CHARITY vs. JUSTICE…3/29/08
by SteveWilliam Sloan Coffin once observed, “It is ironic to think of the number of people in this country who pray for the poor and needy on Sunday and spend the rest of the week complaining that the government is doing something about them.” I preached a sermon one time in which I said that if the churches were doing their job, the government would not have to be involved in the welfare business. I preached that sermon almost ten years ago, and I stand by it today.
The problem is that the average church, especially in today’s unsettled financial climate, barely has enough money to keep the doors open, pay the power bill, buy the necessary literature, and pay the staff. Maybe the way we do church is going to have to change drastically. We’ve already seen that denominational loyalties are practically non-existent for most folks, who are prone to attend the church that “meets their needs.” What’s wrong with that is that few of us can be trusted to know what our real needs are!
Our culture and society tell us one thing, and the Bible tells us something entirely different. The culture says “look out for #1,” and the Bible says, “Deny yourself.” There can be little doubt about which dictum the majority of us have chosen to follow. What makes denying self difficult is that it applies to the way we spend our money!
I would like to see the Church of Jesus Christ put the government out the welfare business, and I have no doubt that we are capable of doing it. If every church took care of the needs of the poor and needy within the bounds of its own community, there would be nothing left for the government to do. Imagine: churches involved in educating and retraining people for jobs. Ministries like ESL and GED that we do here in our own church make a huge difference in the lives of those we have helped, and to my knowledge, we are the ONLY church in our area to have such ministries!
What would happen if every church had justice ministries like this? Can we help others to begin similar ministries? What would it take to make this a reality? You guys give some thought to this, and let’s see if we can put our heads together and come up with a plan. Amos did not say, “Let charity roll down like mighty waters….” He said, “Let justice roll down like mighty waters, and righteousness like an ever-rolling stream.”
If and when justice becomes the order of the day, the need for charity will become less and less, and the Kingdom of God will become an experiential reality for all. God hasten the day!
RSS
Dangerous word, Justice, very difficult to define. Socrates (through Plato) had it down to “doing good” – you could not be just if you were not doing good, nor could you do good without being just. Not exactly how most people use the word. Unfortunately, most Americans seem to think the word means ‘Punishment’ or ‘Retribution’, and draw mental pictures of floggings or executions when hearing it. About the only place I’ve seen true Justice has been the acquittal or release of an innocent person – these acts were, indeed, “doing good”. As long as we’re using this definition, yes, let ‘justice become the order of the day’! If we created a world in which everyone was just, even the church would be hard-pressed to dispense aid.
Historically, the Church *was* the provider of social welfare, and the Federal government didn’t become involved until the end of the civil war. At that time, the economic ruin of the south, along with countless newly freed slaves, sent a huge portion of the southern population to the northern cities seeking work. Coupled with the remarkable flow of immigrants into those same cities, it overwhelmed existing social programs, and caused the respective states to sue the southern states for relief. Put another way, the places that received this mass of humanity thought it only ‘just’ the states they came from help foot the bill. The end result was Federal welfare, which really was the only solution at the time. It truly took the country to heal the wounds left on it’s people by that war, the whole country, un-divided even by religion. “What would happen if every church had justice ministries like this?” What would happen if every church, synagogue, and mosque, every group which claims to meet in the name of deity, could join their neighbors, set aside perceived differences, and state “For Justice, we are one. Before we waste one second considering anything else, we will dedicate ourselves to ensuring Liberty and Justice for all.” Hmm, do those words sound familiar? How about “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” or “in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,”? Lastly, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,”. We are all created equal, yearning to breathe free with the assurance of liberty and justice. Though these quotes come from different people, places, and times, they still sum up what our country was founded on, and equally represent the ideals of our faith. What a great, amazing thing would it be if each of us lived these words? I echo Steve, “God hasten the day!”
Bj
The best definition of justice I ever heard: “Justice is to sort out what belongs to whom, and return it to them.” Walter Bruggemann, OT scholar extraordinaire.