The Justice Team Takes Over

Hello! We at Waterstone hope that Larry has a wonderfully restorative Sabbatical, and while he’s gone we’ve planned a BLOG TAKEOVER for the summer! Who is taking over this blog, you ask? And will there be any Wendell Berry quotes?

The first question, I can answer. As for the second, all I can say is hopefully one of the blog contributors can manage to give us a morsel from one of Larry’s favorite authors to sustain us while Larry is away.

Drumroll please for the blog takeover… The Justice Team will be here all summer on Larry’s blog! If you’ve been around Waterstone for awhile, or even for just a short bit, you may have heard mention of our Justice Class. The Justice Class, now updated, condensed, and renamed “The Bible, Justice, and Me,” is one of the primary ways Waterstone helps people learn about and engage with God's heart to bring about his love, justice and mercy in our community.

This past session of Wednesdays at Waterstone, I chose to take “The Bible, Justice, and Me.”

I think taking this class was one of the most spiritually formative experiences I’ve had while following Jesus, and so I’m grateful the Justice Team invited me to write the intro to this series. If I know you personally, I’ve already told you how much this class impacted me. But what if I told you that you can get a taste of the class this summer by checking out this blog? This summer, the various issues covered in the class will be featured here, one by one.

The four topics we’ll introduce are:

• Policing
• Race
• Poverty
• Immigration.

Each topic will include various people’s experience in the class, and will provide recommended books or podcasts related to each individual topic, or even a movie or documentary to help you engage with a biblical mindset. This summer, take the opportunity to enrich your mind. Don’t unplug from church; instead, plug into one of the books, podcasts, or documentaries mentioned here on the blog about a justice issue.

I can say from personal experience that if, like me, your Christianity is plenty full of worship, discipleship, and fellowship but missing proactive proximity to, interaction with, and advocacy for the vulnerable and oppressed, then “The Bible, Justice, and Me” will rock your world. If you’ve been living in grayscale faith, this class has a way of bringing it into vibrant color.

I learned that there is so much more than I even realized happening in God’s Upside-Down kingdom, and as a follower of Jesus, we are called to a very active faith. I was surprised to see in Scripture how often God talks about his heart being concerned for the poor, the vulnerable, the oppressed, and how much He calls us to actively work at pushing back the darkness with Him if we are His. I think in my American, comfortable, individualistic Christianity (cringe), I see I haven’t given enough weight or attention to God’s words about how He wants our hearts and lives to interact with the vulnerable. It turns out, these words are everywhere in the Bible, and now I can’t unsee them.

I hope you’ll read Larry’s blog takeover throughout the summer and find something to learn more about. It may be a little different than a beach read, but hey, we don’t have beaches in Colorado anyway. These resources will be a little more like an invigorating, breathtaking adventure, and I think that’s our vibe here anyway, both in Colorado and at Waterstone. Will you join us this summer?

Ash Anderson

Tags: love, jesus, mercy, justice, heart, class