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"Seeking Justice Together"

Last night, a block from where my family lives, a young man was murdered.  He was shot in the head.  He was only 18.  

I wasn’t home when it happened.  When I arrived home I’d already received a call from another TrueCity pastor.  TrueCity is a movement of churches in our city that work together to bring good to the city.  He pastors a church plant in the core of our city and lives a few houses down from me.  He knew that several families from my congregation live close by and he has families living there as well.  He was concerned for the family whose lives were tragically altered by this violent act.  He was also concerned for our neighborhood and the people on both sides of the shooting.

The murder happened in the parking lot of one of Hamilton’s larger social housing complexes.  He was a young man who had been a part of our ministries up until a few months ago and his mother is part of a weekly drop-in we offer.  I called my colleague back to tell him what I knew and he immediately thanked God that they were connected to our church.

What drives someone to murder a young man?  What demons plague the killer?  Should there even be a social housing complex of this magnitude in one neighborhood?  Should we allow the gentrification of our neighborhood to displace everyone in the social housing complex so it can be developed with retail stores and condos?  What role if any, do God’s people have in this?  

Justice belongs to God.  It is core to God’s character and nature: “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep,” - Psalm 36:6.

He commands us to be actively seeking justice, ‘Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.’  Isaiah 1.  Psalm 103:6 says, ‘Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.’ 

In the next few months, committees will be struck to brainstorm ways to make our neighborhood healthier.  Levels of government, the police, the local schools, non-profit agencies, businesses, neighbors and the church will all be represented.  Not just one church, but many.  TrueCity will be at the table, working towards just solutions for the good of the city, in Jesus name…together.  

-Dwayne Cline, Pastor of Hughson Street Baptist Church in Hamilton, Ontario