Justice Devotional - What's In a Name?

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

What’s In a Name?

Acts 4:36

The custom of modifying a person’s name to more appropriately represent God’s work in their life accompanied God’s relationship with God’s servants throughout the bible. The intriguing piece, however, is found in how this change of name always reflected the individual according to how God himself saw them, rather than they themselves or even others. Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel; and even Jesus himself changed Simon to Peter demonstrating in this way the transforming work of the Spirit, which would move him from being an insignificant fisherman to a rock within the church. Along with this was a change of location, a time of moving.

As Abram began his journey away from his family and from his land, he was a foreigner. He was an undocumented illegal alien. But he was only this in the eyes of those suggesting he didn’t look the same, talk the same or believe the same. In the eyes of the Lord, he was already Abraham! Seeking a better life, not for himself, but for his descendants that did not yet exist!

Times have not changed so much that this custom is not represented in our ever changing world today. But let us wonder if this was at the center of God’s intention as we compare in contrast this biblical custom, with the custom of man today where “nicknames” are placed on individuals, usually based solely on circumstances or physical characteristics. We live in a society that is divided on issues surrounding immigration and at the center of this we hear names such as “Wetback,” “illegal,” “alien,” “unwanted,” and “criminal” among other, many times worse names, used in a derogatory manner to degrade and minimize the value of another human being.

Our world is full of inequalities. Countries prosper while countries perish. People hunger while others indulge in excess. While these inequalities exist there will always be a fleeing people seeking a better life.

Let us strive to see others through the eyes of our Lord and Creator. Let us look and listen for the characteristics in others that reflect the name that most appropriately represents God’s relationship to God’s child and purpose. Could we possibly begin to comprehend the name our Lord would place on another individual? Do we understand the circumstances surrounding this life? Do we have this right to judge? After all, we are ALL part of a bigger Kingdom.

Pastor Lori Tapia: Iglesia Alas de Salvacion, Gilbert, Arizona Immigration and Refugees

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Justice Devotional - A Victim of Her Circumstances

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

A Victim of Her Circumstances

Genesis 16:1-10 Hagar's Song

Genesis, chapter 16, offers insight into the life of a young Egyptian woman named, Hagar. This pregnant slave girl is filled with confusion and distress. Everyone around her is uncomfortable. She did not choose this predicament for herself. Like other women, she became a victim of circumstances. After giving birth to Abraham's first son, Ishmael, they were asked to leave the security and comforts of what they had always known, only to go into a new reality called, the unknown. Although, complex in nature, Hagar’s life and the story of her womanhood is seen in an unhealthy light. There were several injustices committed. Rereading this story, reminds me of the number of women and children who are still being exiled, every day from amongst everything they have ever known. They are deserted, and left to find their own way? We cannot fix the Hagar story.

However, we can change the lyrics to her song.
Today, I am singing a new song. One that promotes inclusion, love, justice and reconciliation for all women. There is a new sound dancing around in my head; while muffling the old tunes of disrespect, abuse and injustice. That tune says, “What would this world exemplify if all women felt empowered and respected?”
Please consider this: Every time a “Woman is affected, a child is affected.” Whenever any woman is treated with disrespect, we are all disrespected. In the words of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Today’s challenge is choosing to see, hear, and gather persons from all points of exclusion. We must take the time to investigate our communities and spheres of influence, while listening for those persons who may be living a life similar to Hagar’s. We must not rest until all have been restored to their rightful places, (a) the arms of God (b) and the whole of Humanity. Friends, the redemption of Hagar's story is she was met by an Angel who assured her of God’s presence. She was given direct insight into a promised future, therefore, some dignity was restored. However, you and I (we) must become the one voice of God, whose total assignment is to sing the lyrics to the new song-quoting “With liberty and Justice for All!”
The Rev. Dr. Christal L. Williams: Associate Regional Minister
The Christian Church in Illinois & Wisconsin, Cherry Valley, IL
Women and Children Read more!

