For some, the label “Christian” comes to be a badge of honor that distinguishes them from other people. They claim salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus.
The Jesus thing has to drill deeper. It has to unearth the Christ. All the biblical roots for the Christ are grounded on one thing, one key element—justice. Let justice roar down like a mighty river. Justice is right order and the Christ is about right order in the cosmos, our institutions, and our lives. Absent a burning desire to bring about the Kin-dom which is all about justice, a personal relationship does little but deceive the person who claims it.
Justice is not present when we use massive methods of destruction to extract tar sands oil. Justice is not present when we let economic injustice go unchallenged. Justice is not served when we allow income gaps to widen and billions to live in poverty as some amass more and more while others have less and less. Justice is not served when our wars kill and maim millions.
The Good Friday Ecumenical Walk challenged us to look at justice. What can we do to alleviate human misery and to bring about Kin-dom justice? For starters, we will increase our annual contribution for each of the four people—three children and one adult—under the Christian Foundation for Children and the Aging (http://www.cfca.org/). Second, we will begin to make a monthly contribution to the food bank in Towns County Georgia. Third, we will continue to contact elected officials and lobby for justice. We will try to chip away at the very structures which create gross injustice in our nation and around the world. Fourth, we will proclaim our allegiance to the Nonviolent Christ as we pursue justice. Finally, we will try to work within our faith communities in North Carolina (just a few miles from our Georgia home) and Florida to bring about a greater awareness of our social responsibility as Christians.
What will you do to bring about justice?
In Hayesville, Young Harris, and Titusville we pray that they will know we are Christians because of our passion for biblical justice.
As John Muir once said, “The mountains are calling and we must go.” Today we head back to a special place in God’s creation—the North Georgia Mountains. Maybe in some small way we can help justice trickle down those beautiful mountain streams! They will know we are Christians by our love!