A Guest Blog post from way back
As we prepare for our 20th Anniversary celebration next month (November 7th - Join us!) I have been combing through Boston Faith & Justice Network's "archives" which consist of stacks of folders and a pile of zip drives I was given 13 years ago when I started at BFJN. There is so much amazing material chronicling the journey of BFJN and the vision and commitment of the community guiding and supporting the ministry. Over the next month we'll be sharing out of this rich history. Below is a BFJN blog post from 2011 which addresses so many of the same things we talk about today as an organization and effectively captures the passion for justice we hope to inspire.
Our next guest blog post is from Julie Fahnestock. Julie works for Starlight Ministries – a program of the Emmanuel Gospel Center (HYPERLINK to www.egc.org) that does outreach and training on the issue of homelessness. Her perspective on worship is fresh and inspiring. If you enjoyed Julie’s post please read more about her journey on her personal blog. (HYPERLINK www.americanslavemaster.blogspot.com)
I’ve never met a Christian who has said they don’t desire to grow in their adoration and love for Jesus. But for me, and maybe for you, we don’t often think about how we worship the Creator the Universe. We attend church services, help organize the services or sing on the worship team. We may know the verse in Colossians 3 that reminds us ‘in all things, do them unto the Lord.’ And of course Sunday gatherings are a time to give thanks to the One who passionately loves us and calls us His Beloved.
Growing up, I attended a Mennonite school and lived in a conservative Mennonite town. I thought worship only looked something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q60q0329h18
In high school I became obsessed, in a very unhealthy way, with a man named Keith Green. I thought this guy…. he knows what worship is all about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wil0PBylyW0&feature=related
And then in college I ‘rebelled’ from my conservative upbringing and I thought, worship, this was what worship was really all about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1eWwucMV4
All styles and preferences of worship please the Lord and one is certainly not greater than the other, but I’ve been challenged to think more deeply about worship. God desires that His Church understand the things that move His Heart: seeking justice, pleading the case of the widow and orphaned, being a voice for the oppressed. He wants to take us to a deeper place with Him in worship. A place in worship that requires a sacrifice of our attachment to material things and a detachment from an entitlement mentality that so often governs the way we consume. The Intersection between worship and my life style choices collided one day for me during college.
One Saturday afternoon during college, my roommates and I decided to hit up the mall. We piled into a dressing room and tried on clothes for a couple of hours. As I pulled on pair after pair of jeans, I found myself looking at the labels: Guam, India, Guatemala, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. Suddenly tears started streaming down my face. I had recently joined International Justice Mission’s campus chapter and had learned about the millions of people in bonded labor. Sweat shops, exploitation, injustice. I knew what those words meant and it was real to me. I ran out of the store, collapsed onto a bench in the mall and felt greatly convicted. As dramatic as that may sound, that ordinary afternoon at the mall with my roommates marked a turning point in my life style. It wasn’t enough for me to know about the exploitation behind my clothing or for me to occasionally buy the fair trade chocolate when it was on sale. I knew that I needed to either make a complete life style shift, or not. My journey had come to a crossroads and I needed to keep on or give up and turn around. And today, as I have pushed through and committed to conscious consuming, I have found that I take great joy in knowing that the person who assembled my jeans is earning a decent wage, that he can take a day off when he has the flu and that he isn’t at risk for disease because of toxins from my jeans.
By no means do I have this figured out. I know that each of us walk a different personal journey. But I hope you are able to learn from my journey, the things the Lord has impressed into my core. Not so that I may be cool, not so that we can care about social justice, but so that together as Followers of Jesus, we can:
Learn to consume in ways that honor God
Through our consumption, we can be a voice for the oppressed.
Put an end to slavery.
And, this, I think, is worship. I am convinced that by honoring the man who works long hours in the factories and the women and children who make my American life as convenient as it is by working in the fields, that I am honoring God in a way that music and words never can. This conviction is not only for me, but for the whole Body of Christ. My prayer is that the Church would immerse itself in Micah 6: 8:
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a] with your God.
How do we do this? One step at a time. A good place to start is by substituting products you regularly consume with ethical equivalents. First I committed to chocolate, then to coffee and eventually to as much as I can. It’s a process and at times extremely challenging. I haven’t been perfect, but I know the Lord is pleased when we try and give it our best shot. Here’s a list I call my ‘Thank You Jesus List’ of some companies I know I can trust to be fair. They are not all fair trade certified, but all have great track records and corporate social responsibility policies: Shift ClothingGreen ToysEqual ExchangeFair Hills WineGreen KaratBen and JerrysGood Society JeansEthleticFair IndigoGo FishMaine RootPeak Organic The following sites offer great ratings and listing of other companies who can help us be a voice for the oppressed and offer worship to Jesus through our consumption choices: Green America http://www.greenamerica.org/, Fair Trade USA www.FairTradeUsa.org, and a plug for my own blog of fair trade discoveries www.americanslavemaster.blogspot.com. I encourage you to dive in with Jesus concerning how you spend your money and which companies you support. He will lead you in your journey and empower you to worship Him more fully, in all areas of your lifestyle.
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