Justice Devotional - Strawberry Fields Forever

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

Strawberry Fields Forever

Matthew 20:1-16

In California, Kate and I would from time to time buy strawberries from a roadside stand. The stand was located within the limits of Los Angeles County where nearly ten million people reside. We never found a stand selling corn or tomatoes but there were several next to strawberry fields.

As we admired the baskets of strawberries we had just purchased, we could almost hear over our heads the melody of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and the question of how long would the growers of strawberries hold out. How long could the offers made by developers of new housing projects be resisted? Of course the real defenders of the strawberry fields in Los Angeles County, those who keep the fields flourishing and financially viable, are not the growers.

Those of us who buy the strawberries don’t ask the cashier if they are cultivated and picked by “legal” workers. We don’t ask if they earn the $8 minimum hourly wage in Los Angeles County. We breathe in the scent of fresh strawberries and are lifted by gratitude that the fields are still there. But we know that they wouldn’t be if the workers, the brown skinned men and women, earned a wage above the poverty level for a family.

It’s the same in the fields seen on the drive along California’s U.S. 1 up the coast. How can those fields be farmed on some of the country’s most valuable real estate? If their workers have been at it for more than five years, don’t they deserve to be considered “legal”? Do we really want to continue to punish them through our immigration system?

Doug Smith and Kate Moyer, 
ordained DOC ministers Long Term Volunteer Missionaries with Global Ministries Mesa Conjunta "Roundtable" in San Luis Potosi, Mexico Immigration and Refugees Read more!

Justice Devotional - Excuse me...

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

Excuse me...

Matthew 25:40

“I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me — you did it to me.”

As a former teacher, I could write a book about the interesting excuses my students (both the children and adults) gave me for not completing assignments. There are always exceptions and believe me, there’s no excuse that a teacher hasn’t heard. The common denominator to the excuses was that most of the time they blamed everyone else but themselves.

My sister Luz Amanda and her women’s network have opened up a daycare, job training center and support ministry for the women. My sister Rosette and her sisters have started a soap making business. Another group of sisters have established a microcredit union that supports women to allow them to become self-sufficient entrepreneurs.

This isn’t unusual, but let me add the rest of the story.

Luz Amanda and her network are located in Colombia. Rosette and her sisters founded the soap making business and the microcredit union in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All of these women are in the midst of poverty, war torn countries, violence against women and danger on a regular basis. These factors would serve as valid excuses or reasons not to be able to complete their assignments. Yet in the midst of what appears to be no material resources, they have resurrected successful ventures with faith, perseverance and resilience.

No excuses.

I will never forget the words of wisdom from one of my Colombian sisters in Christ during my visit. “Whenever you’re frustrated and feel that you can’t do something, remember your Colombian sisters and then you’ll realize if we can do it, you can too.”

No excuses. Years later, her words and actions resonate continually within my spirit. Her simple, yet profound wisdom remains a bit unsettling because it places the responsibility on....me. There are no excuses. As I thought about my goals and desires, I was literally embarrassed at the excuses I had for delaying them. Even though I had access to far more resources than my sisters, they were accomplishing life-changing ventures.

These brave Congolese and Colombian women are ministering to populations that are overlooked and ignored by others. The importance of the call diminishes their excuses.

We are not called to make excuses, but to make good.

No excuses.

Sheila Spencer Director of Christian Education/Faith Formation – Disciples Home Missions Light of the World Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Indianapolis, IN Women and Children

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Justice Devotional - "Who has let the wild ass go free?"

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

Creation Care “Who has let the wild ass go free?”

Job 39:5-8

The last several chapters of the book of Job offer an incredible window into God’s love of creation and of the varied, wonderful creatures God placed on the earth. Most of us are familiar with the overall storyline of Job. He thought he had lost everything, pitied himself, declared himself righteous and cursed God. Granted, Job had experienced great suffering and the entire text is, in many ways, terrifying (though one must recall that for the rest of his family and his animals, who were dead, Job was at least still alive). God responds to Job with the powerful voice of the whirlwind. And in this divine answer, human beings are, not so subtly, reminded that we are not the center of the universe.

