Pew Forum Report

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has recently released a report, U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. The report is worth a read for the info that it supplies about the American religious landscape. A lot of it is surprising, and as the report states,

…The Landscape Survey confirms the close link between Americans’ religious affiliation, beliefs and practices, on the one hand, and their social and political attitudes, on the other. Indeed, the survey demonstrates that the social and political fault lines in American society run through, as well as alongside, religious traditions.

One section is worth pulling out for consideration:

Most Americans agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition, seven-in-ten say many religions can lead to eternal life. This view is shared by a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including more than half of members of evangelical Protestant churches (57%). Only among Mormons (57%) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (80%) do majorities say that their own religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life.

Most Americans also have a non-dogmatic approach when it comes to interpreting the tenets of their own religion. For instance, more than two-thirds of adults affiliated with a religious tradition agree that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith, a pattern that occurs in nearly all traditions. The exceptions are Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, 54% and 77% of whom, respectively, say there is only one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion.

I can imagine evangelicals and Christians of all stripes bending over this report, concerned about the direction and focus of religion in American (which is basically dropping dogma for spirituality).

There will undoubtedly be many initiatives to stave off and reverse this trend of faith in this country. Lack of faith on one side, and apathy and weak theology on the other is destroying our country, culture, …(fill in the blank).

The problem is, of course that we see it as our battle, our problem, and probably our fault because Christianity is losing ground. If we can be more faithful, preach and witness more, proclaim the word, people will hear and turn and be saved.

Unfortunately, the problem is that all of this is simply getting in the way of the the work of the Spirit. I see more and more that Christianity in the US is more “Jesus lite.”

The battle is not ours, it belongs to the Lord. We do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12).

What we have is managerialism imposed on the church, enthralled by systems thinking and programs that do not rest on faith, but reason and intentionality.

Image source:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200708/20070828BizReligion_dm_500.jpg

Technorati Tags: Pew Report,Spiritual Formation

The Myth of Belonging

I’m a fan of REVEAL, the initiative started by Willow Creek.  I think there findings concerning the reality of spiritual growth in the church are significant, and point to an issue that I have been harping preaching about for years.

The sources of the problem are largely the result of the descent of managerialism on the church. However, that is an issue for another post.

One of the five “key findings” of REVEAL is that there is not necessarily a correlation between commitment and church attendance, or community. This is what REVEAL reports:

We found that those who were the most active in the church did not necessarily report higher levels of spiritual attitudes (“love for God and others”) and spiritual behaviors (evangelism, tithing, etc.) than those who were less active.
This led us to discovering a Spiritual Continuum centered on a relationship with Jesus Christ, which was much more predictive of spiritual growth (Chart 3).

 

What I find interesting is that I missed the conversation going on in other quarters. I have a book I purchased a few years ago, long before REVEAL hit the stands, written by Joseph R. Myers, The Search to Belong.

In a chapter entitled “the myths of belonging (p9),” Myer writes:

More commitment = more belonging. People often believe that there is a significant relationship between commitment and community. That is, however, a romantic view. When we search to belong, we aren’t really looking for commitment. We simply want to connect (p12).

I’m not saying that Willow Creek borrowed the idea, quite the contrary. When an organization as large as Willow Creek  picks up on an issue that has been surfacing throughout the church,to say we are sensing a moving of the Spirit is a bit of an understatement.

This sentiment is found in Rick Richardson’s writings, such as Evangelism Outside the Box, and in the the halls of the emerging church.

So, what’s next? That is the question that faces my colleagues and I in France. I’ll get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Organizational Leadership,culture,emerging,church

Snakeskin Boots

My friend Marcus is his own brand of Renaissance Man. One of his many talents is his turn of a phrase to compose some very interesting poetry. His work ranges from some that are very good to some that are akin to Vogon poetry.

But on a more serious note, Brother Marcus sent us his latest work, which I think is worth a look. Here it is:

De-cursed, Rehearsed, Well-Versed : Snakeskin Boots

I’ve had some thoughts about this snake
who came and stole our birthday cake;
he spoke the truth, Eve did assume,
he came in light and left in doom.

He seemed so lovely, wholesome, pure,
but was a fake, that is for sure;
by God’s command he bit the dust,
to crawl, not walk: this is a must.

Inherited by all who come:
a conscience broke and mostly numb;
a spirit dimmed with shadowed sight,
the truth forlorn midst shadowed night.

