LET’S BEGIN WITH CHARITY. The meaning of the word charity is pretty straight-forward and uncontested. The primary meaning of the word “charity” (from the Latin caritas) is “love” – love of God above all things and the love of our neighbor as ourselves. On top of that, the word “charity” also stands for concrete acts of generous assistance toward those in need (as in “charitable donations”).
THE TERM “JUSTICE,” on the other hand, is the source of much confusion. It is not unusual to hear commentators argue that Christians have no business talking about justice in the social realm, except for legal justice in the courts. We are even told that terms such as “social justice” or “economic justice” are merely pleasant-sounding euphemisms for socialism.
The most notable recent challenge to Christian social justice came in March 2010 when radio host Glenn Beck begged his listeners to look for the words "social justice" or "economic justice" on their church’s Web site. If they found it, they ought to run as fast as they could. “Social justice and economic justice, they are code words,” Beck insisted, “the one common rallying cry of both Nazis and Communists because they both want totalitarian government.”
Beck’s comments caused outcries among many Christians, not only among liberals, but among prominent conservative church leaders as well. All of them insisted that social justice is a core Christian concept. Social justice, they said, is about shalom, humanity’s peace with God, one another, and creation. Social justice stands in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets and the teachings of Jesus.
One BIG difference between acts of charity and acts of justice is that when people engage in ACTS OF CHARITY, it primarily means that people who have access to resources share some of their resources with others who lack them. The “haves” do something FOR the “have nots” – to put it crudely. It is a lopsided relationship in which one party has access to all the resources and appears to know what the other party needs and the other party is simply on the receiving end of such goodness.
ACTS OF JUSTICE are different. Rather than doing things FOR the poor of this world, people who seek to further justice do things WITH them, in service, in community, in negotiation, in partnership. In such a relationship, the poor know what they need. We just have to ask and listen.
“Charity” maintains a distance; “justice” smells the stench, suffers the heat, cries over each death, and cheers each small success.
SERVICE. The curious thing is that in Lutheran circles we rarely seem to talk about justice. Rather, it is far more common for Lutherans to encourage one another to engage in “service” to others (as is “God’s work. Our hands” or “service worship”). I have wondered, for a long time, why that is the case and whether it is necessarily a bad thing.
The underlying spirit of our iSERVE Sundays is one of service. We trust that in serving others in Jesus’ name, we serve God and worship God. We also trust that by serving others, we offer ourselves to God, so that God may shape us through God’s Holy Spirit. By being “Christ to others” (Luther’s term) we each have the chance to grow in Christ. The first and foremost transformation that we hope will result from our service is our own transformation, our own growth in hope, faith and love.
May this iSERVE Sunday be a strong witness to our shared faith in God and may the people whose lives we touch experience God’s love through us.
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