God asks Job, and through him all humanity, a series of questions — where were you when the earth was formed? Did you create the rain? Did you give the horse strength? And as God lists the beautiful traits of myriad creatures, Job’s self-centered world begins to melt away. But something else happens as well, God’s other creatures are elevated. They do not exist for humans, they exist for the glory of God and for themselves — the other animals have inherent value, they are complete without any humans around at all. The wild ass is free, and God is the one who loosed the bonds of the ass. The ass ignores the driver (the human) and ranges the mountains. The wild ox cannot be bound. The horse laughs at fear and divine wisdom fills the wings of the hawk.

Job 39 is a divine hymn to the beauty, independence and self-worth of the animals God created. It is a reminder that humans are just one of the many amazing parts of God’s creation. If we open our eyes and ears to the beauty and richness of all of God’s creatures, we, like Job, will begin to understand things too wonderful, which we did not know.

Dr. Laura Hobgood-Oster: Professor of Religion and Environmental Studies Bethany Beach Christian Church, DE and Southwestern University, TX Creation Care Read more!

Justice Devotional - God's Love Song

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

God’s Love Song
Luke 5:16

Jesus’ prayer life was honed in the wilderness among the wild beasts during the temptation and in the wilderness he was most at home. As the Incarnate Word through which all Creation was called, Jesus had an affinity for the wild like a Seagull has for the ocean breeze or a dolphin for the waves. There he drew close to God and in God he discovered himself.
To draw close to Jesus is to be drawn close to the Creation he loved. There we come into contact with the Word in ways nowhere else available and learn lessons nowhere else taught.

The Psalmist sings, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal knowledge (19:1-2). Creation is a love song between the Creator and the Word. Are you listening? Creation is a window into the wonder of God’s Love. Are you looking?
The birds, animals, plants, and even the earth itself, are sacred words speaking the wonder of God; if we but pay attention and listen. Clearly, the author of Job listened to Creation speak as he concluded Job’s demand for a reckoning with the Lord of Life.


Chapter after chapter of the best of human argument failed to convince Job of the mystery of life before God. He is finally silenced in the ashes and dust of repentance by the immensity of the Master’s wisdom inescapably displayed by one wonder of Creation after another. Where human argument and reason fail; Creation succeeds. Perhaps the humbleness before the Master of Creation this sacred text teaches is something we can learn more easily than Job. We will if we enter into the wild places and there listen to the Word of Life speaking.

Rev. Frits Haverkamp: Northside Christian Church, Knoxville, TN
Green Chalice Congregation Read more!

Justice Devotional - Church and Children

From 
Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of

• Women and children
• Hunger and poverty
• Creation care
• Immigration

Church and Children
Matthew 12:18


In 2004, the National Council of Churches put out a Comprehensive Policy Statement, “The Church and Children: Vision and Goals for the 21st Century”.

The statement focuses on and encourages churches to
• include children in their full worship life;
• support loving and safe families;
• advocate for access to excellent public education, health care, economic security;
• work for a violence-free society that is emotionally and physically safe; and
• nurture healthy child development by ensuring that all children have access to the arts, culture, and recreation.

So often when churches think of pursuing justice, we think of liberating those in prison, feeding the poor, pursuing peace...all very good things. But are churches thinking of how they can find justice for children? Are they taking the steps to ensure the goals stated above? If so, how? If not, why?

The study guide offered here: http://www.ncccusa.org/pdfs/churchandchildrenbrochure.pdf is a resource for congregations to start looking at the question of justice for children and what amazing implications might follow if the church embraced these goals. It is my prayer that all churches will look at children as full members of the body of Christ, that they might take seriously what children have to teach us about the Kingdom of God, and that they might strive to bring justice to children in situations where it is so desperately needed.

Rev. Olivia Stewart Robertson: Minister of Family and Children’s Ministries
Disciples Home Missions Women and Children Read more!