more justice

okay, so i'm working out more what justice means here.

justice seems to connote some sort of objective rubric off of which everything is based. The question is, what is that rubric? who sets it up? Who defines what is just? There is a deep belief that runs through "social justice" circles that justice entails something along the lines of equality, freedom to choose one's own good life (usually referring to the poor. I mean, the rich have chosen their good life. Now it's time for them to give up some of that good life--to which they are duly entitled, of course--in order to give someone else a shot.), and other ideals which are, ironically, very much a part of the American dream.

but I don't buy it. I think that placing your trust in a 200+ year old dream is ultimately a waste. What we need is not another verson of the American dream. What we need is God. We need God to begin to define justice. Responding to the call to live compassionately--that's justice. Decrying greed and exploitation--that's justice. Becoming poor yourself so that you can walk with and encourage those who are poor to find the God who became human himself--that's justice. But also, justice is something as simple as forgiving your neighbor and brother, loving those around you even in a hard way (sometimes love looks a lot like throwing someone out of your house knowing full well that they may end up homeless.). Its a matter of loving in a way that is consistent with God's Word and word. It is a matter of not lusting as much as you are not adulterous, not hating as much as you are nonviolent. But at the same time, hating your mother, taking up your cross, decrying the systems of the world that exploit people and paying your taxes on time are all justice as well. We want justice that is restorative, yes. We want justice that does more than punish but that finds the person behind the punishment and seeks to treat that person with love and respect. But more than restorative justice, we want holy justice, a justice that find the image of God behind the person that is behind the punishment and calls out that image to be real, to be true and realized in their life. I am a Wesleyan and i ought to talk about being holy more than i do. i want holy justice. When i am compassionate, when i am hard, when I am gardening or talking or picketing or organizing or punishing or whatever it is that someone might call justice, I want to be seeking the holy in the person and in myself because that is the way of the cross, to seek the holy and live that out in the world. God's kingdom in the world, showing up in places that no one expects it because people don't know what the Holy is. But God wants to show up--to show up in a way that recognizes that God has always been there, moving and shaping things and reconciling the world to Godself. I want to be a bridge for that kind of justice, the kind that reconciles the world to God's self. This is true reconciliatory justice, better than retributive, better than restorative because at its core, it recognizes that God is the end, the telos of the whole endeavor.

if you have thoughts, please leave them here.