Faith Alive, the TEDS Biblical Social Justice group, finished the 2008 academic year with a panel and small group discussion forum at the Oakwood New Life Covenant Church. Alicia thought it was super tight. Here are her thoughts:
Since the group had been planning the event the past few weeks, I was looking forward to the evening quite a bit. Despite high expectations, the night exceeded my expectations.
While preparing my introductory speech shortly before the event started, I realized that I had spent the past few months living in the suburbs talking to people about what I experienced in inner-city Denver. Now, instead of talking about the city, I was going to talk to the city. Facing this reality prompted justice-related thought after justice-related thought.
I pondered what exactly separates people in the city from people in the burbs, people in the western world from people in the Asia, children going about the business of being kids from children forced into sweatshops or prostitution. Why does God allow some to be born into rotten, oppressive and violent situations and spare others this same fate?
Though I didn’t come up with a definitive answer to the aforementioned tough question, I was pleasantly surprised by the minds of the youth we worked with. After we introduced the concept of justice and concretely discussed its definition as it relates to the bible, we broke off into small groups to discuss what we personally could do to make our immediate environments more just in light of God’s word and what he has done for us in Christ. They had so many good ideas.
Compared to past work with youth, where soliciting answers was like pulling teeth, these teens were like fireballs of knowledge. From sponsoring safe spaces to ask questions to preparing for political actions to initiating service projects, these teens were ready to start something.
Damien made the excellent point that the kids had so much to say, because they deal with injustice every day of their lives and don’t get to choose whether or not they are confronted with violence. This is a good wake up call when you live in a place where you can leave laptops lying around without worrying.
The youth pastor said the group will select two of the more than two dozen ideas the youth came up with and actually make them happen. So the youth get empowered, and we get some eye-opening ministry experience. Good times all around. And it all started with one little round table at Melton filled with a handful of stressed students who admit they have a lot to learn regarding justice. Amazing.
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4 comments:
good post. i wonder how Acts 17:24-28 might contribute to answering that tough question about why we are born in different places... especially in the context you addressed.
Alicia, great post.
Jeff, i'd love to hear more about your thoughts of applying Acts 17:24-28. would you elaborate when you have the chance?
Danny, it really was a question :). But if I were to take a crack at my own question...
Commentators don't make a big deal of the infinitive that starts Acts 17:27. Many move on to the issue of searching for God. Witherington casts doubt on whether we should read a "so that" into the relationship between 26 and 27.
So, i'm not sure about this, but I suspect that we are bidden to see God's purposefulness in where we are born, yet because of our sinfulness we cannot do so. So, we grope as ones who are blind.
Seeing the image of God in the urban poor, the dignity of the homeless, as well as the horror of injustice seem to all be revelatory gifts from God - things we would otherwise be blind to because of sin.
Perhaps this is one starting point for formulating gospel hope to the urban poor and oppressed???
additionally, i wonder about the best way to describe being born into situations like poverty and injustice. I balk at abstracting evil. It seems to me that the writers of Scripture personalize it - either by assigning to human agency or be anthropomorphizing it. It doesn't seem to merely be a force, a system, or the absence of good.
In other words, I think we can offer hope by placing a sure finger on the origin of systemic injustice - Adam - and then pointing with the other finger to the One who will rectify the matter - the second Adam.
thoughts?
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