God cursed that snake, it was to be,
still cursed through all eternity;
a lake of fire: it waits ahead,
for snake of sin amidst the dead.

But Christ became a curse for me
by hanging there upon that tree;
I stare, I gaze with wonder filled,
this spirit soars, my heart is thrilled.

For cursed no more: that is my state,
redeemed and sealed: this is my fate;

the lamb was slain, the snake was stomped,
we praise the King’s deliverance prompt.

O join with those whose snake is gone,
in praise of heart, yea praise in song;
for boots of snakeskin we will wear,
upon those streets with golden glare.

MWA; June 2, 2008

Picture Credit: http://hitchhikermovie.free.fr/images/vogon3b.jpg

Technorati Tags: Culture,kingdom,odds and ends

Psalm 107

In the process of doing my preparatory study for a sermon on Psalm 107, I discovered a structure that runs throughout the entire Psalm.

It looks like this:

Psalm 107
Situation	Cry to God	God’s Response	Summons to Give Thanks for Hesed	Result
I. Deliverance 4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.	6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.	7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.	8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!	9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
II. Freeing the Prisoner 10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.	13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.	14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.	15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!	16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
III. Healing and Forgiveness 17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.	19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.	20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.	21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!	22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

 

IV. Salvation from the Storm 23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.

28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

 

I find the structure interesting. What I plan to do is explore the structure at two levels. The first level is the original setting. Most commentaries see this as post-exilic, which it could be, but that could also reflect the presuppositions of the commentator.  I seems, at first blush, that it is a reflection of God’s interaction with his people, from the Exodus to the Exile.

The second level I would explore is the significance of this structure. Is it meant to be a reminder and a call for people to thank God with praise and thanks giving? A reminder for people to call out to God for help, and then to acknowledge his help? Or is it just a formula, similar to the cycles in Judges, to recount God faithfulness, based on his covenant love?

Anyone have any ideas?

I’ll let you know what I come up with.

Technorati Tags: Psalms,worship,spiritual formation

China Earthquake, 2008

I have been looking at some of the most incredible scenes of the earthquake that recently struck China.  I find the destruction incredulous, hard to believe, and the loss of life is mind numbing.

My friend Jeff is in Chengdu with an team people, one of the areas hardest hit my the quake. His wife said in an email:

“Jeff called this morning from Chengdu. His team had gone back into the city for the night. He said he was most worried last night, as they were sleeping in a 7- story building in Chengdu. He said he feels better outside under the sky!! He sounded exhausted and said he was beat. They were going back up to the quake zone this morning, Monday morning. His team is registered with the Red Cross and he said they are mostly treating minor injuries and giving tetanus shots. The majorly injured people have made it to refugee camps where medical help is available there. Jeff said all the buildings are gone up there. It is reduced to rubble everywhere!!”

Keep these workers in mind in your prayers and meditations.

For all the hurt and pain and anguish, certain scenes stirred me to my soul as I watched.  One clip shows the spontaneous outbreak of joy and happiness as rescue workers pull a survivor from the wreckage (go to link).

If you haven’t seen the pictures and such, both the BBC and the New York Times has some great stuff on their web sites.

The BBC has clips, and the New York Times has photo galleries.

Image Credits: Screen captures from clips found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7397838.stm

Technorati Tags: culture,current events,kingdom

50 Possible Reasons Why You’re Not Emergent

  Great Post.

Of course, this is humor, but it is still good stuff.

On another note, my thinking on emerging church is in flux.  I can see a lot of reasons why it isn’t a good alternative to the usual modernist, mainstream vanilla flavor church we have today, but unfortunately it is often the best alternative that we have.

But once in a while there is some good thinking that is going, so I am not ready to jump ship.

For another, more serious take on the idea of missional, take a look here,

And for the big guns, I think this list from the Dream Awakener blog has the names of theologians to draw on for a dialectical conversation to help shape our Ecclesiology.

Finally, here is an interesting diagram, part of a missional synchroblog. There are other posts from other bloggers on the topic of being missional, scroll down.

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: culture,emerging,kingdom,missional

What’s Going On?

Blogger Wars

Some of you (few) who read this blog probably have not noticed that I actually have two blogs with the same material, one on Blogger and the other on WordPress.  The question is, of course, why have two blogs with the same material when you can hardly keep up with one?

