... sometimes identified as the realm of justice. In the Hebrew Testament, Isaiah offers a grand vision in which G_d is actually glorified by crooked paths being made straight, mountains being laid low and valleys filled in (40.3-5). In case there is doubt about the metaphor, the prophet even personifies such activity when he proclaims a time for the habitations of the proud to be razed and then trampled by those who are oppressed, the needy and poor; and he prophesies the new creation of a straight and level path of justice (26.5-7).

Justice-making, it seems, is a more-than-passive excavation beneath the existential polarities dividing different groups, classes, and individuals.

Some who experience such justice will likely do so with great fear, while others will rejoice. Some will drink up such practice like a cool drink in a hot desert. Others will experience it as a flood washing away the fertile land upon which they thrive.

So, how do we ensure such work finds rootedness in a deeply spiritual reality wherein grace is possible and all can experience true-justice as a healing salve? How do we keep the oppressed and the oppressors from merely exchanging places?

Perhaps, the mystic, Frederick Buechner, provides a key to unlock the door of justice for all. His is the notion that G_d’s true Shalom is not ultimately found in some cosmic absence of struggle, but always and only in a presence of love (Wishful Thinking, p. 69).

May you consider the links on this page as keys for unlocking some of the flood gates through which living waters of justice might flow into this world in a way that all might find new life, new hope, and transformative possibility

The art of making of a level playing field is ...