And God will delight ...

When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes God will delight
When we are creators of justice
Justice and joy.

So went the chorus in one of the songs we sang this morning in the communion service at Greenbelt. The song was writtn by Shirley Erena Murray in 1998 and it was my first exposure to it. It really spoke to me in a mini-epiphany moment as the bit of my theology that sees God's creativity imaged in artistic endeavour met and kissed that bit that recognises the love of God is expresesed [among other things] in a deep longing and hard push towards justice. For me it is really meaningful, resonant, helpful, to think about working towards justice as reflecting the redemptive creativity of God. And more, that God takes pleasure in that work as we might take pleasure in a work of art.

Thanks Shirley Elena Murray for broadening and deepening my appreciation of God by connecting up two metaphors I had been finding fruitful in my devotional and theological life. Of course, it all looks so obvious now I smile in wonder at how I could have missed it and how obvious it must seem to at least some other people.

But I like that imag of justice work as artistry; it helps me to appreciate too the potential justice work in artistry.

The verses were pretty good too. Verse one grabbed me right as we began:
"For everyone born, a place at the table
For everyone born, clean water and bread.
For everyone born, a safe place for growing.
For everyone born, a star overhead."

I want to say more broadly, though, and this gives some context. In the last few years, for me, some of the most moving worship I experience has been at Grenbelt and particularly the communion service. I have found at various times that I have been unable to sing because when I try a lump comes to my htroat and tears to my eyes. The common factor seems to be, as I now reflect on it, the heart of God for a hurting world. Perhaps this is why some of the songs I used to find so inspiring seem so trite and trivail to me now that I find it hard to engage with them at all ...

And yet songs like A Place at the Table are not comfortable to sing; verse three says "For just and unjust, a place at the table / abuser, abused, with need to forgive, / in anger and hurt a mindset of mercy / For just and unjust, a new way to live.

Take a deep breath, eh?