The Emerging Christian Way

Chapter 9 – Social Justice and a Spirituality of Transformation

1.  Bill Phipps is a minister, and it shows.  This essay reads like a lengthy, but eloquent sermon…carefully crafted with compelling examples and a sense of urgent necessity.  Bill is a straight shooter who doesn’t cloak his thoughts and feelings with vague descriptions.  His opening sentences are profoundly direct, “What could I possibly say?  I was blank.”

Have you ever witnessed an atrocity of the kind Phipps gives in the beginning?  Do you agree with his quote from Margaret Atwood: “The facts of this world seen clearly are seen through tears; why tell me then there is something wrong with my eyes?”

2.  From here, Phipps provides additional stories of attempts to renew and transform social attitudes and behavior.  These include the “Women in Black”; the “People and the Planet”; the “Bow Riverkeepers”; the “Celebration of Water”; and the place of homosexual people in the life of Christian congregations.  “In each of these stories,” he concludes, “a universal spirituality with a particular expression lifts up a spirituality of transformation, which leads to action.”

Which, if any, of these examples capture your own interest and/or passion for social change?  Can you provide examples or experiences of your own that have greatly changed your point of view?  What are the current challenges & barriers for developing further attitudinal and behavioral changes in our society?

3.  Phipps stresses that “social transformation through action takes priority over correct belief.”  After citing several biblical references, he says, “In other words, true spiritual transformation is more likely to occur when we ‘act into belief’ rather than then when we try to ‘believe into action.’”  “Actions…are more important than what we say.”

The rest of his essay serves to further illustrate this driving premise.  Where do we, as Lutherans, tend to favor responses that “stay in the head,” versus getting to “the actions that will transform lives?”  Where has “actual engagement” in ministry opportunities served to initiate such transformation for you?  Please consider sharing some specific examples.

4.  Citing Archbishop Oscar Romero as one of his spiritual heroes, Phipps includes Romero’s poem, “Prophets of a Future Not Our Own.”  Look at this poem again (p. 165).  What does it mean to you?  What might it mean to the United States?  What might it mean to the entire world right now?

5.  Following this, Phipps concludes, “I believe our modest efforts for justice and peace are better if they are interfaith, if we fully respect and honor other paths of faith.  No one has the corner on truth.  We live in a multicultural world; if we are to be effective, our work for social change needs to reflect this reality.”

Do you agree with and accept this final premise?  Given our local context…how are we working together, multiculturally, here in the Rockford area and in northern Illinois?  What more can we do, together, to promote social change and transformation?