Jesus Matters. I Did Not See That Coming.

Three groups of people impacted what I think about social justice.  I met the first group while studying in Vancouver.  We were mostly students and called ourselves Micah 6:8.  (The group is still active.)  We ate lunch together on Tuesdays.  It was a good group of folks that challenged me.  I met the second group – The Micah Coalition – after returning to Saint John.  We are mostly pastors, but a few of us laypeople straggle in.  I’m happy to know that there are people in Saint John who want social justice.  The third group, which I also met in Saint John, goes by the name Hope Mission.  It doesn’t talk about social justice too often, but this group of people taught me how to be a Social Justice Christian.  Jesus matters and I did not see that coming.

George Orwell is among my favourite authors.  He was brilliant.  Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm are formative books in my life, especially the line, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”  Sometimes when I read that line, I feel smug.  Sometimes I want to scream at Napoleon the pig.  Sometimes I walk around in a daze for a bit because it is true and it shouldn’t be.

If you ask me (and I will pretend that you did), I’ll tell you that George Orwell is near the top of the list of people who make me an advocate for social justice.  Of course, I will tell you that Jesus is on the top of that list.  Of course, I’m a liar.  

I will explain why Orwell ranks as high as Jesus does.

I put the lessons of George Orwell on par with the lessons of Jesus when I read Down and Out in Paris and London.  This is a depressing book, but you should read it.  It is Orwell’s account of when he was one of the “less equal”.  One of the groups that Orwell criticizes is the church.  The church belittled people, pointing out just how poor poor people were.  Orwell could go to the church and get a pitiful meal, as long as he said a prayer and sang a hymn.  

Forcing people to pray breaks the third commandment.  It is as offensive as saying “Goddammit” after banging your thumb with a hammer while building a birdhouse.  Make no mistake.  What the church did was force Orwell to use God’s name not in reverence but as a meal ticket.  He was angry for this and right to be so.

For whatever reason, this account stuck with me and I put Orwell on the level of Jesus, although not intentionally.  I’m constantly on the lookout for charities that respond to poverty as if the poor owe them something.  This is not charity.*  It is sin.

This is where Hope Mission had its impact on me.  Hope Mission is a group of people who meet twice a week at Main Street Baptist Church in Saint John’s Old North End.  Hope Mission is part of what makes Main Street Baptist Main Street Baptist.  It is also largely made up of the people Orwell was thinking about when he realized that some people aren’t quite as equal as everyone else.  Hunger, illiteracy, and addiction are realities at Hope Mission.

I thought the ideal for a Christian faith-based charity is to help people without mentioning Jesus.  I took Francis’ “when necessary use words” really, really literally.  I am not ashamed of Jesus or my faith.  I thought this was the best way to serve God and people.  I thought “the served” would ask me why I was doing whatever I was doing and then I would talk about my faith.  

Hope Mission taught me another way.  Jesus is central to Hope Mission.  To put it simply, people want Him to be.  I know this because that is what people at Hope Mission told me.  I’m co-authoring a series of profiles about churches in Saint John that address poverty in the city.  As part of the series, I talked to people at Hope Mission and I asked them a few questions.  Why do you come?  What is your favourite thing?  If you could tell people only one thing about Hope Mission, what would it be?  

The seven people I talked with all said that Jesus, worship, and prayer were their favourite part of Hope Mission.  I did not lead them to say this.  I did not expect them to say this.  Nor did I hope they would say this.  It isn’t even like I am some sort of holy authority-figure that is only happy if people say the word “Jesus”.  I’m no one in particular.

The response that these seven people gave me was amazing and humbling.  

Jesus Christ is the reason that Hope Mission exists.  Everything else that people like – the clothing depot, the lunch, the healthcare, the community, the coffee – is an offshoot of the root Jesus.  Justice is a reality at Hope Mission because Jesus makes it so that no person is more equal than others.  Hope Mission isn’t about people ministering and being ministered to.  I’ve been part of the group for a few months.  I still don’t know who most of the “volunteers” are and I don’t bother trying to figure it out anymore.  Everyone in the room serves.  Everyone in the room is served.

Hope Mission taught me how social justice is important.  I want justice to happen and I continue to advocate for society to reflect justice and equality.  But, if I am going to be a Social Justice Christian, my desire must be for everyone to have access to Jesus as well as to education, housing, food, and whatever else.  Social Justice Christians make a mistake if Jesus becomes the focus after bellies are full, education is available, and people have shelter.  He isn’t something for people whose needs are met.  He is someone for everyone who has need.**  

It should not have taken me this long to figure out that Jesus matters.

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*For more of my thoughts about charity, and why I think it is a good and necessary tool for social justice advocates, please see my essay In Defence of Charity.

**Re-read Matthew 9:9-12 and remember that the tax-collectors are just as healthy as the Pharisees.

This post originally appeared on my former blog ajdickinson.blogspot.ca. The date stamp is for the date of the original posting.