Worship → Justice → Worship
Last week I shared ten characteristics of biblical justice. (If you're interested, I expanded the the list into an article for Missio Alliance.) Of those ten, I've found myself regularly returning to this one over the past year: justice begins in worship. Today I want to tell you why I think this one keeps surfacing for me and why I hope those of us who are waking up to injustice will lean into worship.
When it comes to justice, my most significant formation has come through relationships with Black women and men and their churches. What I've noticed is that, for many of these Christians, the pursuit of justice is theologically and experientially tied to worship. I mention this for two reasons: 1) the connection wasn't always intuitive to me and 2) there are plenty of Christians for whom it is and theirs are the voices we need to pay closest attention to.
Now, about that connection. God does not simply command his people to seek justice, though he does. God is just. "But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts." (Isaiah 5:16) To really understand justice, according to Scripture, we need to know God. And one of the primary ways we know God, not simply know about God, is through worship.
Animated by the Holy Spirit, we proclaim our singular allegiance to the Lord Jesus. We adore him above each of our desires and longings. We join our voices and lives with God's people and testify to the One through whom all that was created derives its being.
In worship, we encounter that righteous God. This is the God who cares that the scales of justice are balanced, that land is honored with rest, that animals - domesticated and wild - are respected, that workers are dignified, and that vulnerable outsiders are protected.
The friends and churches who have formed my perspective know how to worship. Proclaimed allegiance and sung affection are priorities. This wouldn't surprise many white Christians, but here's what might. I've stood with many of those same friends in the middle of protests, marches, and die-ins as we agitate for justice. I've been invited to their tables as we plan, strategize, and fund raise for justice for our communities. Worship and justice, in these space, are a seamless garment.
And here we need to ask the obvious question. If our worship does not lead to justice, who exactly are we worshiping? Surely we have remade the God who severely condemns injustice into a benign deity who affirms ill-gotten wealth, privilege built on oppression, and the stolen land we delusionally claim to own.
Many of us remember God's command to "let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." (Amos 5:24) We might forget, though, that this is a command to worship, a contrast to the people's empty festivals, assemblies, and offerings. God wasn't asking his people to stop worshiping in order to do justice. He was exposing their actions for what they were, an idolatrous form of worship which led to injustice. Like many of us, it seems Israel had remade God into their own self-serving image. As a result, justice was neglected. Worship too.
There's something else though, something that, for the Christian, makes the relationship between worship and justice wonderfully and permanently tangled. As Vince Bantu writes in Gospel Haymanot, "God's desire for our liberation is so that we may worship Christ alone." Justice points beyond itself, to its source. Worship leads us to pursue justice, yes. But also, justice fulfilled leads to worship.
Frankly, I'm nervous that as some Christians are waking from their privileged slumber, they will overlook the importance of worship. Because their previous forms of worship ignored God's true nature, they will assume that justice is separate from allegiance and adoration. They will construct methods and strategies that pay only the faintest lip service to the righteousness and justice of their God.
I understand this misguided tendency. It's hard to pursue what you've never seen. But just because you can't imagine this beautiful tangle of worship and justice doesn't mean that a whole host of Christians haven't been living it for generations. For many of us, the journey to justice needs to begin with finding some guides and friends who know the way. Thankfully, there are many who know this truth in their bones, that justice begins and ends with worship.
(Photo credit: Luis Quintero)
Here in Chicago, this week marked a year of our stay-at-home reality. I've been thinking a lot about the loses of the past twelve months and I assume many of you have too. For some, the grief is especially heavy. I'm glad you're here, wherever precisely here is for you. I hope you'll know a measure of peace and, dare we say it, a glimpse of hope on this strange and sad anniversary.