Restorative Justice

In our society of increasingly complex webs of relationships, systems of governments and institutions -- shalom, or the way things are supposed to be -- seems increasingly more challenging to envision. There has never been as much history as there is in the present.

The last few weeks have been both difficult and inspiring, challenging and moving.  An apocryphal saying attributed to African theologian and bishop Augustine of Hippo says that ‘hope has two beautiful daughters.

Let’s think about Saul.  He was on his way to Damascus, acting as a leader in the movement for his people. For his God.

I never intended to work as a psychotherapist.  When I first went off to ‘pursue’ a career I chose being a school teacher.   I even taught Grade 6 for two years. Then as life would have it, I decided to take a risk and covered a maternity leave teaching GED (high school equivalency) to moms in the Jane/Finch area of Toronto.  I fell in love with the vulnerable women that I was working with.

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.

Across the globe populations are being told to stay home, to isolate from their neighbors, to not travel or even go into work.   Drastic measures taken to safeguard our neighbors by creating borders between us to stop a virus that has no borders.  And as has been pointed out, these measures are a luxury for many.  Not all have anywhere to go to isolate from others. Not all have running water to repeatedly wash hands or internet connections to maintain work productivity.

The various ministries of the Christian Reformed Church in North America strive to care for our vulnerable neighbors well.  During this time of COVID-19 there are many ways in which we, as people of faith, can continue the work of loving our neighbors.  In fact, many of you are likely taking steps to physically distance yourself as a current expression of love!  

Our times are in your hands.  We come to you now in our strength and in our weakness, in our hope and in our despair, in our buoyancy and in our disease.  We come to pray for ouselves and for all like us who seek and yearn for life anew with you and from you and for you.  - Walter Brueggemann

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).  

Welcome to 2020!  In this first edition of Justice Prayers for the new year celebrate some good news with us.