Good Quote, Again

I posted this a while back but I wanted to post it again in order to give context to how I think about the world. It's by my favorite theologian and Anglican Bishop, N.T. Wright.

Some find a burning need to begin their kingdom-task by
challenging injustice and oppression in the wider world.
That is a vital and non-negotiable aspect of Christian work.
How we go about that is of course a matter of debate and
discernment. That we must go about it is part of the deal.
It comes with the territory - with the territory, so to
speak, of Galilee. That's not a bad place to start

Some find their chief desire as Christians is to create
beauty and truth through art, or music, or scholarship, so
that the beauty and truth of God may shine into the ugliness
and untruth of the world. That, too, is a vital and God-given
part of kingdom-work. It, too, goes with the territory. It
is part of the battle: speak the truth and shame the Devil.

Others find that their initial Christian vocation is to
challenge the contesting claimants in their own heart and
life. When they hear the gospel message they realize just
how far they have fallen short, how much they are blind to
the things of God, and dumb to speak his word; and they find
themselves called to a holiness of life, a struggle against
sin within themselves, planting the flag of the kingdom in
their daily words and deeds. That too, I suggest, comes
with the territory. People often use the season of Lent
as a time for special reflection and renewed effort along
these lines. We can even reclaim parts of that old hymne:
'Reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives they
service find, in deeper reverence praise.'

But whichever place you start, make sure you go on to the
others. Break into the circle of holiness somewhere, it doesn't
matter where, and continue right around it. Don't use a strong
social concern as an excuse for not facing up to the personal
battles that you have to fight; don't fall in love with your
own creativity so strongly that you lose sight of the call to
justice and holiness; equally, don't get so focused on your
private holiness that you forget God's passion for justice
and truth, his compassion for the widow, orphan and oppressed,
his passion and compassion which came together in the person
of Jesus, which blossomed and flowered and bore fruit in the
fertile soil of Galilee, and which went to Jerusalem to be
enthroned. This is true kingdom-spirituality, Galilee-spirituality
if you like. The Son of God was revealed, says St John, that he
might destroy the works of the Devil. We who celebrate his
victory are required, in our pilgrimage, to implement it.

--N.T. Wright

1. Justice
2. Beauty
3. Holiness

That's a good list of things to care about. And it is amazing how easily we pick just one to hold up as 'the right' one. The Liberals choose justice while the Conservatives choose holiness; and from what I've seen the artists and writers find themselves left all alone and have to go to L'Abri to make sense of their calling. There is hope: we can learn to love what God loves. Steve Garber, my friend and teacher in Washington, DC, showed me that.

That's what I want in my life: wholeness, and to care about what God cares about.