Quite simply, I want to see which of the two blog sites I prefer.  I will eventually keep one site, but this is an anecdotal type of an experiment to see if I have a preference, and why.

I have seen person after person rant and rave about the flexibility and usability of WordPress blogs, but I have also avoided the temptation to rush over and join the ranks, as it were.

Hence the experiment.

So, any thoughts yet? Well, yes, kind of. I can’t speak to the so-called flexibility of WordPress, mainly because I use the free one on the website. The server edition seems to be more flexible with a lot more bells and whistles.

Which means right now I find my Blogger blog a bit more flexible, with additional features that can be added to the blog, which you may have noticed.

The main reason is that you can add Java scripts to Blogger, and not to WordPress. For WordPress, most of this is because of security issues to which Java can be vulnerable.

Since I use Windows Live Writer to write my posts and to upload them to my blog (can anything good come out of Galilee?), the issue of who has a better apparatus for composing a post is somewhat moot.  But, I feel that WordPress is a bit more rigorous and unforgiving when it comes to writing and editing a post.  I’ve spent way more time on the learning curve trying to find ways to edit and change my blog with WordPress than I have with Blogger.

I think it is easier to upload photos and such to Blogger, but with Live Writer, as I mentioned earlier, it is somewhat immaterial.

So, for now I can’t come up with any salient reason to prefer one (blogger) over another (WordPress), so I’ll keep the course I’m following now.

Amazon Books

Something else that I’ve been thinking about lately is the practice of linking a book to Amazon in a post.  I’ve come to the decision that, although I use Amazon from time to time to purchase books, I will not longer send them business through a link in a post. I really don’t benefit from it in any tangible way, and I don’t mean money issues.

There seems to be an implicit approval that accompanies a link to Amazon that I realize that I may not be ready to give. There are a few business practices that I don’t really think are all the beneficial for the customer, but not necessarily immoral or unethical. If anyone is really interested in what I am talking about, I’ll address it in a future post.

So, for now I will try to link up to an appropriate page on Google books. It can be frustrating trying to track down a page for a book on Google books. Often a page will not be displayed, mainly because it will keep you from reading the entire book on line.

But for now, I am going to try to link books this way. If you want to buy it from Amazon, that’s your business. But there are other places to buy a book.

Images

Something else I’ve been thinking about is the use of images. For a while I’ve “borrowed” images from online sites and used them as a frontispiece for my post as an introduction.

I realize that this isn’t the most ethical thing to do, so even if I download an image for this purpose, I’ve decided that I will give an image credit on any images I use on my blog(s) from now on. I’ve decided that linking to the image isn’t always the best way to go, because these images have a way of disappearing into cyberspace.

So, this is what is going on. Really boring stuff, but some things I’ve wanted to get off my chest, so to speak.

Image credit: original image at http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/olympics/images/wrestlers.jpg

Seeking Justice – Take Two

I’ve had some trajectories that I’ve been working on cross paths since the previous post. A reading of a chapter 15 in Scot McKnight’s book The Jesus Creed, entitled  A Society for Justice (p143ff), provided some insight and dissonance. 

The first trajectory is that we aren’t looking just for justice, we should be looking for Kingdom Justice. I began to realize this when I started reading what McKnight had to say in this chapter, which parallels and tracks many of the conclusions I arrived at.

He starts by saying that

Justice is a faded entry on a dog-eared page of our society’s lexicon (p145).

This means that most justice is self-centered and self-serving. We cry out at some injustice that happens to us, or something that stirs our self-interest, and we want to reap our share of rewards as recompense for it. Justice is about recompense, getting our pound of flesh, and so on.

A quote from The Jesus Creed is apropos here:

"I think we grab the whole business of justice by the wrong end of the stick," he says. "Currently we ask who did it and how we can punish them. But it makes more sense to ask who was hurt and how we can restore them…." (p149)

Kingdom justice is interested in restoration of the other and society to a relationship with God, not to satisfy some overweening sense justice that I might have.

The second trajectory is that most of the references to justice in scripture is restorative. Justice for the sake of punishing the wrong-doer is minimal, if it exists as all.  Let me explain the difference.

Retributive Justice

Retributive Justice is a matter of giving people their just desserts.

• In cases of wrongdoing, someone has lost certain benefits, while someone who does not deserve those benefits has gained them.
• Punishment will set this imbalance straight.

What Is Retributive Justice?

