Theology

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).  

Thank you for joining us in prayer this year.  May this prayer from Walter Brueggemann be a blessing to you this Christmas Day.  

In violence and travail

We give you thanks for the babe born in violence.

We give you thanks for the miracle of Bethlehem, born into the Jerusalem heritage.

We do not understand why the innocents must be slaughtered; we know that your kingdom comes in violence and travail. Our time would be a good time for your kingdom to come, because we have had enough of violence and travail.

I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint. - Habakkuk 2:1 (NIV)

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord. - Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)

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.

The “F” word that I encounter regularly has a way deeper impact than the one you are probably thinking about. FEAR. 

"Forget Everything And Run” or “Face Everything And Rise. "

As I write this, it’s just a couple of hours after the Prime Minister asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call an election.  I know that elections come with a lot of partisan silliness that can cause us to groan and slip into cynicism and apathy. But as people of hope, rooted in Christ, it’s important to buck the trend of political cynicism, to be surprising by being hopeful, even grateful.  Visible gratitude for the opportunity to act as citizens for the good of our communities is counter-cultural in an age of cynicism.

Last month at the annual Synod of the CRCNA, an overture was advanced concerning a decision made at Synod 2012 about climate change. In 2012, Synod adopted the CRCNA’s Creation Stewardship Task Force’s recommendations on the issue which in-part concluded a “near-consensus … that climate change is occurring and is very likely due to human activity and that human-made climate change poses a threat to the world” (Acts of Synod 2012, p. 803).

If you’re not sure what to say, or how to say it, when leading a prayer for the children who are still incarcerated in camps at the U.S. southern border, consider these words.  If you want more information about the crisis, see this Do Justice article.  

In my work as a business professor over the past four years, I have been researching what happens to our brains when watching online lectures.

Synod 1968 established Sunday, July 14, as a day of prayer for racial reconciliation. This year, July 14 once again falls on a Sunday.

We call on members of the Christian Reformed Church to dedicate this day of prayer for a renewal of society through racial reconciliation, and to labor unceasingly to cause the light of the gospel of Christ’s love and peace of to shine upon all. (Acts and Agenda of Synod, 1968, page 18)

Prayer

God of every nation, tribe, and tongue,