Social justice vs. spiritual justice

Hello, friends......

Whenever I go on a rant, my friend, Curt, calls me B-rant. Get ready for a B-rant. I'm ticked. Jesus' sacrifice calls us to Social Justice but even more so to Spiritual Justice.....that we may carry His Gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15) 

The Church is AWOL.....If you don't like this song, ok....but at least read the lyrics. I first heard it a year before the Rodney King riots. After that, it rang prophetic w/new meaning. It inspired me to do inner city work from 1995-2001.

​Some kids from the apartments
Were out playing in a field
When they came across a clubhouse in the sky
But the big kids pulled the ladder up
Once they got inside
And the little kids below began to cry
In the valley city families struggle to survive
Minimum wage becomes their self esteem
And the real estate developer
Took over their hillside
A thousand homes like only in their dreams
One of these days
We might understand
The last will be first in the end
And if we wait too long
For them to come down to the rest of us
There's gonna be a fire in the tree house
Children ought to play together
Someone throw the ladder down
Small children and their mothers
Brave the winter all alone
They pray their sun will shine another day
I know they call it the homeland
But it must not feel like home
Go on and hang your heads, Daddy's far away
One of these days
We might understand
The last will be first in the end
And if we wait too long
For them to come down to the rest of us
There's gonna be a fire in the tree house
Children ought to play together
Someone throw the ladder down
Children ought to play together
Someone throw the ladder down
Must we beat our brothers down?
Must we make our sisters frown?
If we look into their eyes
Surely we will recognize
Our own true flesh and blood
Our own flesh and blood
Our own


I AM FURIOUS WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT AMERICAN CHURCH!!!!.......We do so little w/our vast resources. Maybe Churches should be taxed as we don't earn our keep in the city! (We live by Grace in the Church but we should never expect the same from the world.) Many "Social Justice Christians" engage in activism w/o James 1:27 action......& some equate "wokeness" w/salvation. When my eyes were opened, I didn't just introspect & lament......but got a plan & went!  White privilege & policing issues are facts.  But apologies & pledges to be kinder to black people w/o action will always result in business as usual. There is a time for demonstrating, but pop culture presumes that activism will heal. IT....DOES....NOT!!!!! Immigrant & refugee ministry is now my focus.....there's only so much time in the day. But this cannot go unremarked. 

I'm angry at the looters, shooters &vwhite supremacists. But more obnoxious are SJC's in the Church who'll march w/a sign but not walk w/a child through their challenges. The Spirit has spoken to THEM about needs yet they are AWOL when it comes to real ministry. Activism w/o action is an industry.  Urban ministry is mostly an urban legend. 

If I'm wrong, why is there little change in our urban cores? What is the ratio of protesters to mentors? Hmmmmm. I AM COMMITTING TO BEING VERY DIRECT FROM NOW ON.  FYI, compassionate people from that "other Abrahamic religion" have moved into our vacuum/territory. A friend from that religion, who's a physician & chairs the local house of worship for the "I" community, helped w/a charity clinic affiliated w/his religion at an inner city Church last Saturday. He's a missionary to the Church....to pull people into his religion. The Church should take notice!

Clergy must recruit; Laity must serve......Not a time for marches, another sermon about racism, or opps to alleviate poverty &    desperation during Christmas. The world is on fire!......The finest pulpit moment of my former pastor was, "If you aren't willing to serve in some kind of ministry, please.......find another Church....we're crowded."  Professional clergy aren't here to produce a product.....That's not why people go into ministry.......Sadly, our pastor committed suicide....We'll never know the details about what happened, but this is certain: There's an abnormally high suicide rate among pastors. Many unbiblical expectations. My admonishment is also to guard the health & well being of my friends in the clergy. To the paid field workers: I want you to run & not grow weary. (Isaiah 40:31) Enjoy the service to which God called you & finish well. 

Many stony hearts exist in America as the AWOL Church hasn't done a good job clearing stones from the field. (Mark 4:3-8).....Sometimes we're despised w/good cause. But such stones can become altars to His Glory. Renewal can be our's!    

When caring adults mentor children, adults' hearts melt. Kids are a gateway to their communities. I once got so close to a family that the mom instructed me to spank her kids if needed. I told her, "That is out of the question".....But it was amazing to know that there were people in that community who loved & trusted me that much! 

I'm preaching to the choir. Most who read these blogs already minister, but I'm calling on all to get very vocal about the AWOL CHURCH. A powerhouse of social change will rise up when all of this activist energy is channeled toward REAL service.

We only deserve the stability of democracy when when we are ready & willing to preserve order w/our mercy, grace & saltiness. The default mode is tyranny. 

For the nations and the revival of our urban core,

.....Just another witness to His Glory!