I spent the first part of this week with a group of people who deal in hope. They are people who work in areas that minister to the margins. Anglicans who work in areas of justice and mercy. MORE HERE.

Being around practitioners who are deeply rooted in the gospel is probably my favorite place to be. They work in hard areas with marginalized groups of people. The work is long. The issues are hard. And they keep going as they are rooted in Christ. The gospel IS their motivation.

They do so in places where often the churches they belong to don’t really support what they do. One panel discussion had this question for practitioners: “What do you do when the church you love doesn’t love what you do?”

Rooted in the gospel, doing work with the marginalized, deeply motivated by Scripture, they too often listen to other Christians put down their work by using the standard pejoratives of our day:

“WOKE”
“CRT”
Or an oldie: “SOCIAL justice”

This was a place where over and over it was said by speakers, “I’m glad to be in a space where I don’t have to preface my comments.” They were free to speak truth.

One afternoon I was in a session on racial conversations and the more we talked the bleaker the situation became for our culture. Since 2020 there has been a definite SLIDE in these issues and the ability to even talk about race!

Then, the next session ended with a report from Israel. A ministry there has spent well over a decade cultivating conversations of grace between Palestinians and Jews. The work is deep, and deeply moving. And in the last week it’s all very literally blown up. This is going to severely alter how they move forward in that work.

Back to back I heard reports where things were getting worse, and those practitioners didn’t blink an eye. They mourned, yes. But give up? Not even a hint of throwing in the towel.

They were dealing in hope. They worked for justice. They serve a King who will come to judge the living and the dead and will put all things to rights again.

I get addicted to people like that.

They are people who love to be with the marginalized because they know Jesus would be there. They learn to carry grief. They learn to lament. It doesn’t make them “less Christian” or “less victorious.” It’s part of life in the Kingdom.

They aren’t spending themselves for justice. They are doing what Jesus would do. They aren’t rooted in a “justice cause.” They are rooted in Christ.

They deal in hope.