Last spring, the BFJN leadership team took a hard look at ourselves and questioned the justice of our personal consumption in light of half of God’s children living on less than $2 a day. We developed three goals to link changes in our own lives with community and policy changes that alleviate poverty:

1. Live more simply to enable giving to those who are poor

2. Advocate locally to increase fair trade in Greater Boston

3. In partnership with the Micah Challenge, advocate for aid, trade and debt reform policies that alleviate extreme international poverty

This Christmas, the Boston Faith & Justice Network celebrates how Christians in Boston have come together to live more simply, give more, and care for those who are poor alongside other members of the global body of Christ. In particular, we give thanks for:

• The first set of Lazarus at the Gate bible study groups who met this summer and gave over $15,000 to international poverty relief
• The three churches who hosted Lazarus studies this fall and the individuals who are preparing to lead Lazarus studies in their churches, campuses and fellowships in 2008
• Those who joined 43 million people worldwide in standing up against poverty at our Micah Challenge services in June and October
• Guest speakers from World Vision and the Micah Network who shared powerful lessons about the need for global responsibility and policy change for those who are poor
• The launch of a sister organization, New York Faith & Justice

In all things, we give thanks for Christ, God with us, and pray that we be empowered to live out God’s purposes with him this Christmas.

Earlier this summer, Charles Marsh, professor of Religion at the University of Virginia wrote hopefully in the Boston Globe

Today, in the national debate on faith and politics, there are signs of hope as an emerging generation of Christian leaders holds out the promise of a more comprehensively just and moral account of faith than the narrow agendas of the Christian right.

For those of us who grew up amidst the culture wars of the 70s and 80s, this is an encouraging vision. But, it is a vision with no small measure of responsibility for us. Can we who are critics of decades of misguided Christian politics also become agents of renewal and redemption in God’s world? And, how can we pursue that mission with integrity?

I take at least one clue from Marsh’s op-ed. He cites as evidence of modern American evangelicalism’s limitations that 87 percent of white evangelicals favored the war in 2003; meanwhile, “almost every Christian leader in the world… voiced opposition to the war.” So how did we get so far out of sync with the rest of the world?

We all know how easy it as, as Americans, to disengage. Most of us grab news in small bites. In my household, the BBC comes on at 9:00am, a sign that I’m late for work and need to head out the door!

At the same time, it’s not so hard to engage. Friends from the Boston area have recently traveled to South Africa and Uganda. And the Micah Challenge provides some exciting updates about Christian action in the Sierra Leone and Zambia (Jubilee Case Study)

We need to continue to deepen these relationships so that we can change course with integrity and get to the heart of our Christian mission, what Bonhoeffer (quoted by Marsh) describes as “two things: prayer and righteous action.”

How have you engaged this summer? What are your stories?