Awakening: Week 2
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail, April 16, 1963.
Justice has for too long been defined in terms of retribution. When we say we want to see “justice done” in response to immoral or criminal behavior, what we’re really saying is that we want punishment and revenge.
But in biblical terms, that’s a horrible definition of justice. God’s justice, especially as revealed through the life of Jesus of Nazareth, is not retributive but restorative. It is, to paraphrase Rev. Jacqui Lewis from this week’s discussion video, the reign of God on earth…everyone fed, everyone clothed, everyone included, everyone loved.
And if that’s the case, Dr. King’s quote that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere is an awakening for us all.
This week at New Wineskins, we’ll celebrate the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with a conversation about justice and salvation. We’ll be guided by a video from The Work of the People featuring Rev. Lewis sharing her thoughts on what justice and salvation are, how oppressive systems redefined the terms for their own advantage, and how we can awaken ourselves to a world where justice and salvation are innately intertwined.
Please join us this Sunday, Jan. 14, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we continue our Epiphany series on Awakenings with a conversation about how we can be a people of justice, and how none of us are saved until all of us are saved.
Click here to view this week’s discussion video (email address required)
6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin
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