Charity & Justice: What Good Am I?

As my best friend says, "Sometimes rather than continue pulling people out of the river to save them from drowning we need to go upstream to find out who is throwing them in." Pulling people out of the water is charity. Going up stream and preventing folks from being tossed in the river is justice.

"If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, 'Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!' and either ignore the street person or say, 'Better sit here in the back row,' haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted? Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens!" The Book Of James, The Message


What good am I some like all the rest
If I just turn away when I see how you're dressed.
If I shut myself off so I can't hear you cry
What good am I ?

What good am I if I know and don't do?
If I see and don't say if I look right through you?
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin' sky,
What good am I ?

What good am I while you softly weep
And I hear in my head what you say in your sleep?
And I freeze in the moment like the rest who don't try,
What good am I ?

What good am I then to others and me
If I had every chance and yet still fail to see?
If my hands are tied must I not wonder within
Who tied them and why and where must I have been?

What good am I if I say foolish things
And I laugh in the face of what sorrow brings
And I just turn my back while you silently die
What good am I ?

Bob Dylan, from the album Oh Mercy