In my final week of class, we are reading an article that has some very strong political overtones (like much of the prophets). Here are some excerpts for the purpose of spawning healthy (and fun) debate:
A friend of mine and I were talking about the kids she works with at school. She works with severely disabled kids, kids who need significant extra attention, kids that although there are programs and moneys designed to provide for them that still are arguably not getting the attention they need. The question or topic centered around our role as a society to ‘provide’ for these kids as well as others in need. Some thoughts…
From The Role of the Prophets and the Role of the Church by Gene Tucker:
“…justice, in both its Hebrew and its English forms, is originally at home in the law court. In Israel, the decision (judgment) establishing justice was pronounced at the conclusion of the trial, restoring right and fair relationships among the parties. Justice came then to be the claim each person has upon others in the society, and which God has upon the people. The dimension emphasized by the prophets is the failure of justice at the social level, and that means the weak must be protected from the strong. To withhold power, or to misuse it, is a distortion of God’s will, whether the power be economic, political, or military. Israel’s crime, says Amos, is selling the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, trampling the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and denying legal due process to the afflicted (Amos 2:6-7).”
In light of our conversation last night and of Amos 2:6-7 that was just quoted, are we selling or ‘giving up’ the righteous, those who are trying to redeem the society, make things right for those in need in order to save a buck (or a pair of shoes as Amos puts it)? Are we misusing our resources by not providing the way we ‘should’ simply to provide better for ourselves? Who’s head are we trampling in the name of individualism? In the name of the strength of our economy and of our bottom line? What role do we play in this dance?
“…any prophetic understanding of the church and its ministry will have a profound sense of the social, corporate, and institutional dimensions of human life. Such an awareness is especially important in a society which tends to stress radical individualism, which likes to think of itself as a nation of self-made men. These are two persistent frontier images by which we understand American life and history. One is that picture of the cabin on the frontier; standing beside it is the lonely, solitary individual with his rifle against the wilderness, and his plow to till the ground. That is the one we remember. But the other image also comes from the American drive to move West. It is the barn-raising, when all members of the community came together to help one another, to create a society, and to celebrate even their need for one another. The prophetic role will emphasize that second image, the communal dimension of the church’s ministry will be aware that justice and righteousness, and faithfulness to God, are corporate realities or they do not exist at all.”
Anyway…this was just for fun as I am thinking a lot about this now due to the class I’m taking….
