Acts 29

When we think of activists, images of rioters outside the WTO meetings in Seattle might come to mind, or animal rights defenders displaying gruesome pictures of cruelty against animals on sidewalks. Perhaps, in some horrible way, we might even consider those who bomb abortion clinics to be activists.

Activist. It seems that in order to obtain that somewhat trendy title, one must be offensive, politically on the left, and even sport a particular style of dress.

It is easy to spot these radicals in any group of people. Even in churches, you can pick out those people who are "active." Perhaps they look different and are quick to voice their opinion when topics of political or social nature arise. They are the people who make others feel uncomfortable because of their strong convictions and even stronger practices of these convictions.

In my community, I am the person who receives a phone call when somebody doesn't know where to donate their used clothes or when the pastor wants to give money to a charity or when the board decides it needs to have the consultation of someone with a "social justice" point of view. All of these things I am happy to do because I have spent years receiving an informal education in such things, but at the same time I resent it because I do not see myself as a social justice activist or any type of activist for that matter. I am merely someone who is pursuing Christ.

Christians are very quick to talk about God's calling on our lives. "The Lord has called me to this," or "She definitely has the call to that." To label something as a call is to exempt the majority of believers from it. People are able to look at me and say that I have been called to work with those in need and as for themselves, well they can take a spiritual gifts survey to find out what their call is.

Jesus lived out a very specific call on earth - to be crucified and resurrected. His every day life, though, was not His specific call. His every day life was the life of a man who was holy and righteous and who walked in perfect communion with God. Christ was the perfect model of the true activist  - yes, He was offensive and challenging, but He was also constantly desired justice for the oppressed.

Christ's life on earth was so many things that one small article such as this could never examine them all. He came to build the Kingdom and He did so by connecting with people. When I think of the life that God lived on earth, the word that describes it for me is walking. Jesus walked among the people. He did not live His life out in seclusion, appearing every so often to preach from the top of a hill or a boat in the water. He walked and He walked, and as He walked, He looked into the eyes of people and they were changed.

The first impacting experience as I began my life in the darkness of urban centres was walking through the streets of the downtown eastside of Vancouver with the pastor of a small drop-in centre. Sally was middle-aged and frumpy with a pink blouse and long, blue skirt, and as we walked through the streets, she was greeted with genuine affection by every type of street-involved man. They told her of their struggles and their triumphs. She called them each by name.

The North American church (as well as many other non-religious organizations) builds all sorts of social programs for those perceived as needy. While these programs help many out of dire situations, I would contend that where people's hearts and lives are changed is in the walking. It was because Christ walked his life out with people that the world was revolutionized in three years.

The greatest cause of social ills on our continent is brokenness. People are broken and they have largely been broken by other people. Consequently, it is only through the healing love of others that life can be restored. This is not done through counseling and food banks and rehabilitation programs; this is done by everyone living their lives out alongside others.

In Northern Ireland my husband and I lived in a war-torn community where people bore the scars of years of hatred and violence. We painstakingly ran program after program for the local people, but it was only in the walking that relationships were built and hearts were changed. Hours and hours were spent out in the bitter rain playing games with children, visiting single mothers, and laughing with teenagers and this was how they knew they were loved and how we knew that we had become accepted. I can't tell you that hundreds of people came to know Christ in that time, but I can tell you that people who were broken displayed a little less brokenness when we left.

We are made in the image of a God who loves people. We are made to be in relationship with Him and with others. It is unacceptable to live insular lives behind closed doors and expect that someone else with a call to social justice will save the lost and feed the hungry. The lady in the grocery store is hurting. Your neighbor is confused. My grandmother is lonely. The youth in jail has not had a visitor for two months. It is not radical to do something about these situations, but unfortunately with our fast-paced and individualistic existence it has become radical. The church has become so efficient at developing ministries that we can all rest assured that someone else will respond to the needs of a hurting community.

To take a look at the meaning of activism is to see that it is pursuing a goal, particularly of a political or social nature. To take a look at social justice is to see that it is more all-encompassing than what one or two people in the church have chosen to do with their lives. Justice is to do what is right - in every

situation - to live a life that is righteous. Righteousness is what we see in the lives of so many biblical characters. Often their reactions or choices or statements in a given situation are what we examine and attempt to apply to our lives. Rarely do we look at the holistic lives of these same people. Who really wants the lives of Jeremiah? Moses? Jesus? Yet these are the founders of our faith and the ones who have been given to us as examples.

Try walking. Not all day perhaps, and not everywhere, but try it. Make yourself vulnerable and allow people to see into your life while you look into theirs. This is true activism - without the mohawks and the newspaper headlines. This is thankless and will not yield measurable results, but it is the heart of God.

Some of the greatest examples in my life have been Mother Teresa and Jean Vanier. In Calcutta, India, I saw where Mother Teresa lived and saw the ministries that she established. There wasn't any hype or glamour to any of it. There were sisters who spent their whole lives living with little abandoned boys. They slept on the floor and went through a daily routine of feeding, changing, teaching, playing with these precious ones. Their entire lives were about justice for these boys and they wouldn't have had it any other way. Jean Vanier, in his L'Arche homes, tells us that we do not have the option to live independently of others and goes so far as to say that we should be purposely seeking out those we do not like and living alongside them.

As I complete this article, my husband and I are trying to decide whether or not it is "right" for us (and the baby we're expecting) to move into a house located across an alley from a men's shelter and an apartment building for those who are mentally ill.

I cannot think of what is more right.

This does not make me an activist. To paraphrase the statement of a man I once worked with, if you think that I am radical, then you should be concerned about what you are.

Kathryn Gray is a counselor at a shelter for men who are homeless in downtown Toronto. She and her husband live in the same neighborhood in the hopes of building community there.