"and what does the Lord ask of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (micah 6:8)
"go and learn what this means, 'i desire mercy, not sacrifice' " (matthew 9:13)
doing justice and showing mercy is core to the d.n.a. of christian life. somewhere, over the course of the modern era, a slow "mission creep" caused the church to drift away from faith as a way of life and towards faith as a set of beliefs (the pope is "infallible," the bible is "inerrant," there are four "spiritual laws," we are "predestined" for this or that, "justified," "sanctified," "born again," etc...)
faithful christians to this day disagree over some of the doctrinal things mentioned above. such formulations are not unimportant, but we can no longer afford to lead with formulations. people today are moved by their experiences of faith much more than by rational arguments or doctrines about faith (no matter how 'true' or precise). in our 'post 9/11' world, people will firstly take notice of how we live, before they concern themselves with learning about what we believe, so among postmodern people, re-cognition of God (via our embodiment of the kingdom way of life) will almost always precede cognition of things 'about' God (doctrines/beliefs). the postmodern shift back to incarnating faith (rather than just espousing it) is not a turning away from doctrine, but turning towards wisdom, or in the words of st. francis "preach always, and if necessary, use words."
what distinguished the early christians from the surrounding society (and fueled the growth of the church) was just and merciful living, steeped in love for Jesus Christ. people took notice of how christians cared for "orphans and widows in their distress" and kept themselves from being jaded by the ways of the world.
this same love of justice and kindness is christian spiritual formation of the highest order. we are called to actively serve poor, oppressed, hungry, sick and needy people, not to earn brownie points with God (not possible), but to live into and share with others the justice and mercy that God continues to rain upon the world in Christ. as we practice the justice and mercy we have already received from God, like water over rocks... God is slowly transforming us into just and merciful people.
apostles MISSIO DEI GROUP coordinates a different local service project each month, as well as coordinating out of state or country projects once or twice per year, so consider getting involved in one of these, as you are led by the Spirit, to share in the missio dei (mission of God)
