Missional Communities& Compassionate Justice

charlestlee.com@charlestlee

Describing Social Justice(UC Berkley School of Social Welfare)

Social Justice is a process, not an outcome, which:

(1) seeks fair (re)distribution of resources, opportunities, and responsibilities;

(2) challenges the roots of oppression and injustice;

(3) empowers all people to exercise self-determination and realize their full potential;

(4) and builds social solidarity and community capacity for collaborative action.

Some of the Difficulties of Framing a Conversation

on Social Justice

• The Definition of Justice

• Difference Between Justice and Compassion

• Epistemology and Metaphysics

• Relativism & Moral Relativism

• Cynicism

• Social Darwinism

• Paradoxical Aggression

Working Towards Social JusticeEssential Areas to Consider // Sources of Power

• Economics

• Law

• Philosophy

• Politics

• Religion

• Culture / Social

Deep Justiceby Kara Powell

The Differences Between

“Not-So-Deep Service”

and “Deep Justice”

www.nuruinternational.org

4 Major Types of JusticeAdapted from Mae Elise Cannon (pp. 36-37 of Social Justice Handbook)

• Retributive Justice - “an eye for an eye”

• Distributive Justice - “allocation of resources”

• Restorative Justice - “reconciliation”

• restoring relationship between oppressor and victim

• Redemptive Justice - “redemption of the oppressor”

The 3 Categories of People in Scripture Described as Needing Justice

Adapted from “The Great Awakening” by Jim Wallis

1. The Widow and the Orphan

2. The Stranger

3. The Enemy

God’s Heart for Justice“When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!

Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless,

plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:15,17)

God’s Heart for Justice“You hear, O LORD, the desire of the

afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending

the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth,

may terrify no more.” Psalm 10:17-18

Isaiah 58:6-7

Is  not  this  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  him  and  not  to  turn  away  from  your  own  >lesh  and  blood?    

Proverbs 29:7

The  righteous  care  about  justice  for  the  poor,  but  the  wicked  have  no  such  concern.  

Proverbs 28:27

He  who  gives  to  the  poor  will  lack  nothing,  but  he  who  closes  his  eyes  to  them  

receives  many  curses.  

1. Our WorldGod’s Heart for JusticeWill 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 6:7-8

Jeremiah 22:16

“He  defended  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  needy,              and  so  all  went  well.  Is  that  not  what  it  means  to  know  me?”  declares  the  LORD.    

God’s Heart for Justice“The exercise of justice is joy

for the righteous,but is terror

to the workers on iniquity.”Proverbs 21:15

God’s Heart for Justice"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has

anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom

for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18-19

God’s Heart for Justice

UGANDA

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe min and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others." Matthew 23:23

God’s Heart for Justice

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father;

take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me,

I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,

or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in,

or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Matthew 25:34-40

God’s Heart for Justice

James 1:27Religion  that  God  our  Father  accepts  as  pure  and  fautless  is  this:  to  look  after  orphans  and  widows  in  their  distress  and  to  keep  oneself  

from  being  polluted  by  the  world.

James 2:14-17“What  good  is  it,  my  brothers  and  sisters,  

if  you  say  you  have  faith  but  do  not  have  works?  Can  faith  save  you?  If  a  brother  or  sister  is  naked  and  lacks  daily  food,  and  one  of  you  says  to  them,  ‘Go  in  peace;  keep  warm  and  eat  your  >ill,'  and  yet  you  do  not  supply  

their  bodily  needs,  what  is  the  good  of  that?  So  faith  by  itself,  if  it  has  no  works,  is  dead”.

Let  us  touch  the  dying,  the  poor,  the  lonely  

and  the  unwanted  according  to  the  graces  we  have  received  

and  let  us  not  be  ashamed  or  slow  to  do  the  humble  work.

-­  Mother  Teresa

Brian McLaren on Justice

who  do  you  see?.

Martin Luther King Jr.

“A minister cannot preach the glories of heaven while ignoring social conditions in his own community that cause [people] an earthly hell.”

www.deidox.com

www.sharefestinc.org

www.just4one.org

www.just4one.org

• Clear Mission

• Re-Framing the Conversation

• Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

CompassionateJustice

3rd Culture MisfitsThe Wizard of Oz

3 Nuns, Bono & GodBack to the Playground

Goal or By-Product?

Imaginary People

Version 2.0Get Over “It”

Wrong Table

Speak HumanVisual Apologetics

Much More Than a Happy MealLife Beyond Facebook

Detox

Lessons from the Wine Guy

Real Time

Paul or the 12?

Can You Hear Me Now?

www.ideationconference.com

www.charlestlee.comtwitter: @charlestlee

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Missional Communities& Compassionate Justice

charlestlee.com@charlestlee