The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible has these insightful words in chapter three: ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.’ In this country, it can be argued there is a day for every cause or celebration deemed worthy of acknowledgment. For instance, this month we celebrate Valentine’s Day on 14 February. It is hard to ignore this date (not that we should want to) due to all the shops being awash with chocolates, greeting cards, flowers, jewellery, and any other item that speaks of love. As soon as Christmas ‘ended’, everything swung into celebrating Valentine’s Day.
I am the Director of Justice and Inclusion at Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), and one of my tasks involves assembling the resources for Racial Justice Sunday (RJS), which is always the second Sunday in February. As such, February is also a time I equate with justice, as well as love. Every now and then, RJS falls on Valentine’s Day, which can prove something of a quandary for some Church leaders and congregations; which should they celebrate: Valentine’s Day or RJS – love or justice?
For me, this should not prove problematic as justice and love are not mutually exclusive, especially for Christians. A famous theologian once argued that justice is love in action, a sentiment that is backed up by the words of the famous hymn, ‘Here Is Love Vast As the Ocean’, whose second verse speaks about God’s justice and love being manifested in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. We tend to associate ‘peace’ with justice, rather than love, yet it can be argued that love and justice are two sides of the same coin. I always contend that if you ‘love’ people, like God does, you should love justice, because what we describe as ‘justice issues’ invariably involve people. I would argue that love and justice are the central messages of RJS, irrespective of the particular theme in any given year. It is all about God’s love for us, and our desire to see justice manifested in the lives of those God loves.
That will also be the central message at the launch of the Racial Justice Advocacy Forum (RJAF) on 15 February 2023 at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, in London. The RJAF, which is an ecumenical Christian entity that seeks to speak prophetically on behalf of Black and Brown Christians to the British Government on racial injustice challenges and reparations, comprises of representatives from various Christian institutions, parachurch groups and Christians of all traditions in Britain and Ireland. It agreed to hold its official launch during what many in this country are now calling ‘Racial Justice Week’, due to its commitment to justice, peace and love. The RJAF believes that these three terms are ‘doing’ words that are best demonstrated through actions rather than words. For instance, Micah 6:8 talks about ‘doing justice’ as opposed to ‘talking’ about it, while in 1 John 3:18 the writer says, ‘…let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.’
We are all familiar with the adages ‘talk is cheap’ and ‘actions speak louder than words’, and since the RJAF’s establishment in 2021, it has been working with certain communities and groups that are often treated as the ‘lost’, the ‘least’ or the ‘left behind’ in our society. What these folks rarely experience is a palpable sense of justice or compassion in a culture that invariably fails to do the right thing by them. A good case in point has been the Windrush Scandal that has seen many people who had the right to reside in this country, threatened with removal; a move that has ruined lives and livelihoods. Justice demands that we stand alongside such men and women, showing them the love of God through our efforts to right certain wrongs. The RJAF has taken a keen interest in this matter, as well as several others that are justice-related, as part of its prophetic work. Those who will be attending the launch, a day after Valentine’s, will find out more about the RJAF’s plans for 2023 and onwards, as it will unveil its ‘Justice and Love’ manifesto, which will be a challenge to the churches in Britain and Ireland to be the defenders of justice, truth and equality.
I will end how I started, by quoting from Ecclesiastes chapter three verse eight, which also mentions that ‘there is a time to love’ as well as a ‘time to hate’. Let us make this February a time to champion God’s love for justice in those places and spaces where it is in short supply.
To attend the RJAF launch, see: https://www.baptist.org.uk/Articles/646813/Racial_Justice_Advocacy.aspx
