Inspiration: 

 

 Spend a few minutes thinking about a personal hero who has brought justice to the world. What could you do today to be more like that person?

Heroes for Justice

Our culture likes to lift up justice “heroes,” warriors for good causes (especially if they die). We make them larger in life—in part so we don’t have to be like them, so we can just relax even though we’re not doing anything to bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice. I’ll never be Martin Luther King Jr., so I might just as well sit back and remodel the kitchen and watch TV.  Routine, unexceptional, daily ways that we can stand up for justice aren’t “good enough” so I might as well not bother at all…

Yes, it would be great if I were as eloquent as Martin Luther King, Jr. I’m not. Probably you aren’t either. But as long as we have breath, we have power, life force. As long as we have breath we can choose to love. As long as we have power, and know the truth of love, we can create justice. No matter our age, ability, race, financial status. No matter whether we are in prison or out, in the military or picketing against it, in a wheelchair or running marathons.

Justice is not a giant abstraction that will someday roll down upon us like waters, even though we sing out the ancient words longing that it will. Justice is daily, mundane, one breath at a time. Love and power are the tools with which we can bring it to life. May we practice using those tools daily.

BY MEG RILEY SENIOR MINISTER, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP  TO READ MORE