... we have but to hum along

"When we find the sound of the kingdom we have but to hum along. "

from: Community of Faith - Crafting Christian Communities Today by Evelyn & James Whitehead, Chapter 7 - The Dream of the Kingdom.

We spent the evening in May with Brian Lewis Smith reflecting on the early days of Social Justice work in the Uniting Church and its forbears in this state.....
Some selected thoughts have been noted below - (notetaker’s apology - couldn’t get it all!):

Think about the context, liberation theology - action and reflection, not aware of the oppression of Aboriginal people, in the early years Jesus was the answer, but what were the questions? Bernie and John Brown took us down to a hostel where we were subjected to the naked anger of Aboriginal people, experiences are the key, a way of being - walking with and seeing the world from their eyes, we started engaging with people we knew were victims of injustice in our community - enabling them to speak and walking with them.

Two people that were a significant influence in the early days (and may still be?)

Leonard Cohen (is coming to Adelaide in November) a lot of profound broken-ness

George Orwell - went and lived with the poor in England. The core message for both right and left wing politics is that human beings are more important than ideology.

Jesus - was doing the same, hanging out with the wrong people. Christ’s way of doing stuff is always uncomfortable for those who are middle class.

What has happened since those early days: - a lot of fundamental justice principles have entered mainstream. The church made a big mistake in its desire for power to assume its justice work into its social service arm - UnitingCare.

How do we go about this? (the way of getting the social justice message out)

A given: we have a very committed group of people.

A question: how do we bring other people into these experiences?