I have recently finished reading a book called ‘Pursuing Justice’ by Ken Wytsma, recommended by my good friend Becky, as part of exploring a sense of calling to live all of life justly. It is a fairly short book, and easy to read, it’s chapters interspersed with poems, art and quotes.
One of the things I enjoyed most about the book was how he looked from many angles at what it means to live justly. There were no formulas or exercises to do, but rather he commended a way of life and the Biblical principles behind it, in a compelling and inspiring way.
On a similar note, I felt no tugs on heart strings, and no guilt tripping; in fact Wytsma quite clearly expresses concern for emotive and reactive responses to the social and environmental crises that erupt around us. Whilst honouring the role of emotion in living justly, he commends highly a long term and local responsibility – as a local shop here would say – ‘Think global, act local’.
A few key quotes that remain with me from reading it:
‘Martin Luther King on the Parable of the Good Samaritan: ‘And so the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked, was ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’. But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to HIM?’. We can always find a way to rationalise unlove. We may not choose apathy, but when we choose anything other than love and empathetic justice, we get apathy by default’. (p197)
This comment on such a well-known parable challenges my self-preservation to the core. We conduct risk-assessment on our kindness levels and mercy management reflecting the gains and losses to ourselves. Where is our generosity? The refugee crisis alone and the appallingly slow response from the UK government to assist many of the unaccompanied children in Calais is one current example of terrifying apathy and lack of concern. And yet how many times have I rationalised away my reasons for not helping or not serving, when injustice is sleeping rough in my doorway?
‘We even acquire debt unintentionally, but it is debt nevertheless. If I buy a product that was made by a child slave, my money helped keep that child imprisoned. My ignorance of that fact cannot change the reality of the child’s experience. I commit injustice, I incur debt, I sin’. (p239)
This quote hit me between the eyes. None of us would like to feel responsible for keeping children in slavery, but the truth is that our ignorant consumerism does just that. This isn’t new news, but somehow reading it in black and white made it freshly challenging, even convicting, of where my Euros go. Change in this area for me is going to require lengthy research, waiting longer for internet deliveries, probably paying more when I could get things cheaper, and opting out of buying along with trends. It is all possible – it’s partly what we mean by the word stewardship.
‘Sometimes the most urgent problems are the ones requiring the most study…we are challenged constantly by what’s been called the ‘fierce urgency of now’…’ (p268)
Wytsma is clearly committed to education and training underpinning our works of justice. One of my personal nit-picks is that any service we offer in the name of charity should always be professional. We offer massage at 24-7 Ibiza, but no-one can be a masseuse unless they are qualified and trained, incase they cause more harm than good. A simple example but the case remains – good intentions are not always enough. It is so exciting to look around me and see many of my peers training and studying to become more qualified and learned in a particular field of interest, being trained to professionally and ably meet need where they are.
‘Justice has no finish line’ (p122)
This quote would sum up the message of the book. Pursuing Justice has succeeded in helping me to re-evaluate the lens through which I look at life, and has threaded a challenge to seek justice through the fibre of my day-to-day. It introduces the question of justice into my relationship with God, with others and the world, and trains me to think differently. An unimaginable task but an invitation to contribute to its completion.
One of the questions Wytsma poses is this: ‘Where does God have you now and what is He asking you to do?’, and reading this book may just help answer the question in ways we may have not yet considered.
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