This banner, seen at Gangjeong village on the southern coast of Jeju Island, where a naval base was built over the opposition of the people and their supporters, provides a reminder of the challenge to work for justice and peace and wholeness in all things.
Traci Smith, author of Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home has provided a gift of the November 2018 Gratitude Every Day calendar. I am using it as an opportuity to revisit photos and post them as they speak to gratitude.
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seeker of justice
“Brokenness, disunity, and hatred are evident all over the planet. The world needs the witness Belhar calls the church to live out in the world. The church’s primary responsibility is to love God so fully that God’s saving presence shines through her like light in the midst of darkness. The church then becomes a beacon of hope, a lighthouse on the shore of a storm-tossed sea. By confessing, internalizing, and living out the principles of Belhar in her own experience, the church positions herself to become what Henri Nouwen calls, ‘a wounded healer.'”
“It is not difficult to know where the Lord stands. The witness of Scripture is clear, consistent, and compelling. Psalm 82 says what Torah, prophets, Gospels, and epistles say: The Lord stands with the weak and the orphan, the lowly and the destitute, the week and the needy. Those are not the only ones the Lord stands with, but they are the ones most likely to be ignored and exploited, the ones least likely to possess the power to withstand mistreatment and manipulation. It is not difficult to know where the Lord stands, but it is often difficult to know where the church stands.”
“Like hurricanes and floods, God’s justice should uproot systems of oppression established by our political, religious, and economic prejudice. It should cleanse the world of all its racial, xenophobic, and gender-based violence. God’s justice should wash through our hearts and minds, like the waters of baptism, reforming us into new creations dedicated to fulfilling the law of love and justice for all people.”