News from the Pews

As I’ve grown in my journey in the fight for social justice, it has been difficult for me to forgive the shames of my own past. Today, I am passionate about pushing ideals of racial equality, gender equality, criminal justice reform, etc. forward. But this was not always the case. Just eight short years ago, in my freshman year of high school, I began a slow descent into alt-right and supremacist ideologies online.

“We were at the Guatemala-Mexico border for three months. When the UN rights groups came to clean the showers every few weeks, we would rush for the showers so we could clean our kids. Later they gave us one diaper for our two kids, un pañal por dos niños!!!” she said, roaring in laughter, looking to her nephew in his late teens, who laughed along with her. 

“17.2 million people leaving their homes because of climate disasters is not a change.” This was a sign I saw as I first stepped off the metro in Madrid, Spain in early December. I had just arrived for the COP25 (Conference of the Parties), the global climate negotiations conference hosted by the United Nations. As I walked out of the metro to the conference center, more signs lined the hallway with startling statistics, many of which I had heard before. However, in the week ahead these statistics would become real people with real stories. 

Thank you for joining us this year on Do Justice.  It is our hope and prayer that these articles blessed you and moved you to new action.  Enjoy this look at the top Do Justice articles written in 2019 (ranked by top pageviews).  

In November we held a conference here in Truro, Nova Scotia called “Spark!”. It was a new take on an old conference – we’ve held a Day of Encouragement event here every two years for a long time, providing an opportunity for the CRC churches in the Maritimes to gather for a day of learning and fellowship. When I was asked to write about it for Do Justice, my first thought was, “this wasn’t specifically a ‘justice’ conference…” But the more I reflect, the more I feel that the themes of justice and mission and the future of the church are all intertwined.

I had a conversation with a friend from China today. He wanted to help me with a story of religious persecution, but he was hesitant: he hadn’t been questioned, detained, imprisoned, or beaten for his faith. What could he say about persecution? 

So instead of asking for some big, news-worthy story of dramatic persecution, I asked him about what he has learned about persecution through his experiences. This was his list. Maybe these aren’t dramatic, but these are stories. Stories from a brother in Christ blessed to grow up in the Chinese church. 

I recently went on a trip to the Yukon, I’m not a big hiker so when my friend led me along the side of a steep slope on a mountain sheep trail I was well out of my comfort zone.  But I was also exhilarated, it was a new experience for me, on a perfect fall day. I was enjoying good conversation with my friend, and we could see our goal far up the hill.  

“I can officially vote!” This is what I wrote on my Facebook wall the day I turned 18. Out of all the things I could have chosen to be excited about in becoming a legal adult, I chose voting. Besides being kind of a silly story, I share this because I’m discovering that that kind of thinking appears to be more unique than I had realized. Whereas I was almost in tears once because I thought I had missed the deadline to mail in my absentee ballot, it turns out most of my friends, especially in Christian circles, have not voted, or even registered to vote, in recent elections.

Don’t miss part one where Prof. Kevin den Dulk explains the origins of the returning citizens project.  

Part 4 in the Seeing Beyond the Immigration Rhetoric series.

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.   Leviticus 19:33-34