Inspiration:

 

Spirit of Peace, help me to build justice, which is the root of peace.

Restoring Justice

The Hebrew notion of teshuvah, or returning to God through repentance, is closely connected to the ancient notion of shalom. Usually translated merely as “peace,” shalom’s full meaning has to do with a reign of justice, healing, and righteousness. Scholars tell us that the purpose of Jewish law was not the meting out of vindictive suffering, but the restoration of balance, and a renewal of the promise of abundant life between humans and God. …

When people come together to seek reconciliation and forgiveness, the God of love and justice is near. The presence that transforms, the presence that forgives, the presence that makes us new—that presence is near. It is in the places of transgression and return that we will learn what it means to be human. It is in the places where we are broken that we will encounter a sacred and transforming power.

BY SUSAN CONRAD, CHAPLAIN AND ASSOCIATE SUPERVISOR OF PASTORAL EDUCATION, ALTA BATES SUMMIT MEDICAL CENTER, BERKELEY/OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA   TO READ MORE

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Inspiration:

 

What does it mean to be in solidarity?

How Much Do We Deserve?

Globally, we are six billion people now on this planet. According to the UN, at least two billion live on $2 a day or less. Two-thirds of those live on less than one dollar a day. Issues of covenantal commitment to the common good and to distributive justice are everywhere. On my shelf at home I keep a painted papier-maché chalice given to me by the banghi women of Ahmedabad, in India. Banghis are those who by caste custom must earn their living in the villages cleaning out other people’s latrines, and in the cities gathering refuse in the streets, as “paper-pickers.” With help from the UU Holdeen India Program, 17,000 banghi women in Ahmedabad were organized into a union – which now has a contract with the city to provide all its recycling services, and for a living wage.

I say that our support for those women illustrates the principle, “from those to whom much has been given, much is expected.” Ethicist Peter Singer, in an essay on famine, goes so far as to suggest there should be an economic formula for our responsibilities. If we really lived out a sense of social solidarity with others, then someone with $50,000 in income, he says, would have to devote more than $20,000 of that to helping the neediest. As children’s writer Shel Silverstein once said in verse:

I’ll share your toys, I’ll share your money
I’ll share your toast, I’ll share your honey,
I’ll share your milk and your cookies, too.
The hard part’s sharing mine with you.

BY JOHN BUEHRENS, MINISTER, FIRST PARISH IN NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS TO READ MORE

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Inspiration:

 

When I find wholeness in myself I contribute to the wholeness of the world.

The Marker’s Meaning

For some of us, salvation comes, historically at least, in “salvation by character.” We believe there is something wonderful inside us—you could call it inherent dignity and worth—that allows us to work toward good character, wholeness, healing, and all that is good. We have within us a little core of natural hope—some bit of life that lies waiting to spring into action. And even better, we don’t have to just sit and wait: we can act to realize that hope, that life, that wholeness. In spite of the difficulties in both our own experience and of life in the larger world, we do what we can. Therein lies our salvation.

by Jane Rzepka, minister emerita of the Church of the Larger Fellowship TO READ MORE

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Inspiration:

 

What action could you take on behalf of justice in the next five minutes?

Justice Should Be a Thing of the Past

Once
individuals were cheated
with misleading mortgages

Yesterday
storms randomly destroyed homes
and families suffered alone

In the past
innocent people were victimized
and criminals were incarcerated

At one time
citizens were cheated out of fair
public policy and safe products
Tomorrow
companies will be
worthy of our trust

In the future
all communities will be
prepared and willing to help

There will be a time
when our neighborhoods are safe
and atonement replaces punishment

Someday
we will have constructive
democratic debate and honest markets
Justice is useless if it is

only a vision of the future

BY TIMOTHY D. WELLS, CLF MEMBER, CLINTON, NEW YORK CORRECTIONAL FACILITY TO READ MORE

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Inspiration:

 

Is justice the goal, or a stopping-place on the road to mercy and compassion?

Justice and Mercy

Unitarian Universalists hold justice to be a particularly important aspect of right relationships among human beings. Among the Principles and Purposes that UU congregations covenant together to affirm and promote are “justice, equity and compassion in human relations,” and “the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.” And among the sources from which our living tradition draws, we lift up “words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.”

But how can we temper justice with mercy?

For justice may judge, but mercy forgives. Justice may punish, but mercy heals. Justice may try to sever the connections that sustain and renew life, but mercy works to build and strengthen and reaffirm human worth and dignity and the connections that are, ultimately, our daily experience of the Sacred.

by Sally White from Incarcerated Family Member TO READ MORE

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