Eating Candy & Social Change
Richard Foster, who is one of my favorite contemporary Christian thinkers, in Streams of Living Water presents six ways of intimately connecting with God: the contemplative or prayer-filled way, the holiness tradition, the Spirit-empowered charismatic way, connecting with God in social justice and compassion, the evangelical or Word-filled way and the incarnational or sacramental way. This essay is my reflections on the social justice stream.
A mother and her young son had come to visit Gandhi at the ashram. The mother complained to Gandhi about her son’s habit of eating candy and requested Gandhi to advise him. Gandhi asked her to come back in two weeks. Two weeks later the mother and boy sat in front of Gandhi, and he advised the child to stop eating so much candy, and the curious mother inquired why it took him two weeks, and the reply was, “Madam, two weeks ago, I was still eating sugar”. Gandhi who is one of the biggest agents of social change in human history outside of Jesus, accomplished change by being the change. Similarly, social justice stream is practicing godliness right at our doorsteps, a personal call to mirror God’s justice and toughness, equally with his compassion, mercy, and love, intricately woven together, where love meets the road. Justice combined with compassion and mercy will bring about ‘shalom’ to our relationships and to our communities. This balancing requires ‘divine breathings’ as coined by John Woolman, sensitivity to God’s Spirit.
Proverbs 31 summarizes social justice well, “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Thus the social justice stream is:
· Spirit-led: becoming self-giving, balancing justice and mercy is part of becoming more like God and is Spirit-led. Our own spiritual transformation is not complete without growth in fortitude, faith, steadfast love, compassion and social justice, aided by the Spirit.
· Individualized: while my role is customized to be me, I am accountable for practicing social justice and to strive for harmonious relationships and communities. The Lord does not approve of me walking by someone who is down or being bullied.
· Action-oriented and requires skin in the game. Giving requires action, risk, time, money, emotions. “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
· Based on faith. Heroes of social justice such as Jesus, Bonhoeffer, MLK Jr., were known for their courage and faith. Our impact maybe proportional to our faith. Fearing man, fate, or fearing the apparent randomness of our life, does not go with trusting God and practicing social justice.
· Addressing structural issues to accomplish fair access to education, jobs, medical and legal care, and protection to the weak through changes in policies and law.
I was sitting with the founder of one of the larger Christian social justice organizations in Georgia recently where he shared his vision of being part of something that is impossible by man, by himself, but possible with the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Social justice journey is an individualized journey of change, which will require our own transformation and investments of ourselves into others and our communities, which is laying our treasures in haven.
