Justice

i attended the Denver Justice Conference this past weekend and was really encouraged and challenged. 

i returned to Denver a year ago looking and hoping for places to learn and be a part of change for the world. even though i have been here almost my whole life, i didn't really know where to start. plus, my energy was severely directed elsewhere.

my sister is great about tapping into resources and events that are going on and told me about the conference.

some thoughts on justice:
a definition of biblical justice: addresses the root of social inequity, advocating for those who suffer and challenging the principalities and powers that cause suffering.

another website i looked at gave three different kinds of justice fighters (along with a short quiz to find your own style.)
Preventative Justice
Intervention Justice
Restorative Justice
 it has been really helpful to realize that i don't have to be a Martin Luther King Jr to fight injustice.  I'm more of a merciful, compassionate justice fighter, wanting to journey with victims and those who suffer.  i am willing to be the one to bust down doors and rescue children, but then i want to journey life with them and be a part of long term healing. i care about policies and laws, and really am thankful that others are strong in that area. I'm more like Mother Teresa. and i like that. (well, i have so far to come to be more like Mother Teresa, but you get the idea.)  =)

in light of about a year left of my masters degree, this felt like confirmation: i care about the hurting of the world and want to be a part of caring for those people. 

a side note about school: i am REAL ready to be done. i love the learning, i love discussion, i even love the reading once i make the time and sit down to do it, but I'm ready to be done with a crazy schedule. i'm ready to be done with working funky hours so that i can fit in my class schedule and time with my husband. i'm tired of writing papers to describe exactly what i think about the doctrine of God or how exactly people change. i'm weary of reading articles and essays by men that are stuffy and old. i know i am so close to being done, but it is not yet. and that's the rub today. i am not sure how i can honestly and authentically finish the next three semesters of class, papers, tests and internship. it's much easier to check out, and fake it. and i hate that in others...so....?

back to justice. i don't have a lot of time and energy to jump into volunteering and giving towards justice. but i learned more about human trafficking and immigration issues. hard topics. important issues. really-important people.

I'm reworking my faith. trying to figure out what it looks like to follow Jesus these days, in light of my own life experiences and those around me. in light of what i know, and what i have seen. one mentor challenged me to not just keep it all in my head-cause i could read books about this until my eyes gloss over and go cross. but isn't that some of what faith is about? personal, internal, something of the heart?   i know it is also something that should be external, lived, shared. community. but i have lived so long focused on being right in the community, that I'm taking some time to focus on the internal.

asking questions of myself. asking questions of the churches i am going to. wrestling with the whole idea of being a part of something that is both broken and redeemed at the same time. Who is this God? where is the place of mystery and how then do i have a "foundation?"

I'm reading a number of books this semester for myself (instead of just for school) and Evolving in Monkey Town is one of them. i can really relate a lot to this woman's faith journey/spiritual memoir. one idea from the book:  God abundantly pardons. Isaiah 55.  i like it.

while being a part of justice, i also want to be a part of abundantly forgiving. 
maybe even directing my anger and violence into grace. violent grace maybe?