Send to serve....social justice!!!

With this blog I am following up on the question raised last Sabbath.  Worship service sends us into mission.  Do we know where and for what we are sent? Has last Sabbath’s church service and time of worship sent you to go somewhere this past week?  Did you get engaged in the mission this past week? 

We had spent this whole week in Spanish town, Northern Ontario, serving, helping a local congregation.  I read through the book of Isaiah for personal reflection and revival.  What impresses me is that Isaiah “sending” was not for church liturgy, services, gatherings, seminars, training, rituals...  Prophet Isaiah may not have been the most popular speaker in his time.  He was certainly not a celebrity, as his message was “Thus Says the Lord!  I hate your church services, I cannot stand your worship rituals” (Isaiah 1:11-15)

The “sending” that Isaiah was passionate about was the lifestyle of God’s people, the social justice of taking care of people.  The “lifestyle” - what comes to mind when you hear this word, “lifestyle”?  For many the term came to mean how we dress, not having studs in our ears, or tattoos in visible places; for others, “lifestyle” means giving up meat, for some putting cheese in “sin” category, for others “lifestyle” means being vegan, or fitness, or ..... and the list may go on. There are “Lifestyle management” companies which provide personal assistance and concierge services to cater to all areas of an individual´s life ranging from family to professional matters.   The new trend is “life coach” profession.  Yet, for our worship to be acceptable before God, it is not about how we appear on Sabbath, but about taking care of oppressed.

Isaiah’s concern was the lifestyle of service, lifestyle of caring for people, lifestyle of restoring social justice.  Righteousness to Isaiah meant not solemn assemblies, or rituals.  Righteousness = Justice.

We all, at different times in our lives, memorized Isaiah 1:18 - “come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow, red as crimson – white as wool”  Now consider the context!!!  The very next verse, 19 invites to obedience.  Later words “send me” of Isaiah 6 are response to this call for obedience.  When you leave worship is not about emotional high and hype of “we had church today!” feel good, but it is about leaving the assembly to do something in changing injustice around you. 

Another prophet, a contemporary of Isaiah, Amos, gives a vivid metaphor “let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (5:24).  Imagine the waterfall – Niagara!  Or the recent flooding in Alberta!  Not just doing something once a month for a few hours, at the Ark Aid, or community service – but letting your life be a waterfall of social care, your presence to be like a river of blessings for powerless, weak; flooding those around you with loving kindness, care and remedy for people pain.

As you sit in worship today, having praised, prayed, being forgiven. Hearing God’s word, are you moved by God’s Spirit to go and establish justice where it is absent?  Are there weak and marginalized people you know that you could make a difference for?  God sends you to serve.