Planting and Growing

This Advent…

Bishop June has always been passionate about church involvement with social justice issues. This stems from growing up in a poor community herself and the feeling of food and money running out before pay-day not being alien to her.

In her presidential address to the diocesan conference in September, Bishop June was clear of the message that the mission of justice for others is, and should be, at the heart of the Church, particularly in the Diocese of Llandaff. She said, “Mission is not primarily an activity of the Church, but an attribute of the God we worship. God is a missionary God, the Son and the Spirit through the Father, in movement of love towards the world. This mission always includes a quest for justice, and we will find ourselves this winter needing to take up the cause of those without food or heat.”

The cost-of-living crisis has been at the forefront of our minds over the last few months, which is why the Church in Wales has recently launched the Food and Fuel campaign – an initiative to help churches show outstanding generosity and take action to support their communities. However, it is not just the UK that has been facing particularly hard times in 2022. Churches have also been

Contents:

3 Why Christians Care about Social Justice 4 Bishop’s Column (Cymraeg/English) 6 Adults Committing to Jesus 7 Planting and Growing 8 Hope in Justice for School and Church 9 Warm Hubs in Winter’s Cold 10 Bishop June’s Highlights 12 The King visits Llandaff 13 Introducing the New Dean 14 YFM do Experiencing Christmas 15 Schools of Sanctuary

hard at work giving what they can to Ukraine, Pakistan and other world-wide appeals. This sense of generosity, justice and mission along with the message of the gospel has been concentrated into the Diocese of Llandaff’s Advent message for 2022: Hope in Justice.

This magazine brings together some of the joyful stories of the work in our churches with the theme of Hope in Justice running through. This edition is also the Bishop June’s last, so we take this opportunity to wish her well and look back on some of her highlights.

For the Church ought never to function as part of a fearful border guard, but always as those who bring good tidings. With the strong conviction that mission is ‘the Church for others’.

Why Christians Care About Social Justice

Though we often think of justice through a criminal lens, the concept of justice in Christianity is much more than one of punishment. The story of justice in the Bible is a story of righteousness, of mercy, and of love. In Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus preaches in the temple and identifies himself with the Messiah, he brings us back to Isaiah and those famous lines about good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, and that the Lord will save his people (61.1-2). But these verses also cross-reference with Isaiah 58, and that’s important.

Whilst Isaiah 61 is prophesying what the Messiah will do, Isaiah 58 is what God is calling people to do then and there – to “remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.” This is not a passive waiting, but a practical call to action. God is calling all his people to stand with the most vulnerable and against injustice. As author and theologian Tim Dearborn writes, the pursuit of social justice for the poor and oppressed is the decisive mark of being people who submit to the will and way of God.

God is challenging us to act justly. But it can get messy. It’s easy to get lost in the ‘what’ of justice, the politics, and forget about what’s important – people.

Hope for Justice in the Advent Story

Advent is about preparing for the birth of Jesus and the incarnation of God among us – God being with us in the mess of our ordinary, everyday lives. Again, this reminds us of the importance of people. If we start with this and build our sense of justice around God’s radical love for the dignity, flourishing and the sacredness of all life, then we can start on a common ground that points toward the ultimate just society that is yet to come.

Just as Israel waited for justice, we do now – and in a world of war and refugees, of starvation and food banks, of freezing temperatures and escalating fuel bills, perhaps today more than ever. But that child in that manger 2,000 years ago, the Messiah so longingly yearned for, is still with us, and as we yearn for justice, waiting for God and the salvation to come, he challenges and empowers us to do justice now in our own lives. What are we waiting for?

Written by the Diocesan Senior Outreach and Social Justice Officer, Christoph Auckland