this was, perhaps, the highlight of the week for me.

reason #1: claude’s presence and voice. while the gathering was nearly equal in terms of gender and far more diverse in regard to age and denominational affiliation than i expected, we were still almost exclusively white. the fact that claude was not only present, but also given a plenary speaks loudly about the desire for a truly inclusive conversation and the willingness to actively work toward the achievement of that desire. some may say, “small steps,” but i say, “steps forward nonetheless.”

in saying the above, i hope i am not marginalizing those non-white brothers and sisters who came. their courage is essential, for it must begin somewhere. i spent a fair amount of time chatting with brian mitchell, who has been a part of the conversation for a number of years. during that time he has been (or at least felt like) the token catholic at the table. this week, he said, it seems that the catholic presence has finally arrived. i hope that the african-american and asian-american, and latin-american presences aren’t far behind. god bless those courageous few who have gone ahead of the others to prepare a place at the table.

reason #2: worship and eucharist with corey nelson: his liturgy and homily on 1 corinthians 12 (who is our body?) brought me to tears. i’ll surely be writing more about it later. briefly, let me share this song before getting into claude’s message:

postlude

n nung yay dah

n nung yay dah, oh-oh

n nung yay dah m ma bia

n nung yay dah

(i believe

i believe, o

i believe, my mother’s child

i believe) proclamation of belief within our common identity and parenthood.

THE JUST WORSHIPPER

• “for I, the LORD, love justice” (isaiah 61:8)
• the entirety of the church message was: repent, for jesus is coming soon. nothing was said about the huge disconnect between this message and the reality of injustice in the surrounding world. “don’t worry about the problems here; jesus is coming soon.” deal with the problems by denying/ignoring them.
• false choice presented: the church (jesus is coming; just be ready for heaven; stay in church and be like your elders) v. real world (poverty, wars, famine; prepare to deal with this reality; get educated so you can get a job… and maybe even make a difference)
• quote: “if eternal life is on both sides of the grave, [then to ignore the dreadful conditions on earth is wrong.] heaven and hell begin here and now, both for individuals and nations…” such an eschatology is warped (un-christian?)
• review of churches failure in rwanda.
• quote: “love thy neighbor didn’t stand up in the rwandan genocide!” (general of united nations’ security force in rwanda reflecting on the churches failure to resist, failure to the extreme of co-participation)
• justice and acts of charity are integral parts of jesus worship. (jesus’ proclamation in luke: “I have to to proclaim…freedom…justice”)
• prophet amos spoke into the israel’s situation, and there is a parallel to africa: in the midst of a religious boom, a plethora of injustices continued and were ignored.
• “i hate, i despise your feasts… take away from me the noise of your songs… i will not listen. but let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an overflowing stream.” (amos 5:21-24)
• there is no seeking after god that is not, at the same time, a seeking after justice. songs are not a substitute for justice. justice must be a regular part of worship for worship to be whole.

INCORPORATING JUSTICE INTO OUR GATHERED WORSHIP

• our tradition and texts betray a dichotomy between worship and justice. justice appears to be an add on to worship, not and essential part of and expression of worship.
• worship is a cry to god for justice in the midst of injustice, a call to god’s people to practice justice, and a proclamation of god’s coming justice
• when justice is part of our worship, our worship service is just.
• quote: 11 am sunday morning is the most segregated hour in america (mlk)
• when justice is a part of our worship, the worship service compels us to do justice. we should leave our services not only singing, but also inspired to do justice.
• when justice is part of our worship, we care to do justice and not to outsource it. if the extent of our participation in justice is a partnership with some other organization (though this is good), then we have fallen short. it is not the mission boards job to engage in justice on behalf of the congregation. we would not outsource our singing; why do we outsource our justice?
• when justice is part of our worship, charity is only the beginning.
• charity alleviates the effects of injustice; justice eliminates the cause of injustice.