Run!

I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! … If you’ve got a priest who is preaching social justice, find another parish.
—Glenn Beck, The Glenn Beck Show, March 2, 2010

Throughout Lent, I’ve been meditating on the spiritual journey. Where do we begin, where are we going, and who are our companions along the way? I’ve been sharing the path with plenty of people I like and respect, people whose thoughts stimulate me to deeper places in my soul.

But it’s good for me to remember that there are others on the path from whom I learn because they and I fundamentally disagree. There’s something about an argument that forces me to consider carefully what I believe. Glenn Beck is one of these from whom I learn this way. A few days ago, he urged his listeners to look out for code words that their religious leaders were really promoting Nazism and Communism using terms like economic or social justice. He told his listeners to run away from such churches and report their pastors to church authorities. I had to chuckle a bit as I wondered what Jesus would say to someone tattling on us. We have our shortcomings as a church, but we’re pretty much in agreement that Jesus expects of us a love rooted in just and right relationships among friends and enemies alike.

I want to hang a banner out on the lawn that says, “Social justice is what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of heaven.”

And another that reads, “Economic Justice is part of the Economy of Salvation.”

So I want you to know what I’ve done. I’ve sent Mr. Beck an email telling him that I’m a social justice Christian. I’ve told him that if he’d like to visit us some day at First Christian Church, he will be welcome here, and he’ll find that everyone is welcome, even people who don’t always agree with each other or with him. He’ll find a congregation that believes love and justice are flip sides of the same divine coin—and we give to God what belongs to God. Our actions show it. He’ll find a church that believes God cares about poverty, illness, hunger, and social marginalization. He’ll find a church that’s running all right, but it’s running toward the gospel, not away from it.

He’ll find a church that sees a vision of God’ justice before us, and as we set our faces toward God’s kingdom, we’re prepared to RUN.

Along the Way, I wish you God’s peace on today’s stage of your Lenten spiritual journey. May Christ’s companionship bless you with confidence for the day, comfort you in trouble, and put a spring of joy in your step.