Retributive justice maintains that proportionate punishment is a morally acceptable response to crime, regardless of whether the punishment causes any tangible benefits. Central to retributive justice are the notions of merit and dessert. People who work hard deserve the fruits of their labor, while those who break the rules deserve to be punished. People deserve to be treated in the same way that they voluntarily choose to treat others.

Immanuel Kant discussed the idea. People enjoy the benefits of a rule of law. According to the principle of fair play, the loyal citizen must do his part in this system of reciprocal restraint. An individual who seeks the benefits of living under the rule of law without being willing to make the necessary sacrifices of self-restraint has helped himself to unfair advantages, and the state needs to prevent this to preserve the rule of law.

In some cases someone who merits certain benefits has lost them, while someone who does not deserve those benefits has gained them. Punishment "removes the undeserved benefit by imposing a penalty that in some sense "balances the harm inflicted by the offense." It is imposed as a debt that the wrongdoer owes his fellow citizens.

Retributive justice is in this way backward-looking. Punishment is warranted as a response to a past event of injustice or wrongdoing. It acts to reinforce rules that have been broken and balance the scales of justice.

This concept of justice seeks to regain an equality that the injustice overturned. Some think that it is  most simply summed up in the principle of revenge ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:38-39 (ESV)

But for some, there is a short slide from retribution to revenge. Vengeance is a matter of retaliation, of getting even with those who have hurt us. Like retribution, revenge is a response to wrongs committed against innocent victims and reflects the proportionality of the scales of justice. But revenge focuses on the personal hurt involved and typically involves anger, hatred, bitterness, and resentment.

Deuteronomy 19:17-21 is the passage that Jesus refers to in his teaching above. The problem is that this is often seen as the standard to guide justice, when the best understanding is that this is the minimal level of justice that God desires.

This is similar to the discussion about building codes in the United States. When someone says that a project is up to code, what they are actually saying is that the project meets the minimum level of safety standards. So, this passage serves to limit retaliation, and is not necessarily meant to deal with the standard by which society is to aspire to justice. 

On the other hand, I believe that most of scripture is about restorative justice.

Restorative Justice

• Restorative justice is concerned with healing victims’ wounds, restoring offenders to law-abiding lives, and repairing harm done to interpersonal relationships and the community.
• It seeks to involve all stakeholders and provide opportunities for those most affected by the crime to be directly involved and to respond to the harm caused.

In a restorative justice process, victims take an active role in what takes place, as well as defining the responsibilities and obligations of offenders. Offenders also participate in this exchange, to understand the harm they have caused to victims, making efforts to set things right, to make amends for their violations, by committing to certain obligations, that may come in the form of reparations, restitution, or community work, and to take active responsibility for it.

This means while fulfilling these obligations may be painful, the goal is not revenge, but restoration of healthy relationships between individuals, and in the communities that have been most affected by the crime.

An example of this is the reconciliation process in South Africa.

For Kingdom justice, the essence of this consists in God’s love for humankind, such that he came to humanity in the person of Jesus (i.e., the incarnation). Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God demonstrated his merciful and suffering love in response to our wrongdoing, thus making forgiveness and restoration fundamental to how we should respond to human wrongdoing. The background to this understanding of Jesus is in the Hebrew concept of shalom (understood sometimes as the word for salvation, justice, and peace"), and in the ethical and messianic insights of the Hebrew prophets.

McKnight gives two examples of inaugural addresses that focus on Jesus’ concept of justice. The first is Luke 4,

 

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:18-19 (ESV)

and the second is Matthew 5.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:3-5 (ESV)

In Luke 4, Jesus gives his inaugural address, which has a focus on restorative justice, i.e., Jesus sees his mission as restoring the poor, the prisoner, the blind and the oppressed to community with God and others.

Matthew 5 continues along the same theme where he shows that God’s intent is to restore everyone to a relationship with him and with others.

The poor	Theirs is the Kingdom
The hungry	They will be satisfied
Those who weep	They will laugh
Those who are hated, excluded, are insulted, rejected because of Christ	Great is their reward in heaven

As McKnight says, "Jesus is concerned with restoring humans so that things are just plain right. (p147)."

At the end of his earthly life, Jesus shows that justice is not retributive, but restorative. Judgment is part of the process of restoring people to God’s kingdom so that they can enjoy a relationship with him and others. But the judgment process is not what we expect:

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:35-40 (ESV)

The basis of judgment is not whether or not we prayed the right prayer or believed the right thing (see the discussion in McLaren, Generous Orthodoxy, p45-49), but how the followers of Christ have lived out the mission and commands of Christ in their lives.

