The Beautiful Gospel
Our core belief is that God’s aim is to create an all-inclusive community of loving persons as in the Garden, with the Triune God himself at the center of this community as the prime Sustainer and the most glorious Inhabitant, both here and now on earth, and also in heaven (Fellowship of the Burning Heart, p. 2). How can we have a community of loving persons, when one is starving and another is hoarding, when one is cold and hungry and another is binging, when one is getting beaten while another is laid up in indulgence? As MLK wrote from the Birmingham jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Participation in the creation of shalom, practicing social justice in our dominion is central to our existence, a prime reason for being. Jesus said, I am the way (John 14:6), the path to life, to God, to glory, to heaven; his life is the model of life for all of us. Things that stand out in his life include his power, care, and compassion for the marginalized, his love for people, holiness, hatred for those who exploited others, self-sacrifice, life of simplicity, affection, and obedience to God. Based on this life model, engaging in social justice or the creation of shalom forms us to be more like God. Not engaging in social justice takes us away from God, a relationship killer. When I am thus engaged, I can usually feel the whispers of the spirit, tears, goose bumps.
Richard Foster uses two words to describe God: mishphat, which is discerning and executing what is right and equitable in all situations, loosening the chains of injustice, setting the oppressed free, providing shelter and food to the poor and the hungry (Isaiah 58 5–7) and treating all people equitably regardless of social status or race. The other is hased, his graciousness, his courtesy, his compassion, his loving undeserved-kindness and generosity, his steadfast and covenant love: God giving himself fully to another. When mishphat is combined with hased, it paves the way for shalom, a harmonious all-inclusive community of loving persons, the call for our life, a mission with no end.
Being close to God is key to practicing social justice, striving for shalom, so that social justice does not become an end in itself. At a personal level practices of spending time with God, spiritual disciplines for growing in virtues is key; taking on what I am able in faith and not being-overwhelmed by the task is another. On the social level I am intentional about being with a few people who are wired to go beyond me on this journey. On the structural domain I hope to continue to help run a social justice organization which brings educational resources to marginalized children.
