This I understand.

It is the collective person of God who seems…

distant.

Seemingly altogether removed from the earth, from our lives, from our celebrations and festivities as well as our funerals and tragedies, he looks on from afar, and I can barely make out whether his face is grimacing or smiling. Or if there is any expression at all. It is why we ask questions like: God, do you even see me? Do you care? Where are you in my parents’ divorce, my abused childhood, my alienated friendships? Where are you in financial wreckage, in spousal neglect, in his son’s helpless handicap, her brother’s gasoline burns, his mother’s ravaging cancer, her dad’s fatal stroke?

And with tremendous hurt–and all we can muster to fight off the encroaching resentment or resignation–we look off into the dark, empty sky, doing our best to try and imagine that he’s there. And we cry,

How     could     you?

I confess I’ve asked, and I confess I’ve heard my words reach my bedroom walls to turn and render themselves canceled in a heartbreaking, empty echo. And I confess that for a long time, I have felt God to be deaf toward the cry of the hurting world I live in.

Sure, you hurt when you see us suffer, and so have a suffering of your own. But do you know–do you suffer–my very own suffering? Do you see it from the inside? Sure, you have compassion, but only as one who stands on the other side of the room, able only to watch and wish it wasn’t so. Sure, you empathize with the paraplegic or amputee, but only as much as can a friend who still has legs to walk.

I’ve focused so intensely on the transcendence of God that he has become largely separate from his world. He is personal and he cares, but he has stood apart. He empathizes and has pity, but only as an outsider. And I’ve found myself disappointed and dissatisfied with God.

Then, something changed.

God in our Pain

What if God feels your pain, not in some separated sense, but really and truly and fully? What if God suffers not only on a cross 2000 years ago, but suffers each and every day in the exact ways we suffer? What if God suffers our suffering as we suffer, and not somehow from the outside looking in? What if God is more personal than we could fathom? Maybe his compassion comes at a cost to him.

Indeed, Paul says of Christ in Colossians: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” And if we look at Acts 17, we find that “in him we live and move and have our being.” Here we find a God who has woven reality itself into his own being, a God who threads himself into and throughout our world, a God in whom our very existence avoids unraveling. We cannot keep God outside, as if we could if we tried; he is unbearably immanent. I cannot, in fact, will my very own existence without him. I don’t mean to sound pantheistic, but this world is full of God–it is drowning in his presence. I cannot so much as move without experiencing some part of his involvement here. I cannot so much as breathe without his swirling about in my lungs, personally carrying vital oxygen across their capillaries. The fact that I can reach out and touch something to feel its texture and temperature speaks of his intimacy.

Indeed, it speaks. The Word is here.

Photo // Tinou Bao

See, he is more intimate, more involved, more immanent than we can see or know. There is a difference between a God who is ever-transcendent like some great, untouchable platonic Idea, and a God who also shares in our very being. He does not see and know from afar; he is here–even in our pain. It is the difference between witnessing a father abuse his son through a window, and actually feeling the knuckles meet your own jaw.

What if God is that close?

It means that he knows and understands–even experiences–our suffering in a way we could not have even hoped. It means that every bruised and beaten atom of our bodies contributes to his pain, and every hurtful word that reaches our ears rings like a siren in his own. It means that every white-knuckled father who has pounded on the face of his child has pounded on the face of God. Violation of neighbor is then, truly, violation of God. It means God feels the aching body of the chemo-treated cancer patient. It means he winces from the trembling, bloody fingertips of the 6-year-old sweatshop slave. It means he is seared as the burning flesh of the citizen and the soldier taking shrapnel and hot lead. It means he weeps over the headstone of the long-buried lover and aches in the hurt of the lonely.

But we admit we are not always the oppressed, but the oppressor.

The Suffering God

It means that for all of time, in violating and extorting and abusing and raping and murdering and molesting and neglecting our neighbor, we truly do violence to God himself and he suffers our suffering with us (Mt. 25:34-45; Acts 9:1-5). Beginning in Eden, his creation, even humanity–the very beings made and privileged to image his own self–has turned savagely in on itself and on him, like a wild, frightened animal, in our frail and fearful brokenness.

Maybe God, in awesome patience and painful suspension of justice, profoundly suffers at our hands. Maybe God–as the One who runs alone the whole course of time, as the One who alone threads himself into all the humanity and creation of all peoples and places, and as the One who in his perfection compounds his own capacity to suffer a depth and quality we ourselves could not endure–is in duration, in scope, and in caliber the greatest sufferer of all. And much, at our hands (how much, we too, suffer at each other’s hands!).

And so the prayer once perhaps an accusation, like an irreverent finger pointed at the sky, becomes pure astonishment and bewilderment in our questioning, filling us at once with what we mean by words like awe and wonder and sorrow and gratitude. We had wondered once at his absence and compassion for us. We now wonder at our absence of compassion for him. For truly, at the sight of the suffering heart of God, our own personal theodicy of suffering quickly finds itself thin: a pebble on the mountain of the suffering of God. Far from diminishing the experience of our own suffering to nothing, it has instead gained the new weight of an infinitely, eternally compassionate God who enters into our splintered world and feels every sting of its brokenness. I am shaken at the sight of this suffering God; isn’t this the gospel? I am disarmed and awed to worship this God of incredible compassion, this God who is near, who is here, who is now and has been and will be.

