Advocacy Class

"This is not a theology course," our professor said, however, all of us find ourselves wrestling over deep issues of faith and humanity. And we can't help it, for who cannot help but be drawn into debates over how a Christian witness, how a Christian soul interfaces with this world and the injustices therein. I look forward to how this course progresses - there is so much i've been learning and digesting - stuff that could fill blogs for centuries. I wanted to include, however, in this entry, an excerpt from my notes:

Upon entering the classroom, smattered with Bible verses and excerpts from universal doctrines on human rights, we were asked to do a "gallery walk," absorbing what we were reading, and interfacing with it in our notes and as a class.

Here are some things I jotted down:

Matthew 23:23-24 – keeping the letter of the law
Jeremiah 22:13-17
Ezekiel 22:22-29
Fake religion
There’s a big picture – Ps 140:12-13
God has the answer!!
The “humanitarian laws” seem to hold in place the Biblical principles
Prov 14:31 – insulting God
“you must need buckets for tears” (for the wicked)
James 5:1-6
Ps 35:9-10 the joy of God’s delivery
Suffering for the poor is like the way of the Cross (Henri Nouwen)
1 Peter 3:8-18 – in the context of upholding justice
Articles: What is this based on? What common, agreed-upon measure?Isaiah 59:12-19

We are not righteous in ourselves – we cannot do it!
That is why God worked salvation for us – we are not capable in ourselves to be
just individually or corporately
Ps 10:12-18 (in the message) sounds like the lyrics to some protest song – bringing hope
to some area like the jungles of the DRC
“meetings, meetings, meetings,” – but are we really helping those who need help? (Isaiah 1:10-17)

God, help me wrestle through this!

Finally, this is one of our course objectives:

# 3. Critically evaluated the concept of "witness" as an organizing concept for Christian advocacy in light of Jesus' message of the kingdom and his life.