Saturday, September 8, 2007

That Ain’t Right

The first time I ever hung out with my wife’s extended relatives, more than 25 years ago at a family reunion, I felt like a fish out of water.

These were small-town and farm families from southern Minnesota, Northern Iowa and the Quad Cities area. I was a kid from the sophisticated city of Minneapolis.

Some of them smoked. I had been brainwashed by my parents (in a good way) with the phrase “Smoking? Filthy habit.”

Some of them chewed tobacco. I had been raised on the story of the time my dad and uncle tried chewing tobacco, swallowed it and soon were throwing up.

Lots of these people cussed. My family simply doesn’t.

One of my strongest memories from that first family reunion is the conversation that went on most of the day among the men. One of them would tell about something that was wrong with the world or the United States or Cresco, Iowa. When he was finished, the others would respond with a chorus of “That ain’t right.”

Then someone else would tell about another outrage. Each story was greeted by the phrase “That ain’t right.” I found it fascinating. Since I felt so out of place to begin with, I imagined myself as a cultural anthropologist, observing the ritual of the men in this tribe as they bonded around a shared sense of right and wrong.

Tomorrow our Sunday school curriculum, “The Justice Mission,” includes an interactive reading of Job 24:1-4. Whenever an injustice is mentioned in the passage, the youth are to respond by saying, “That ain’t right!”

I never thought I’d be using that phrase in a Sunday school lesson, but it sure does fit when we’re talking about modern-day slavery and other forms of oppression. The passage reads as follows:

Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

Men move boundary stones;*
they pasture flocks they have stolen.*

They drive away the orphan's donkey*
and take the widow's ox in pledge.*

They thrust the needy from the path*
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.* (NIV)

Every place where there is an asterisk, feel free to say (out loud) “That ain’t right!”

I love discovering the many Scripture passages that show how God hates injustice and loves justice. And I love the deep assurance that when He calls us to join Him in fighting for justice, He will equip us (has already equipped us, I’d say) to carry out that fight.

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