Hello World!

Hey guys,

Victoria asked me to write a bit about why I’m here and who I am, so here it is

It’s an interesting story how my interest in urban missions and social justice has been refined over the past few years, and one I would love to share with you in person It involves a definite change in plans from what I both expected and wanted, but I see how God used those changes to direct me to where I am now and into who I am now! (probably a familiar theme in .. life…)

It’s also funny how Victoria posted about Isaiah 58 in her “Welcome” entry too. That’s a passage that is close to my heart. I love that God is a God who is so contrary to the world; He truly looks for and finds treasure in jars of clay! He doesn’t want our ornamental or fancy sacrifices, but He does want us to obey.

There is a story in 1 Samuel 15 that reminds me about the importance obedience. God tells Saul to go to battle against the Amalekites, telling him to attack them and totally destroy everything that belongs to them – including the women, children, men, infants, cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys (v3). So Saul goes on down, but instead of destroying everything, he kills off everything that is “despised and weak,” but keeps the best cattle and sheep to offer as a sacrifice to God and spares their king, Agag. Seems like a good idea, until he goes back to Samuel, who quickly rebukes him, saying:

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (v22)

I love this picture of Saul, the king of Israel, who’s probably completely confused, thinking it was a really good (and thoughtful) idea to save the best cattle and sheep to offer to God. But Samuel is quick to point out that it was God who allowed him to be in this position and it was God who brought him from a place where he was “small in his own eyes” (v17); everything Saul even has is from God.

In the same way, our material wealth is because, like Saul, God brought us to a good place of ABUNDANCE because He had grace on us. Our response to this should be thanksgiving, joy and obedience, which like in Isaiah 58, calls us to share our food with the hungry, provide shelter to the poor and break every yoke to set the oppressed free.

On that note, I don’t think “social justice” or “outreach” is something we do once a week at small group, or a few times a month at sandwich runs, or even once or twice a year at a missions trip. One of the biggest things (if not the hugest) I’ve been learning over the past few years is that my Christian walk is completely, 110% holistic. It’s not even this idea of the Sunday Christian anymore, but knowing that Christ’s Gospel must be applied in every difficult conversation, every tough decision to show a bit more grace, every moment of frustration and anger. In the same way, God requires us to live lives that reflect specific values that honour Him.

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:6 – 8

What I gather from this passage:

1. He asks us to act justly – justly is an adverb in this passage, modifying the verb (acting), and not a noun (justice)
2. He asks us to love mercy, to be willing and wanting to exercise mercy in every circumstance
3. He asks us to walk humbly with Him, clothing ourselves with humility

I always thought it was strange to put justice and mercy together…two values that seem a bit opposite in my mind. But I think there’s a reason God said this. I also think it’s significant that “justly” and “humble” are adverbs and not a nouns. It means that every action WE do must be just, not that the idea of justice stands alone. They are tied together. Same with walking humbly with God. These passages make the verb and the adverb synonymous: to act is to act justly, to walk with God is to walk humbly. There’s no Option #2.

And then the second command is to love mercy. Mercy is a noun and the object of the love. I would argue that to love mercy is to have mercy be synonymous with EVERYTHING, not just acting or walking…but that what you love will transcend and affect every area of your life. So really, the aim is to live a life of mercy.

How do we do that?

I think living a life of mercy is a life-long process that can include many “means” – from showing mercy to the orphan and widow, to showing mercy to the next door neighbour or housemate that just got on your last nerve. It’s a holistic concept that includes fighting for social justice as part of our lives, not just as a part of our weeks.

And I very much believe that that is the journey we are already embarking on

To end, I will leave you with a quote from The Gospel Coalition:

“God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Therefore God is concerned not only for the salvation of souls but also for the relief of poverty, hunger, and injustice.

The gospel opens our eyes to the fact that all our wealth (even wealth for which we worked hard) is ultimately an unmerited gift from God. Therefore the person who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust.

Christ wins our salvation through losing, achieves power through weakness and service, and comes to wealth through giving all away. Those who receive his salvation are not the strong and accomplished but those who admit they are weak and lost. We cannot look at the poor and the oppressed and callously call them to pull themselves out of their own difficulty. Jesus did not treat us that way”

Excited to be part of God’s kingdom work with all of you!

See you soon,

season

reasons why

When it boils down, it’s God’s Word that drove me to start this blog with Ceci.

Certainly, passionate people like Jamie McIntosh from International Justice Mission Canada, life-altering conferences like Urbana, insightful and daring authors like Shane Claiborne, personal experiences at places like Open Door and Oasis, and the blessing of friends with whom I’ve had inspiring discussions about social justice all had something to do with it.

But nothing convicts quite like the Word of God.

The first passage, Isaiah 58:6-9 came from a rather random conference I went to with my youth pastor in my last year of high school. I was still wondering about what I was supposed to do with my life when God thundered this into my life:

“Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”

I remember being deeply affected by that passage, having never heard anyone speak about faulty religiosity and the need to pursue justice with quite that level of passion and forcefulness. I had not long ago gone on a week-long short term missions trip with my youth group, witnessing first-hand how the poor and the homeless lived, so I could grasp the need for justice in our society. But could it be a lifelong calling? This I wondered for a while.

The second passage, Jeremiah 29:5-7, came during my third year of university during a small group study on the book of Daniel. By this time, I had attended Urbana 03 and had plans to study in seminary after my undergrad degree to, in a sense, straighten out how justice was to fit into my life as a Christian. It reads (TNIV):

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

We were amazed that God told the exiles not to muster up their strength to fight the enemy to gain back their freedom, but to continue life as before even though they were now in enemy territory. I realized that God was telling me to do the same. While I’m not living under occupied conditions or blatant persecution, he still commands me to seek justice and prosperity (not just materially) where I live, right here in the GTA.

So this is my goal for the blog – to enable all of us to passionately seek justice where we live.

I am excited to partner up with others (like yourself, blog reader!) to seek social justice in practical ways, and I look forward to the discussions that we can have about various justice issues as we post different things here. I do hope that this will become a resource for you, especially for the folks in the Greater Toronto Area.

I could go on for a while yet, but there’ll be time for me to share more thoughts later on. I’ll end with this uplifting quote from Arundhati Roy as we together begin to live with more than good intentions:

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

-Victoria

more than good intentions

The story starts at a retreat we attended in 2004 where we reflected on our community’s past accomplishments and dreamed about a better one for the future. Everyone played a part, scrawling and drawing their hopes, visions, and goals onto a roll of paper. It was a time of affirming collaboration, and there were an abundance of ideas.

Amidst the discussion, a perceptive person made an insightful comment: The problem with our generation is that we are full of good intentions. If we want these dreams to become a reality, we need to act. We would need more than good intentions.

Here we sit, four years later, and our passion for a better world has grown, especially in the area of social justice in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). But we are still learning how to live with more than good intentions. We struggle with our own apathy and with bringing ideas to fruition.

This blog is a space to facilitate discussions that raise awareness, gain understanding and enable us to become community-minded. More importantly, it is a place to encourage participation and accountability to transform our local communities.

Here we go…

Victoria & Ceci

P.S. In the works are postings of local GTA events and opportunities, and The Storehouse, a listing of social justice-related resources. In the mean time, take a look at our working manifesto. Comments and suggestions are welcome!