Moving From Charity to Relationships and Justice

In America, we are in that time of year when many people like to become charitable.  Generosity abounds for such things as toy drives and dinners for the homeless.  The holidays encourage many ordinary folks to be compassionate to people in need.  There are many great outcomes from such acts of generosity, so I certainly do not want to discourage anyone from being compassionate at this time of year.  However, in America there is much more that Christians can be doing not just during the holidays but throughout the year.

God calls Christians to be in meaningful relationships with people in need throughout the year.  For instance, when a person sees a homeless person begging for money they might ask themselves questions like, "Should I give them money or not?  How will they spend the money that I give them?  Should I make eye contact with them and say hi, or keep looking forward and walk past them?"  Instead, I think the bigger questions that a Christian in that situation might ask themselves should be, "Why am I struggling with what to do when I encounter a homeless person?  Do I have any meaningful, long term relationships with any homeless people?  Have I distanced myself from the poor?  If God calls us to love people who are suffering and struggling in this world, then what can I do to rearrange some things in my life so that I can actually be obedient to that call throughout the year?" 

Entering into relationships with people who are in desperate need is difficult, but that type of activity is not optional for Christians.  We do not get to pick and choose if we want to help people in need.  It's part of following Christ.  Many American Christians distance themselves from the poor and then simply give money or food during one holiday stretch each year.  Instead, we should be invested in authentic relationships with widows, orphans, homeless people, and people living in poverty throughout the year.  We must overcome our fears.  We must overcome our complacency and comfort.  We must overcome the structures in society that keep us separated from people in need.  We must enter into people's pain through relationships... not just lob money at them from a safe distance with no relational connection.  Many Christians in America need to move beyond charity and start advocating powerfully and justly on behalf of the people in need with whom they have entered into relationships.

And, Christians must move even beyond individual relational justice to address the broader systemic injustices that keep people living in cycles of despair.  That's a very unpopular position to be in, upsetting the status quo, and Christians will experience suffering of their own when they wade into that territory.  But it's what we are ALL called to do.  Dom Helder Camara wrote, "We must go beyond 'aid' or 'charity' and demand justice which will bring peace.  Many people falter at this point.  He who asks the powerful to give aid to the poor, or helps the poor himself by being imprudent enough, or bold enough, to mention these or those rights or demands this or that justice, is regarded as a splendid man, a saint.  But he who chooses to demand justice generally, seeking to change structures that reduce millions of God's children to slavery, must expect his words to be distorted, to be libeled and slaundered, viewed with disfavor by governments, perhaps imprisoned, tortured, killed... But this is the eighth beatitude: 'Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so many persecuted prophets who were before you."