Metro Youth Network

(By Colonel Denny Phillips) – A story is told — probably apocryphal — that a man walking in Times Square was approached by an indigent soul begging money. The man was not a New Yorker, and he was inclined to help, but he wasn’t carrying any cash on him, so he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and looked him square in the eyes as he said, “I’m very sorry, brother, but I truly do not have anything to give you right now.” The beggar paused, feeling the warmth of the man’s hand on his shoulder and sensing the dignity of the passionate look in his eyes as he spoke. Placing his soiled hand on the manicured one now resting on his shoulder, he returned the intense look straight into the eyes of this passer-by who had stepped away from the crush of the Times Square crowd to spend a few seconds…to speak to and actually touch this man in ragged clothes…this man that thousands of others deemed untouchable, and said to him, “You’ve already given me something far more important than money, for you called me your brother, and I’ll never forget you.” With that, the beggar straightened his shoulders and brushed his coat as he strutted away feeling validated by another human being.

Social justice means more than providing for the poor. In The Salvation Army, we deliver human services in the name of Christ, but we must also do so in the spirit of Christ. We must engage the poor with love and respect, kindness and dignity, see beyond the crust of soiled clothes and dirty skin. Overlook awkward, even hostile behavior. Would any of us behave any better if we were homeless, hungry, cold and lonely?

Beware, for behind the unshaven face, the dirt engrained skin and the ragged clothes, Jesus may be checking us out. Did He not as much as say so? Oh yes, when His disciples badgered Him about “What is the kingdom like?”, “Who gets into the Kingdom”, Jesus finally answered and said, “Come, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you brought me water to drink; naked, and you clothed me; in prison and you visited me; sick, and you took care of me.” Then He concluded His startling answer with, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

General John Gowans summed it up well:

You came disguised, but still, I know it’s You.
Today your eyes be black, tomorrow blue.
Your skin is sometimes yellow, sometimes brown;
At times you wear a loin cloth, today a tattered gown.
Your bony hand is held before your face,
But I’d know you, my Lord, in any case,
Grinning at me through leprous eaten jaws.
The broken limbs….the bloated belly…yours.
You bring these changes, Lord
And yet I know
That every soul in need
Is really YOU.

Social justice begins in the heart. Love thy neighbor.

(By Mike Steinsland) – So today in class I had a really interesting, and altogether, boggling experience (I use the word boggling because, like the game, I’m currently in a mess). You see, there’s a man in my class from the Congo, and we all had to make presentations today, and his really spoke to me. While he was growing up in the Congo he lived through two civil wars, and had a lot that he wouldn’t talk about. He would just say that he saw very terrible things. My initial reaction was, “But it’s ok, because now you are safe, God has rescued you.” It soon happened, as it usually does, that I saw that that was a foolish thing for me to think. He met with several Christian refugees from the Congo, and asked them this question, “Do you think God loves the people of the Congo?” This of course led him to the question, “Do you think God is fair?” This is where it gets a little hard for me to stomach. They all said yes to both questions, and their reason why was the same as mine: God brought them out of the Congo, away from all that violence. The problem with such an answer is that it neglects the first question. How can God love the Congo, when only a few of its people get to escape? What about everyone else?

I don’t admit to becoming emotionally involved in things much, but this was it. I felt stirred, and I didn’t know what to think about it anymore. I kept asking myself over and over again, “How can God be fair in the eyes of the people still in the Congo, who where killed for no reason? How can I even ask this man about it when his family has been killed inside of a church?” Luckily for me, my teacher is a very smart man of amazing faith and was able to help. He said we were asking the wrong question. It’s a good question to ask, but it’s not the one we really want the answer for. The question we are attempting to ask is, “Is God responsible?” Is God responsible for what happened in the Congo, or what is happening in Uganda? Is God responsible for families becoming homeless? These are the questions we are trying to ask, but instead of asking if He is responsible, we sort of take the easy way out.

The point is that we shouldn’t ask if God is fair because, just like in the story of Adam and Eve, we had a choice, and God knew what was going to happen and still let us make that choice. You could say God’s full time job is correcting the wrongs that people do. If we could look at all of existence, and I’m going to try to not seem like a know-it-all, we would understand how fully awful and treacherous the human race truly is. Through Jesus Christ our sins were forgiven though, which makes us clean right? Well, we sort of have to try to stay clean. I mean, you don’t take a shower and then go play in a mud-pit, or maybe you do. The fact is no matter how clean you were before playing in that mud-pit you are filthy afterward and need to be cleaned again. That’s what a relationship with God is like, except in the process we help others get clean too, hopefully.

So here’s my closing statement. Though, don’t let this stop you from thinking about these questions, because they are beautiful ways of seeing how great God is. God knows how things are going to end, and it frustrates us and so we complain. I’m beginning to realize the question isn’t a matter of whether God is fair, and how deep the question of God being responsible really goes. If God is not responsible, which I hope by now you know he isn’t, then the question isn’t about God being responsible at all, it’s shaking a finger, an awfully big one, at the entire human race. We are responsible, we are responsible because God gave us a choice and right now that choice is to help the homeless or not to, to help the people of the Congo or not, to stop the genocide in Darfur or not. I’m not an incredibly intelligent person, but I understand to a limited extent what purpose this gives me as a Christian and what the actions of loving my neighbor should look like. Am I stopping injustice, or am I letting the sin of this world corrupt me into apathy? Am I responsible? By listening to God and obeying his word, we can make an impact and change the world for his glory.

(By Sarah Kincaid) – I recently had an email conversation with my future brother-in-law (by the time this is posted, brother-in-law!) about the love of Christ, sinners, compassion, the United States and how we fit in these things. Having this dialog has caused me to wrestle with how I view love and has caused me to critique the way I show love in an unjust world. Am I showing God’s love? Or is it my version of what love is? Will love save the world? With some debate and wondering if believing in peace and love makes me a hippie, yeah I believe in love – love that comes from Christ – can overcome the world.

In Matthew 22:37-40 Christ responds to a Pharisee’s question about what is the most important commandment and Jesus replies, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest command. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Wow. So a huge part of following Christ, the son of God, is about love. Well Christ is God and God is love, so that makes sense. 1 John 4: 7-8 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” So we should be striving to be love, because God is love.

Yet another thing God is is just, and it is fair to say that we live in an unjust world. Unfortunately, Chicago leads the pack in the country for highest murder rate in 2008. The Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe is responsible for their economic and humanitarian crisis which has caused the nation to face acute shortages of fuel, electricity and medical drugs. The inflation rate — the highest in the world — is 231 million percent. Currently there are 3,000 kidnapped people in Columbia being held hostage by rebel groups. Where is the love in this unjust world?

Just before Christ left this world, after he died for our sins and was resurrected, he gave his disciples some very important instructions. He said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and makes disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” So he is saying we are responsible for what happens on this earth? We are supposed to teach others his commandments? And the most important is to love God and love each other?

I guess someone dropped the ball. I think I’ve dropped the ball. But the good news is there is hope. That last line of instructions Christ gives says “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” So it is our responsibility, but Christ is saying he will be there. We need him because we can’t love or save. It’s him loving and saving through us. 1 John 4:11-12 “Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

These things aren’t easy; loving others. The people we love the most, our family, are usually the people we forget to show love to. And showing justice in an unjust world? Also not easy. But the Lord never said it would be easy. He actually said it would be difficult, but he also said he has overcome. “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:32-33