Next time, what is the goal of justice? 

Image credit: http://www.2mediate.org/News/tbamediation.jpg

Technorati Tags: justice,culture,bible,missional

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Systems and Structure

My friend and I have had an ongoing conversation about how to do church. The one thing that we’ve tried to do is to hear what God is saying about the mission and purpose of the church that we attend. This has been an ongoing conversation.

Our greatest frustration is to get others to focus on what the church should be about. We find that the more we focus on the mission and purpose statements of the church, the more resistance to change we encounter.

The other night we had a particularly “spirited” conversation about the topic, and I sensed that as we parted company, we were both a little frustrated and feeling down about our seeming lack of progress.

The conversation continued this morning, and one thought came out of all this. We have been focusing on changing the system, and not the people. The passage that came to mind was Eph. 6:12:

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (ESV)

This tells me that we are trying to change the system and not the people in the system.

In other words, we are fighting a losing battle.

As long the system is our focus, we are lost in a quagmire that will only drain us and spit us out like a seed from a piece of fruit.

We have to change our focus, not simply to address the problem by writing a vision/mission/purpose statement for the system, we need to make our main focus the need to disciple, mentor, spiritual formation, make followers of Christ, etc., in order for change to happen. This will happen because we need to make the role of the Holy Spirit in each person’s life of paramount importance.

So, structure is good, it is necessary, but that isn’t what we are called to do. We are called to introduce people –not the system, to Christ, so that we all may experience abundant life.

What this makes me wonder is, how many times in the past I’ve looked directly into the sun and not seen it?

Technorati Tags: Leadership,Missional,Organizational Leadership,Spiritual

Seeking for Justice

This was the title and theme of a sermon I preached recently. The two texts were Micah 3 and Matthew 25:31-46. I like the results enough to post the highlights on here for discussion.

As I did my homework for the sermon, I discovered that there are three basic forms of the concept of justice.

1. Distributive Justice Concerned with the fair allocation of resources among members of a community.

• What should be distributed?

• Who should receive the things distributed?

• How should these things be distributed?

The principle says that every person should have the same level of material goods and services. It is most commonly justified on the grounds that people are owed equal respect and that equality in material goods and services is the best way to give effect to this ideal.

Because societies have a limited amount of wealth and resources, a question arises as to how those benefits ought to be distributed.

2. Retributive Justice Retributive Justice is a matter of giving people their just desserts.

• In cases of wrongdoing, someone has lost certain benefits, while someone who does not deserve those benefits has gained them.
• Punishment will set this imbalance straight.

Central to retributive justice are the notions of merit and dessert. This means that people who work hard deserve the fruits of their labor, while those who break the rules deserve to be punished. People deserve to be treated in the same way that they voluntarily choose to treat others.

Retributive justice is in this way backward-looking. Punishment is warranted as a response to a past event of injustice or wrongdoing. It acts to reinforce rules that have been broken and balance the scales of justice.

3. Restorative Justice

•Restorative justice is concerned with healing victims’ wounds, restoring offenders to law-abiding lives, and repairing harm done to interpersonal relationships and the community.

• It seeks to involve all stakeholders and provide opportunities for those most affected by the crime to be directly involved and to respond to the harm caused.
• A restorative justice process aims to empower victims to participate effectively in dialogue with offenders.

Victims take an active role in what takes place, as well as defining the responsibilities and obligations of offenders. Offenders also participate in this exchange, to understand the harm they have caused to victims, and to take active responsibility for it.

While fulfilling these obligations may be painful, the goal is not revenge, but restoration of healthy relationships between individuals, and in communities that have been most affected by the crime.

What is interesting is the correlation to the biblical accounts of Justice. It doesn’t take much work to fit the biblical narratives into one or more of these categories.

I found three four goals of justice as I worked through the materials:

• Restoring the equilibrium of community (whether it is local or international)
• Restoring the victim(s) from whatever level of injustice or oppression that they suffer to a proper relationship with God and others;
• Restoring the oppressor/victimizer to a proper relationship with God and others, especially their victims;
• Restoring the community and creation to its proper role and relationship with God.

By the way, the image at the top is from a painting by the Chinese Christian artist He Qi, called Elijah and the Ravens. His gallery is here. Take a look