The Church as a Community of Justice: A Reflection on Isaiah 58教会作为一个社会正义：反映了对以赛亚书58

Isaiah 58:6-8 以赛亚书58:6-8

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 是不是这种禁食我选择：
to loose the chains of injustice 以松散的连锁店的不公正
and untie the cords of the yoke, 和解开绳索的枷锁，
to set the oppressed free 设置被压迫的自由
and break every yoke? 并打破每一个枷锁？

Is it not to share your food with the hungry 是不是分享您的食物与饥饿
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— 并提供穷人的游子与住房
when you see the naked, to clothe them, 当您看到赤身露体，以他们的温饱，
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 而不是把远离自己的血肉？

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 那么您轻将打破提出的一样，黎明，
and your healing will quickly appear; 和您的愈合很快就会出现;
then your righteousness will go before you, 那么您的正义，将距离你，
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 和荣耀上帝将成为您的后卫。

For me, the striking thing about Isaiah 58 (and a similar passage, Micah 6) is that they are written to a specific people in a specific time and place.对我来说，突出的一点，以赛亚书第58条第（和类似的通过，弥迦6 ）是他们的书面一个特定的人在一个特定时间和地点。 I point out the specificity of these passages not to dismiss their message as irrelevant to the Church today, but rather as a key to understanding how they apply to us.我想指出的特殊性，这些通道不解雇他们的信息作为无关，教会今天，而是作为一个关键，以了解他们如何适用于我们。 My tendency in reading these passages (and I know this applies to others as well) is to read the call to action (Is. 58:6-7) as an inspiration for getting engaged in the struggle against the largest global injustices of our age (hunger, poverty, AIDS, slavery, etc.).我的倾向，在阅读这些通道（我知道这适用于对他人的，以及）是指阅读行动呼吁（ is. 58:6-7 ）作为获取灵感，从事的斗争，全球最大的不公正，我们年龄（饥饿，贫困，艾滋病，奴役，等等） 。 While I do believe that such struggles are important, I don’t believe that they are primarily what the prophets are addressing in these passages.而我认为，这种斗争是非常重要的，我不相信他们，主要是什么先知正在处理在这些通道。 I am particularly wary of this sort of large-scale interpretation of these passages in an election year, when the political parties co-opt the Church into believing that a vote for their candidate is a valuable expression of one’s desire for justice.我特别担心这种大型的解释，这些通道在选举年，当各政党合作，选择教会，以为投票给他们的候选人是一项宝贵的表达一个人的伸张正义的愿望。

In contrast, the message of these passages seems to be a call for a just people, a community that embodies justice in its daily life in the place and time that it finds itself.在此相反，这些信息通道，似乎是一个呼吁建立一个正义的人们，一个社会正义的体现在其日常生活中，在时间和地点，它所处的。 It is important to note that the audience is a community, not an individual.这是很重要的地注意到，观众是一个社会，而不是一个单独的。 It is, I believe, our good-ol’-American individualism that leads us to jump to interpretations like the one I have described above.这是，我相信，我们的好ol' -美国个人主义，导致我们要跳转到的解释一样，一个我所描述的上述。 Given the assumption that I am an isolated individual, what can I do to stand for justice?由于假设我是一个孤立的个人，我能做些什么来的立场，公理何在？ Well, I could vote for this candidate or that one, or give money (or even time) to this service group or that one.那么，我可以投赞成票，这名候选人或一个，或给予金钱（或什至时间）这项服务组，或一。 This tendency to interpret these passages individually stands in contrast to the warning in the text itself to “[desist] from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word” (Is. 58:13).这种倾向解释这些通道，个别的立场形成对比的警告，在文本本身“ [停止]从您自己的方式，寻求自己的喜悦和在谈到自己的字” （ is. 58:13 ） 。 Perhaps we jump too quickly into the “doing justice” parts of these passages and miss the prophet’s point that the sabbath fast to which we are called begins with self-denial, a setting aside of our own agendas, desires and even our own convenience.也许我们跳转太快，到“做正义”的部分，这些通道和小姐先知的一点安息日快，这是我们称为开始自我否定，撇开我们自己的议程，欲望，甚至是我们自己方便。 We cannot ultimately live justly with our brothers and sisters if we cannot prefer them and their needs over ourselves.我们不能最终活公正与我们的兄弟姐妹，如果我们不能喜欢他们和他们的需要，超过自己。 And, of course, the words of Isaiah serve as preparation for the way of Jesus, which also began in self-denial. ，当然，以赛亚书的话，充当准备的方式耶稣，也开始在自我否定。 If, however, the primary audience of these passages is a specific community and not individuals, what is the meaning of the prophets’ message for that community.但是，如果小学，观众对这些通道是一种特定的社会而不是个人，是什么意思先知'的信息，为社区。 First and foremost, I believe that the call is to be a community shaped and characterized by just living.首要的，我相信通话是一个社会的形成和特点，只是生活。 Are there hungry people in our church communities?有饥饿的人们在我们的教会社区？ Are there homeless ones?有无家可归的呢？ Are there people enslaved by drugs or debt or workaholism, etc.?是否有被奴役的人民，由药物或债务或workaholism等？ As we struggle to be a people marked by justice, we inevitably will come into conflict with the injustices of our local environment.作为我们斗争的一个显着的人由司法，我们难免会陷入冲突与不公正，我们本地的环境。 Although it is perhaps easiest to see the injustices of an urban neighborhood, injustices abound in any locale.虽然它可能是最容易看到的不公正一个城市居委会，不公正现象比比皆是，在任何区域。 The planned environment of suburbia that inhibits community, isolates people and requires frequent gasoline consumption is the origin of a host of injustices.计划环境suburbia抑制社会，隔离人，并要求频繁的汽油消费是原产地的一系列不公正的。 In rural places, the rape of the land by big businesses (coal mining in Appalachia, agribusiness in farming areas) reaps both poverty and a host of environmental injustices.在农村地方，强奸的土地由大企业（采煤在阿巴拉契亚，农业在农区）获得贫困和主机环境的不公正。