Again we ask,

How     could     you?

but maybe with a different, more compassionate tone: if only a tone more truly like himself.

So, dear friend, be comforted. God is not far off or senseless; he is here–in our very real pain and hurt and gaping wounds. Know that he is more than able to understand–yes, he himself experiences–the very pain that plagues your mind, your heart, your body. Know and be comforted that he has entered into your present circumstances and that he aches with you as you ache, and weeps with you as you weep. Pray eagerly for the redemption of all things, the righting of all wrongs, the healing of the human plight, and so plead with his radical, holy self-interest. Our good is at stake; but God, so is yours. Redeem us and our world, God, and come quickly. Until then, comfort us in your wild, selfless, incredible compassion. In the name of your Suffering Servant. Amen.

Justice is a garment, a billion threads, interwoven, interlocked, knit together with strength and integrity. Pull one thread from the fabric and the garment begins to fray. Pull ten million threads and justice unravels into injustice.

The work of justice is to mend the holes injustice inflicts upon the garment. It is a brave, challenging, courageous work and it does not begin with expertise or duty. It begins with love… and love is a thread.

The Justice Conference 2012 is the second annual international gathering of advocates, activists, artists, professors, professionals,prophets, pastors, students and stay-at-home moms working to restore the fabric of justice. For some it means speaking. For others it means singing. For some it means going. For others it means giving. For all, it means living with mercy and love.

You are invited to come weave your voice and gifts into the conversation. Join us, and discover that in the garment of justice, your love is an irreplaceable thread.

Here’s the official details:

WHO WE ARE

THE JUSTICE CONFERENCE is a two-day annual event to promote dialogue around justice related issues such as human trafficking, slavery, poverty, HIV/AIDS and human rights, featuring internationally acclaimed speakers, hundreds of humanitarian organizations and dozens of pre-conference workshops.

OUR MISSION | WHY WE EXIST

To impact a generation for justice.

OUR VISION | HOW WE ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSION

Our vision is to reach tens of thousands of people over the next decade through a leading national conference that annually educates, inspires and connects a generation of men and women around a shared concern for the vulnerable and oppressed.

WHAT SHAPES US

OUR COMMITMENTS

1. A Theology of Justice  - The heart of the conference, and the driving force behind the plenary sessions, is to speak to the broad idea of God’s heart for justice. While ample time is given to speaking on specific topics and instances of injustice, it is our goal to frame the conversation by highlighting the broad concept of justice from philosophical, ethical, historical and religious perspectives.
2. Practical Engagement - We are committed to finding practical ways to involve people in justice issues–both in their day-to-day lives at home and around the world–by providing first rate exhibitors, literature (the Conference Bookstore), pre-conference sessions and spotlight organizations.
3. Collaborative Relationships - We are committed to pursuing creative and collaborative relationships with non-profit and for profit justice organizations with the conviction we accomplish more when we work together than when we work alone.
4. Leading Voices - We are committed to finding and spotlighting the highest quality national and international voices from a broad spectrum of leaders, authors, advocates and teachers from around the world.
5. Fiscal Responsibility - The Justice Conference is a non-profit organization and operates on a slim budget. Any excess funds above overhead costs get distributed to the organizing institutions.
6. To Practice Justice While Promoting Justice - We are committed, as best as possible, to not commit injustices in our pursuit of justice.

OUR TITLE SPONSORS AND ORGANIZING INSTITUTIONS

World Relief
Kilns College

ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES

1. Target Audience - The Justice Conference seeks to reach a broad audience ranging from practitioners and experts to teachers, business people, artists, stay at home moms and everyone in between who has a passion for justice or wants to take a first step in learning more about justice.
2. Is the conference a Christian Conference? - While the organizing organizations and many of the conference team are Christians, the conference seeks to be a blend of about 70% faith based and 30% non-faith based in speakers and organizations represented.
3. What is different between the main sessions and the pre-conference sessions? - The Main Session centers on a collective experience focused on a blend of education (around the idea and theology of justice), inspiration (with a heavy emphasis on music and art) and exposure to a few select causes and organizations (varies each year).
   The primary emphasis of the pre-conference sessions is to allow conference attendees to learn about specific issues or organizations per their choice.
4. How are speakers chosen? - Speakers are chosen by the conference leaders in consultation with the organizing institutions.
5. How are sponsors and exhibitors chosen? - The conference doesn’t choose sponsors or exhibitors. Both are paid level ways of engaging with the conference and are initiated by like-minded organizations desirous of partnering with The Justice Conference.
6. How is the conference location chosen? - The location for each conference is chosen based on geography (weather), location and demographic, partnering organizations in the area and a viable host church. The final decision is made by the Conference Director in consultation with the Executive Director and the organizing institutions.

CONTACT US

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

Simply indicate your desire to be involved and in what capacity by contacting the conference at info@thejusticeconference.com or www.thejusticeconference.com