Isaiah 58:1-3, 6-10

Tell my people what's wrong with their lives,
face my family Jacob with their sins!
2They're busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.

To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people--
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, "What's the right thing to do?'
and love having me on their side.
3But they also complain,
"Why do we fast and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?'

6"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
7What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.

8Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The GOD of glory will secure your passage.
9Then when you pray, GOD will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, "Here I am.'
"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
10If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down--and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

So, my question is, where do we start? I mean, I can go to Washington Street Mission once every 6 months...donate clothes to Goodwill....send money to any variety of ministries and missionaries....but what do we do about social injustice? About unfair wages? About freeing the oppressed and canceling debt?? Actually, I just got an email from Sojourners about a petition asking the President to work at the IMF, World Bank, and G-8 meetings to cancel all debts in several impoverished countries, without doing economic harm.

Already I'm anticipating some of my more conservative friends arguing about policy, economic theories...why it wouldn't work...why it shouldn't work.....but as a Christian, reading the text in Isaiah and throughout the Bible, why not just say, "hey - don't worry about paying back that loan". I think it could be as easy as that. Although I believe Christians should be involved in politics, is there any party in the US that's really going to make social justice and poverty a priority?

I don't think living a radical Christian life is going to make sense in the political world or the world of consumerism. I don't quite know how to do it, but I think we need to start doing something about social injustice. I often glance at David Lasley's away message link to info on Darfur, and think, "okay, that's awful...but what can I do?"

I'm done rambling....any practical, personal ways we can do this...even something CSF could take on...those thoughts would be appreciated.