justice

a few years ago i heard a speaker talk about the central message of the Old Testament prophecies, as he saw them. not necessarily the specific prophecies that we now understand to be a forth-telling of the coming of Christ, but those that addressed the sins of the Israelites and addressed God's reasonings for allowing them to be sent into exile. it wasn't just the sins of commission...those that the Israelites actively committed (ie. worshipping foreign idols, sexual sin, etc.) but also the sins of omission...those things that the Israelites should have been doing, but weren't. in fact, the speaker suggested that those sins of commission were a result of the Israelites sins of omission (something to think about). what, specifically, were these 'sins of omission'? Not caring for the widow and not caring for the orphan....a lack of justice. ever since i heard him speak, this idea of justice has been swimming around in the back of my mind. as i read the OT prophecies and the words of Christ i would pick up on the theme of justice and understand it even more and remember the words of a speaker i heard a few years back. and it bothered me, but it made sense.

the speaker's name is jim cantelon...i heard him again tonight. he spoke on the same topic. and it still makes sense. this idea of justice in our world and the churches role in the acting out of this idea (or lack of acting it out, as it seems) continues to ring in my ears as it did when i first heard him...and it continues to bother me. it bothers me because i understand his message to be true. it bothers me because i don't know what to do about it. i understand that there is a lack of justice as i walk through the streets of east vancouver. i understand that there is a lack of justice as i talk to a man on the street who has his bed in a garbage bag and who wanders around my car as i come back from hearing a man on a stage talk about justice.

'do you have any smokes?' he asks.
'no, sorry man, i don't smoke,' i reply.

getting in my car, i turn the key and drive away.

i understand. but i still don't know what to do.