The German theologian Gerhard Lohfink often refers to the Church as a “contrast society,” and I think this language is useful for understanding the prophets’ call to justice in these passages.德国神学家格哈德洛芬克往往是指以教会作为一个“社会的对比， ”我认为这是有用的语言理解先知的要求，司法在这些通道。 As we strive to live justly together, we demonstrate that another way is possible, a way that stands in stark contrast to the pattern of the world (Rom. 12:2).作为我们努力的生活，公正共同努力，我们表明，另一种方式是可行的，方式的立场形成鲜明的对比，向世界大格局中（罗马书12:2 ） 。 The tendency of individualistic interpretations of these calls to justice is that we often are trapped into pursuing good and just ends through the world’s channels.倾向个人主义的解释，这些呼吁司法是，我们往往陷入追求善良和正义的目的，通过世界的渠道。 What then typically happens if we are persistent enough to follow these paths for some significant amount of time, is that we begin to make compromises and our ends get more and more watered down until they are swallowed up by our pursuit of the means.那么，通常情况下，如果我们持续足够遵循这些路径一些耗费大量的时间，就是我们开始作出妥协和我们的两端得到越来越多的淡化，直至他们吞噬了我们追求的手段。 Let me be clear, I am not advocating isolation for the church, but rather that church communities engage the powers of the world as communities and not individuals.让我清楚，我不是主张分离为教会，而是教会社区进行的权力世界的社区而不是个人。 Furthermore, our engagement can and should be formed by the shared life of the community in which we are seeking to live justly together.此外，我们的接触，可以而且应该形成由共同生活的社会在这方面，我们正寻求公正，生活在一起。 I see more hope of discernment and resistance in this way than in that of individualism.我看到更多的希望，鉴别力和阻力，在这种方式比在这方面的个人主义。 It is interesting that the language of bearing witness that Paul uses throughout Ephesians 3-4 is that of the church bearing witness to the powers, not individuals.有意思的是，语言的见证保罗用途整个以弗所书3月4日是该教会见证的权力，而不是个人。

Frankly, being a community of justice is hard; it demands that we know our brothers and sisters and daily give of ourselves to make sure that they are taken care of; the closeness of life together brings out the worst of our brokenness, which we would much rather keep hidden away (Thanks be to God that “where sin abounds, grace abounds even more”!).坦率地说，作为一个社会正义是很难;这就要求我们知道我们的兄弟姐妹和每日给自己，以确保他们的照顾;贴近生活，一起带出了最坏的残破我们，我们将很多隐藏的，而不是保持距离（感谢真主， “如果单比比皆是，宽限期，比比皆是，甚至更多” ！ ） 。 But despite the difficulties, this is the way in which we have been called to follow: to live justly with each other, with our neighbors and to watch the justice of Christ flow outward from our communities into our states, our nations and the uttermost parts of the earth.但尽管有困难，这是方法，在这方面，我们已要求如下：生活公正与对方，与我们的邻居和观赏司法基督的流量向外从我们的社区，融入我们的国家，我们的国家和uttermost零件对地球。

Lord, have mercy upon us, may we heed your call to live justly together and may your justice flow through us and heal our fallen and rebellious world!求主怜悯我们，我们可以听取您的电话生活公正一起，并可能您的正义流经我们和医治我们的下降和反叛的世界！

Author Bio: : Chris Smith is editor of 生物作者： ：克里斯史密斯是编辑 Doulos Christou Press doulos christou新闻 and a member of the Englewood Christian Church community in Indianapolis.和成员之一， Englewood的基督教社会在印第安纳波利斯。

for further reading .为进一步读。 . 。 . 。

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