Generous Justice

Yesterday was a beautiful day: it was sunny, 65 degrees, and I bought a new book. I love anything written or said by Tim Keller, a pastor in NYC who has done urban ministry pretty much his whole adult life. His neweset book is about justice and loving the poor and what the Bible has to say about all that (not his opinion). I got out on our awesome porch swing to start reading and the first paragraph of the book is Luke 4:17-18--"Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners." I caught myself smiling just reading that passage. Since going to Jacksonville in October, I've been really into learning more about what God has to say about justice, how to serve those who live a different lifestyle than me, how to give more, and just about urban ministry in general. I got through the introduction and a third of the chapter and a couple of my neighbors came outside to play basketball on the goal they had just put up across the street. I've lived in the Cabin for almost 2 years and I have yet to meet my neighbors. There are tons of them across the street on any given day so I'm not totally sure who all lives there, they're all REALLY loud at all hours, and I'm pretty sure drugs are among their popular hobbies. I have none of that in common with them. But basketball, I do. As I thought to myself "I can't just go over there and ball with them, I'm a skinny white girl", God seems to have said "I didn't create you to be comfortable." So I asked if they needed another player and we played basketball in the street until it was too dark to see the ball. I may never speak to those guys again and I know having a white girl shoot 3-pointers with them didn't change their lives in any way. But to do justice is to understand people who don't live like you. It's to see past racism, see past social class or salary level or lifestyle. It's about just loving humans because Jesus came to love and save humans. At some point in my Christian life, the good news of what Jesus did for me has to balance out with the way I live my life. I'll probably talk about this topic and this book a lot more lately because I'm abnormally pumped about it. Stay tuned if you're interested in such things, too!