Love of Peace and Justice

A meditation for October 2003

The 5th of the Great Ends of the Church is “The promotion of social righteousness.”

When our spiritual ancestors chose to make “social righteousness” one of the stated ends of the church, they were standing in faithfulness with the saints and prophets throughout the history of God’s people. The calling we share is one Jesus himself voiced when he preached his first sermon at his home church at Nazareth. The Gospel of Luke records that he took his text from the prophet Isaiah, declaring that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him.

“He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

There are new names on the issues peace and justice, and new faces in the struggle for social righteousness, but do we have any less a calling in our day, if we are to be a faithful church? As we identify the issues where the healing peace of God and the justice of God come into focus, we will find that only the abiding love of God offers the counsel and the comfort needed.

Do you remember what happened in Nazareth after Jesus sat down? We read that they all spoke well of him, being “amazed at his gracious words,” but when Jesus told them that God’s love extends to their enemies too, they were filled with rage and sought to kill him. Peace and righteousness always come at the price of suffering love.

Love of Peace and Justice

Look with me at the Gifts of the Spirit and I will show you one of the great ends of the Church: “The promotion of social righteousness.”

If I make a plea for peace and cry out for justice, but I sound the call without lifting up love as the source from which both peace and justice flow, I am a voice crying in the wilderness.

And if I have peacemaking skills and a vision of a just society, but my knowledge and vision are not shared with compassion; and if I, in faith, view the heights to be scaled, but attempt to climb these mountains without love as my guide and companion, I will stumble in my quest.

If I speak of “Peace, Peace,” when there is no peace, and fail to offer love to those who feel excluded, my promotion of social righteousness will not ring true.

Love, addressing society's ills, patiently offers God’s judgments; is kind to those who are hurting; does not compete for credit; nor does love act superior. Love avoids self promotion and is not overbearing in seeking the mind of Christ.

Love, finding its place in our common life, does not insist on legalistic answers, but discerns the Spirit’s gifts. Love takes no pleasure in injustice, but rejoices when the right prevails.

Love, calling attention to God’s righteous demands, bears with limited vision; believes that righteousness does exalt a nation; holds out the hope that there will be justice for all nations. Love toughs it out when justice is denied.

Love, committed to doing God’s will on earth, never ends.

As for the dream of a peaceable kingdom, it will fade; as for a street map of the city of God, it will turn to dust; as for end-of-time predictions, they will pass away.

For our peacemaking is imperfect and our schemes for social revolution falter, but when God’s righteousness flows down like an everflowing stream, our half-hearted efforts will be swept away.

When I was just a beginner at social change, I spoke of it as marginal to the mission of God’s people; I thought of my witness as a flickering candle; I reasoned that justice would roll down on its own. But when I let God’s unconditional love control my words and actions, I became a true servant of peace and justice.

For now we see only the dawn of righteousness among us, but in time we will live in the noonday of God’s perfect will for society. Now we struggle with an imperfect world, but soon we shall come to claim it in the name of love, even as we have been fully claimed and are called righteous.

So we live by a faith that has been to the mountain; with a hope that sees the promised land; and in a love that has overcome the world. These three abide, but the greatest of these is love.

Strive to live in the overcoming love of God

From Love’s Letters: A Poetic Book of Confessions by George Gunn
(Library Lane Press / Copyright 2001)