But to do Justly...

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God" -Micah 6:8 (it's in the Bible)

You are now subject to my late night pondering, but this is current theme in our lives.

Lately Joy and I have had a lot of time to consider justice both in theory and in action. She is finishing a class on the Theology of Work and I am working on a project for the class I took in June dealing with faith based affordable housing. She works with the homeless and I am currently employed among the working poor. We are seldom on the receiving end of injustice. Sure, we deal with selfish people, opportunists, thankless tasks and the like, but we rarely know the plight of the oppressed. So, it is curious that justice would become one of the driving themes of our life.

People still ask, "Why Ireland?"

A clarification, of which we have only been asked by the Mulhollands who currently live in Dublin would be, "Why Northern Ireland?" It is an entirely different country with a different history, culture, scars and celebrations. We hope to be in Belfast come mid-October. Don't worry, we ask the same question of ourselves often.

It continues to be an incredible journey of faith as we set out on this adventure. Although a more pressing question is why is it always the underdog, why is it the oppressed, why do we seem to gravitate towards a counter-culture, why seek unrest when comfort has almost been handed to you on a silver platter?

I think that the short book of Micah, the life of the Apostle Paul, the prophet Isaiah, and the life changing message of who Jesus both said and was during his physicality leaves us with little doubt about what we are to be about and limitless questions about how it must play out in our lives.

What is justice?

It is that which is right. It is the foundation of human dignity. It is the mediator that brings uneven players back onto equal footing. It is so many good things and yet lacks many things that my humanity desires.

I want justice to be easy.
I want justice to be safe.
I want justice to be widespread, my first response, missed in its absence, accessible to everyone, inexpensive, prevalent, quick to be realized, the basis of each system I operate in whether it be family, employment, church, society, the world as a whole. I want justice and I am not unique in that desire.

What will make us different in life will not be our desire for justice. I believe that God imprinted us all with a desire for justice when we were uniquely designed. We become different when we act justly. We stand out when our pursuit for right is laden with mercy in a screwed up world. We will not be without hope in a losing battle when we learn to do all of these things as we walk humbly in the presence of our almighty Creator.

Why Belfast? Good question.
Why justice? You tell me...

Attachment Disorder?

Cruisin for the 4th!

Gotta stay hydrated!

Padraig and Diesel

who cares, Water!

Swimmingly

love water! We also hope that our children (currently, child) will love water too. Bath time is always a lot of fun and this is the first time that we were able to get Padge into the pool. Do you remember when splashing was almost all of the fun you could handle? Nor can I, but he loves it.

Government Work

For years I have mocked the role of supervisor in labor situations. I enjoy manual labor, but it will never compare to that feeling of promotion which comes when you finally get to stand by and observe others doing that same job.

I say this tongue in cheek, but I have been struck by this method of task structure and how it is now permeating the private sector. In the past week I have walked through no less than three retail businesses as an obvious manager stands with a few other skirts/shirts and ties to stare at some seemingly miniscule issue on the floor.

I am less bothered by the redundancy and more by the potential that this redundancy will cease to be a joke and soon be accepted as status quo. Deep down, I fear that there will be one more area in life that my structural superiors will have to view me as subversive.

Some of you know me well and others are just scratching the surface of my complex, regularly perplexing, highly emotive, seldom revolutionary existence. One thing that holds true to my outlook on life is that investment in personal relationship is a more substantial investment than merely gathering for with the goal of task/corporate advancement. That said, I have little affinity for meetings, especially those meetings that are under the guise of relationship and instead reinforce the dysfunctional redundancy that is becoming more prevalent in society.

I am contending with the economy of God's kingdom as it differs from the world's economy which seems to be in a current state of decline. Our families hope in moving to Ireland is to live according to a Kingdom economy that calls us to give freely rather than a monetary system that needs consumers to survive.

We will see how it works, but while we takes our bumps and bruises will you do me this favor and I will seek to share this mission. Don't stop meeting! But when you do will you not see your mission as deciding the conclusion of a task whether it be how clean is "clean" for the restaurant's fireplace window, which isle should the chips be located in, etc. rather look at those around you who could finish that task as competently as you could if they were given the freedom to do so and invest.