proximate justice

A friend emailed me this week a series of articles around "proximate justice," and I have spent much of Holy Week reflecting on their meaning, and application. The concept is not new, but it is at the heart of faith: how are we, as people of faith, to both yearn for justice to come to the Earth, and also to live with it coming-in-part?

Last weekend proved to be a lovely way to reflect on these meditations, as I had opportunity to meet or communicate with other women who are asking the same questions of their lives. Sheryl, a friend I met in Haiti years ago, emailed me from a gut-wrenching conference on adoption advocacy. She encouraged me to keep yearning for goodness to come in the midst of all the suffering I see, and I was buoyed to know her companionship in this justice pilgrimage. On Saturday I sat with Lorrell, a missioner friend who is waiting for her visa to arrive so that she can return to her NGO work in Sudan. She spoke frankly of the pain of the wait--so much that she could be doing throughout the country in the work of literacy and literacy advocacy. Anne, a universalist friend who has been bringing her church to Mexico since I told her about our trips years ago. She told me about a safe house she visited last month for illegal immigrants in El Paso, Texas and the pastor who works there, a man so impassioned with justice (and with grace) I cried over my coffee.

These last few days I have made more peace with proximate justice. Yesterday I was able, after much advocacy, to work with some teachers in my building to get a student evaluated for special education services. There are a few others I know would benefit from such testing, but the system is slow, and often unwilling, and it is heartbreaking work. But yesterday, I was able to bring justice to this boy's life, and to translate for his grandmother, who told the team, "Finalamente, tenemos una escuela que puede ayudar a el...tuve esperanza" ("Finally, we have a school that can help him...I had hope"). I almost cried, to think how he close the student came to being overlooked.

It is not justice for all, and it is not justice in every situation. That, my Scriptures tell me, has not yet arrived. But I pray for the Kingdom of justice (of "enough," of healing, of grace) to come to this earth, and I work for it. And as I do, I'm learning to make my peace with proximate justice, and to offer my small works to God as great acts of hope.