social justice?

wow, I know I'm being super-blogger right now, considering that I just posted yesterday & here I am again. But I just read something that I need to respond to in order to lay out my thoughts. I hope you'll listen--it is my feeling that many of you will be able to weigh in on this (whether you agree or disagree).

So, like I said in my post yesterday, I've been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. The chapter that I just completed was titled "Profile of the Lukewarm." Basically, it read like a little personal "quiz" for the reader to determine whether or not his or her faith was lukewarm/halfhearted/partially committed. I thought that this was an excellent self-assessment exercise, and I began scribbling in the margins & trying to be honest with myself. Just for a few examples, the lukewarm descriptions were things like "attends church regularly because it is the good Christian thing to do" and "gauges their morality or goodness by comparison with the secular world." Each description was followed by a passage or two from scripture that was meant to illuminate how each particular way of living was in fact the opposite of what God calls us to. A challenging and enlightening exercise, to be sure.

But then I came to this: "Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven." He goes on to describe how we often get caught up in our to-do lists and schedules--in this way, I totally agree that we shouldn't get bogged down in the day-to-day stresses that often overwhelm our lives, and are of so little relevance in light of eternity. And one of the Scripture verses came from Colossians 3:2: set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

The danger in this, however, comes in defining what "earthly things" we should and should not dwell upon. Because I believe there are some people, at least in their theologies and ideologies, who focus solely on heaven & the life hereafter. There are some pastors who preach a message, if not of fire & brimstone, of eternity and heaven and our "ticket" in--and those things alone. I believe with my whole heart that Jesus came to save us and prepare a place for us in the eternal kingdom--and spending eternity with God is going to be a sweetness that we can barely fathom, even if we did spend all our time & energy pondering the world to come. BUT I believe that Jesus preached a gospel of His kingdom that begins in the here & now. Not a kingdom or an eternity that starts when we walk through those pearly gates and approach the throne, but a kingdom that He has brought here to this earth. Are we not already living in the promise of eternal life? Does that not mean that life in God's kingdom begins now?

I was rubbed the wrong way by Chan's thoughts because I think there are too many people (ie Christians) in this world who are overwhelmed by the suffering and the brokenness around us, so their prayer times are spent thinking, "beam me up, Jesus!" instead of "what can I do? how can I use the time You've given me here to make changes for the better?" The evil in our world is overwhelming, and this place is not our home--but we are here. And why else would we be here if it weren't to love God by loving others? By being acutely aware of the world around us and living in it. If every Christian were to lock himself up in a monastic cell & await the coming of the kingdom, what good would that be? Jesus definitely wasn't asking us to do that.

I find it odd that "social justice" is a movement within Christianity--not the norm, not the expectation. Did Jesus plan for amped-up college students and inner-city pastors alone to serve the poor & the afflicted? Somehow I don't think so. I truly believe with all my heart that Christ wants us to really be in the world, though not of it. While our hearts are set for His return, for the completion of our sanctification, for eternity in the full presence of God, our hands are here in the world.

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking at the sky?" Acts 1: 11a