Posted 344 days ago
Everyday Justice
Julie Clawson of Emerging Women and OneHandClapping has recently published a book entitled Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices for which our own Christine Sine wrote the Foreword. You can order the book at InterVarsity Press and participate in the Everyday Justice conversation at http://www.everydayjustice.net/
Here is the Foreword:
In Everyday Justice Julie Clawson challenges us to recognize that every choice we make has implications that reverberate around the world. How we dress, what we eat, where we shop are all ethical choices that should be informed and molded by our faith. This is a challenge that we both constantly struggle with as we grapple with how to translate our faith and these implications into tangible, doable actions.
In the midst of our struggle we are challenged by a growing number of young people who, like Julie, are convinced that their faith should impact all these daily decisions. They recognize that at the center of our faith is a God who intends to transform and make new all creation. Our God cares deeply for all the people of the world and challenges us to commit our lives to being a part of that transformation, which means committing ourselves to justice and creation care as a way of life, not just as a theology we salute.
I (Christine) did not grow up in an environment that encouraged me to think about issues of justice. The idea that my everyday choices could have dire consequences for people I have never met and probably never will meet was quite foreign to me. To be honest it did not occur to me that these decisions had anything to do with my faith until I started traveling in Africa and Asia. There I met some of the people who grew my coffee beans and sewed my cheap clothes. Suddenly these people had faces—faces marked by suffering and pain because of my indifference. Their starving children were no longer news clips on the eleven o’clock news but children I cared about and longed to see have the same life advantages I take for granted.
It wasn’t that I had directly hurt them or their families, but my silence spoke volumes. I started to realize that every time I bought something produced in a sweatshop, my silence meant that I didn’t care if the workers were paid unjust wages. Every time I purchased food that had been sprayed with toxic chemicals, my silence spoke of my complicity in environmental pollution. And every time I purchased coffee produced by peasant farmers who received virtually nothing for their long hard labor, I contributed to their poverty and unjust toil.
Part of what Julie does in Everyday Justice is what I experienced during my time in Africa and Asia. She makes the people who grow our food and produce our clothes come to life for us. She helps us to see that they too are our neighbors even though they may live on the other side of the world. More than that she enables us to see them as children whom God loves and whom Christ died for. And of course that recognition forces all of us to view our lives and our daily decisions in a different light.
Recognizing the ethical dilemmas of daily life and grappling with these as a part of our life journey is not easy for any of us. It means we have to make hard decisions on a daily basis, which can be overwhelming. Often we feel we don’t know where to turn for answers.
Everyday Justice filled us with hope as we read Julie’s insights and the practical ideas she shares of how we can make decisions that really will bring everyday justice. These suggestions are possible for all of us to implement without panicking or feeling overwhelmed. They are small ways in which we can all become a part of God’s mustard-seed movement that is quietly changing our world.
We invite you to join this exciting journey with followers of Jesus from around the globe and recognize that your life too can make a difference in our troubled world. As we commit ourselves to everyday acts of justice, together we can bring glimpses of God’s shalom world of wholeness and abundance into being.
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