Charity and Justice not just Charity

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8.

This morning I had the pleasure of serving communion to a very faithful parishioner who currently resides in a nursing home. As is our habit when we meet, I read to him from the devotional book he keeps on his bed stand. This particular devotion focused on Mark 6:42, "And all ate and were filled." It went on to talk about how important it is to offer charity to our neighbors in need. The author cited Hurricane Katrina as an example. He/she stated how important it is for us to help our neighbors who were devastated by Katrina with our charity.

I certainly have no problem with that. Charity is a good thing. However, charity, in and of itself is not what the Lord requires. The Lord also requires that we do justice. That's not quite as easy as doing charity because it involves asking questions about why certain people, particularly those living in poverty, weren't able to even get out of harm's way. It involves looking closely at our public policy and economic choices that leave people living in poverty and despair such that their choices are so limited. Sure we should help them rebuild. But, we also need to look more deeply at how the choices and the public policy positions we took prior to the disaster left people needing charity in the first place.