“What is justice? I mean what is your definition of justice?”
That is the question I was asked on on February saturday meeting of clergy on Congregational LIfe. As I sat filled with a quiet WTF dis-ease in one of those workshop breakout discussion groups in a church.I felt myself shutting down. It was sitcom ironic. We were there to discuss ways the church could better serve and connect with this present age, and when I was silly enough to suggest that those who love to profess peace (peace murals, peace marches, peace gardens, etcetera, etcetera….) include justice language and even perhaps a more specific justice cause in those efforts.

Heads spun in my direction with wide eyed ridicule.
“What is your definition of justice?” I felt my blood pressure rise. This is where what I learned on my YouTube meditation class kicked in. Yes! It works!

I was able to breathe in deeply a few times; and not run from the room screaming,and give a coherent response to that inquiry without foaming at the mouth with rage…

It was sooooo hard.

It was hard because I was sitting with other clergy; those who say they are followers of that particular Palestinian Jew, born under oppressive Roman oppression and occupation and led a radical movement. It was infuriating because I was sitting with those who in the course of their ministry I suspect had uttered the words of Micah 6:8 many times:
“The Lord has shown you what is good. He has told you what he requires of you. You must act with justice. You must love to show mercy. And you must be humble as you live in the sight of your God.”

I sat there thinking… were these the ones that embrace the memory of a sanitized Dr. MLK as a mark of their consciousness? You know…embrace the “dream” and not the essence of the struggle or the move of real solidarity… Always at the ready to have a Kumbaya moment…as long as their privilege is not questioned or disturbed.

Maybe I was overreacting. Upon returning home I did a quick online Bible Gateway review. I mean justice is only mentioned in our sacred text around 130 times. Perhaps that is a little obscure for mere seminary trained clergy in a denomination that prides itself in being progressive and standing with those on the margins.

Perhaps these quotes will help:
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Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.

-Domitus Ulpian

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

-Theodore Roosevelt