“You look at a potato and see: mashed potato, baked potato, french fries, potato salad, hash browns, roasted potato, potato stew. You look at a homeless youth and see: a homeless youth.”
On a recent vacation, I was struck by this powerful poster campaign on buses and billboards throughout the city I was visiting.
In place of “homeless youth”, insert any of the people The Mustard Seed serves: “homeless man”, “mentally ill woman”, “drug addict”, “prison inmate”… Wider society often overlooks these people on the margins, stereotyping them and in doing so denying them their humanity as beings created in the image of God.
Maybe this is why the prophet Micah was so adamant in pointing out the responsibility of Christians “[t]o act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Ch. 6:8). If justice can be described, in part, as “providing people with the space, opportunity and resources to fulfill their God-given potential”, then this reinforces the need to view all people as image bearers of God, full of worth and possibility.
In this context, what does it look like to “act justly” ? At The Mustard Seed Edmonton, maybe it’s our art night or sewing group. Perhaps it’s our Clean Team- inner city residents employed in taking care of their neighbourhood. It could be Seedworks, which helps people attain skills to reach their employment goals. All of these programs encourage people in discovering and developing their gifts, skills and potential! For communities and church congregations, “acting justly” might look like actively seeking to create and/or become hospitable spaces for people on the margins to flourish.
As the poster campaign so succinctly put it, folks who are poor or homeless often have nothing… nothing but potential.
On a recent vacation, I was struck by this powerful poster campaign on buses and billboards throughout the city I was visiting.
In place of “homeless youth”, insert any of the people The Mustard Seed serves: “homeless man”, “mentally ill woman”, “drug addict”, “prison inmate”… Wider society often overlooks these people on the margins, stereotyping them and in doing so denying them their humanity as beings created in the image of God.
Maybe this is why the prophet Micah was so adamant in pointing out the responsibility of Christians “[t]o act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Ch. 6:8). If justice can be described, in part, as “providing people with the space, opportunity and resources to fulfill their God-given potential”, then this reinforces the need to view all people as image bearers of God, full of worth and possibility.
In this context, what does it look like to “act justly” ? At The Mustard Seed Edmonton, maybe it’s our art night or sewing group. Perhaps it’s our Clean Team- inner city residents employed in taking care of their neighbourhood. It could be Seedworks, which helps people attain skills to reach their employment goals. All of these programs encourage people in discovering and developing their gifts, skills and potential! For communities and church congregations, “acting justly” might look like actively seeking to create and/or become hospitable spaces for people on the margins to flourish.
As the poster campaign so succinctly put it, folks who are poor or homeless often have nothing… nothing but potential.
Love this post Sarah- well said, well said :)
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