Danielle Strickland was moved to Edmonton four years ago in her role with the Salvation Army. She had always lived in the inner city, living among the daily struggle for justice. Her suburban life in Edmonton (mandated by her work) has been a challenge. She told the #justiceYEG conference: The inner city protects you from the dominant culture, and now in the suburbs I find myself saying Dang, Ive been to Costco for the third time this week. But living in the suburbs is awesome – it is the most exciting, humbling journey. It is an incredibly hard thing to do, to live justly in the suburbs. Im not even sure it is possible. In the suburbs, everything is designed around comfort and consumption. When you wake up in a terrible neighbourhood, you find a condom on the front lawn and a needle in your kids playground, and you *feel* the angst of the world. But in the suburbs you can wake up complaining that my neighbours dog barked last night. So, my hunger for justice, my drive – it feels like a wet blanket on fire. Raging against injustice from the suburbs is hard. There is a radical need in the church (at least in the West) to invite the prophetic voice back, to stop being willfully blind to what is wrong in the world. But remember: Everyone is on a journey. We need to think about leaning into shalom – what does that look like? This justice thing can be as Pharisaical as anything. What we need to ask is: How do you do justice in a Jesus way – filled with joy and freedom? How do we keep justice good?
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 21:14:15 +0000
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