
The Christ told us “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) And then he started talking about very intimate relationships that would be severed when we “take up our cross” – because we are entering into a new community where compassionate behavior is how we achieve our calling. The final example he gave when telling us how to pick up our cross and follow him was giving a cup of water to a child. It is our job as Christians to take care of children even if we are offensive or “militant” in the process.
Sometimes that means digging a well. Sometimes that means chatting up a prostitute who is a single mom trying to feed her kids and having a bad night or standing with a homeless friend outside city hall, giving money to the people working with child soldiers in Uganda or fighting your way through to a little girl enslaved on a rice plantation.
You can’t separate justice and mercy. It is ineffectual and condescending to just “do mercy.” Doing justice without mercy lacks love.
Compassion denotes that we are standing “with” the sufferer, thus the “com” part of compassion. Compassion is an emotion of community. Mercy is not just judicial clemency, it is compassionate action. Justice is the quality of being fair and righteous.
Maybe if we spent more time seeking justice for people who need mercy, we wouldn’t have the bad reputation our “compassion” has given us and wouldn’t have to contemplate softening the word. True community may have been built with “others” and they also might understand us and the God we try to serve.
Christians, are we arbiters of social justice or dispensers of grace to society?
March 24th, 2009 at 2:42 pmHmmm. I understand what you are saying about how we as Christians need to be dispensers of mercy as well as justice, but I think that social justice is an excellent term.
We have many compassion ministries that will feed, clothe, disciple, shelter or in other ways serve those who need.
What we are lacking IS social justice. We need those who will go into brothels full of kidnapped little girls and bring the perpetrators of the crimes against these children to justice – so that others are not forced into slavery. Mercy and compassion for future victims (and there will be future victims) will not happen by softening justice for those who are raping children now. Getting land back to widows in Kenya through the seeking of justice so that they no longer “need” our compassion is a much more effective plan giving them and their children some rice and an old t-shirt (as compassionate as that may be when they are desperate).
“Do justice and love mercy.” Not “love justice.” Not “contemplate justice.” Just plain “Do justice.” That is HOW we love mercy.
God is great at giving us the command to do it and explaining the why later. (Obedience is what I am personally lacking, but that is another story.) This is a very short example. By doing justice we learn to love mercy. By doing justice we learn to love those who need mercy.
Would it be nice if the word was softer and if “justice” had a ring of sympathy or caring to it. I am not sure. Many Christians can be characterized as those seeking wrath for those they think have sinned too greatly. I hate that the way I think most other Christians do. On the other hand, I think we have many touchy-feely, feel good Christians who shy away from anything that smacks of having a back bone or really standing up to face our Goliath or stand in front of a group of men ready to hurl stones or speak to the “leper” or the “hooker” or the “tax collector” without also trying to keep their distance.
We need the word justice to keep us focused on doing real work for the “fatherless and the widows.” Chris told Judas that we would always have the poor with us. We need to seek justice for them or our mercy becomes a way to distance us from their pain. Being a Christian is not about feeling good. It is about following Christ (and we know where he ended up). Let’s not wimp out when there are so many who need us.