TPA Weekly: The Prophet Job and Justice

OWAAT: One Week At a Time

Welcome to the weekly Think! Pray! Act! update, helping us integrate these things that we may live into the Gospel more fully. As we read through the end of Job we consider the scriptural theme made popular in Harold Kushner’s book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (or, WHY, GOD??!!). As Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan says in The People’s Companion to the Bible, “God bestows holiness, yet it must be pursued by humans. The wisdom tradition holds in tension divine sovereignty and human responsibility.” (p. 157)

As we continue to see the

Think:

Daily Bible-in-3-Years Readings for September 24-30, 2017

Sunday, September 24 Job 31-32
Monday, September 25 Job 33-34
Tuesday, September 26 Job 35-36
Wednesday, September 27 Job 37-38
Thursday, September 28 Job 39-40
Friday, September 29 Job 41-42
Saturday, September 30 Psalm 1
Jacobson, Diane. “Job as a Theologian of the Cross.” Word & World 31.4 (2011): 374–80. https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/issues.aspx?article_id=1578.

Abstract: “Through his odd encounter with God, Job is transformed from an earlier worldview, shared by his friends, that suffering is related to behavior, to what will later be called a theology of the cross, within which Job speaks truthfully to God rather than protectively about God.”

This article is but one of an entire issue of Word & World devoted to Job. It’s definitely worth a read!

“The Story of Segregation in St. Louis” offers short but serious insight on the long-term, systemically racist polices and practices that shaped and continue to shape St. Louis city and county, as well as the broader region:

Cooperman, Jeannette. “The Story of Segregation in St. Louis.” St. Louis Magazine, 2014. https://www.stlmag.com/api/content/296b6cf0-53bb-11e4-b9fe-22000a4f82a6/.

Pray:

The examen, a prayer practice that comes to us from St. Ignatius of Loyola, can be a helpful way in which to frame our intentional time with God. Check out this infographic for the basics:
Busted Halo. The Daily Examen in 6 Simple Steps. JPG, infographic, June 2012. http://bustedhalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/examen-large.jpg.

Act:

Saturday, September 30, 8am-3pm: Attend the 1st Annual Sr. Antona Ebo Social Justice Conference

Thursday and Friday, October 5-6, 10am-: Attend the POW! Persisting and Organizing to Win Annual Conference

Attend a local march, rally, or protest. Afterward, spend some time reading and thinking about the relationship between protest and biblical lament and prophecy:

Williams, Andrew. “Biblical Lament and Political Protest.” Jubilee Centre, March 7, 2014. http://www.jubilee-centre.org/biblical-lament-political-protest-andrew-williams/.
a THEOLOGY OF RESISTANCE. “Home: We Resist.” PROPHETIC RESISTANCE PROJECT, 2015. http://www.theologyofresistance.org/we-resist.
Other resources:
Boadt, Lawrence. The Book of Job: Why Do the Innocent Suffer? New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
DeYoung, Curtiss Paul. The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010.
Kushner, Harold S. When Bad Things Happen to Good People: With a New Preface by the Author. New York: Schocken Books, 2001.

Respond:

What are you doing to live an integrated life of active discipleship? Tell us in the comments!

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