Theology

The divisions in North American politics are sharp and create upheaval over what exactly it means to be Christian.

There is racial unrest so deep, it threatens to undo the ministry of reconciliation to which the church is called.

Reformed theology is used to justify white supremacy and isolationism.

When I started attending a Christian Reformed church in 1973, my only interest in the church was it had a basketball court inside the building. Over time, I found the pastors were gracious and kind. The interracial congregation felt its mission was that all African American lives would flourish on the west side of Chicago.

There is a man I know. More than a man – a friend and a prophet. He is Indigenous, tall, with small piercing eyes that bore into you with gentle kindness. He is a stranger longing for a heavenly country. His home on his back, he wanders deserts and back alleys. He lives in caves and parkades. Did I mention that he also has an amazing mullet?

Six months ago, I was rushing to bring materials to a church presentation. On my way there, I was pulled over. When the officer asked if I knew how fast I was going, I honestly said I did not know. He informed me that I had been going 47 mph in a 25. I was shocked. It was one of those moments that, even if I was focusing on my surroundings, the rush I was in distracted me from paying attention to how fast I was going. I was completely appalled at myself.

Christ is risen from the dead,

and creation celebrates!

Have you ever thought about what Easter means for the created world? Have you ever thought about why it matters that Christ’s resurrected body was in a physical form? Christ’s body was recognizable by its scars. It could be touched. Christ’s resurrected body has implications for the creation around us, because matter, the things of this earth, matter to God. They will be changed, renewed, restored, but still recognizable, scars and all.

This is the first post of our Power Over/Power With series, a collaboration between Safe Church Ministry and Do Justice.

We all have some power. Power to act, to choose, to alter our world and affect others, is part of being image-bearers of God.

Yet power can so easily become corrupt and be used to marginalize, manipulate, or control others. When we are unaware of or not careful with the power we hold, we can cause deep harm.

Jesus’ way of wielding power looks different from our own sin-corrupted ways of using our power.

Emmanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor. – Charles H. Spurgeon

On August 16, 1967, Martin Luther King was interested in the soul of America. At the eleventh Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention in Atlanta, he observed the domestic terrorism in the South, northern indifference to structural inequalities, and a stubborn resistance from the evangelical community to realizing its own hypocrisy.

The challenges people face became real to me as a child through my parents’ work—my Dad worked as a foundry manager and my Mom as an advocate for at-risk families at the public school. At an early age, I understood the strain and trauma of poverty from their work.

The challenges people face communally and globally are broad and complicated. Young people learn by example, just as I witnessed my parents engaging injustice.

It’s been quite the year! Thanks for reading and learning along with us, as we wrestled with faith and justice with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (Karl Barth).

Here are the top Do Justice articles (ranked by top pageviews) that got you thinking and acting in 2018: