thoughts on social justice and the church

I have been thinking a lot about the church and social justice. I believe there is a new term or at least an unpacking of an old term. Social justice is defined as ‘the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society’. Social justice is about political, economic and social equality and fairness. The kingdom of God has overlap with the values of social justice but not total alignment. Both call us to value of human beings and take action in the here and now instead of merely banking on a future, afterlife hope.

But the church needs a new term. Maybe kingdom justice would work. In the kingdom of God all people are invaluable because they bear the mark of God himself. Kingdom people share and our in relationship with one another so that all may have enough to eat, drink and wear. The kingdom is like a family that learns from one another, shares openly and out of love, not out of a sense that it makes the sharer better. In fact I am pretty sure in this reality there is a sense that sharing always is a two-way deal. There is no one way transaction. When material rich people share they recognize that all they are giving is material stuff which in eternal standards is nothing. They always are given something in return. Kingdom people actually are dependant on one another so that justice is not an issue of ‘I have’ and ‘you need’ but instead there is a constant sense of ‘I (we) need God’ and ‘I (we) can’t know him without each other’.

I like the language of Christianity offering a third way. We are not about social justice nor are we against it. We are neither blue nor red. The kingdom is something else that is better, deeper, more mysterious, life transforming and calls us to both live radically in this world and long deeply for the one to come.