“There is no virtue in being slow to love or slow to do justice.” –Grace Pouch 

As we close out our discussion on the practice of slowing, I want to offer a counterpoint. Slowing is an internal practice we do for our own personal growth. It invites us to notice where we live from places of feeling relentlessly driven, of impatience, of achieving and ambition instead of love. I’m convinced it is a crucial practice in today’s society, because it allows us to pay attention to where we live dis-integrated lives (i.e., external lives that are incongruent with our stated values and beliefs) and invites us to do the hard, slow, and healing work of integration. But while spiritual formation into Christ’s image may be “the slowest of all human movements” in our personal spiritual growth, that does not allow us to be slow in confronting injustice in the

The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus’ first recorded words in a position of ministry were those of liberation and healing for the poor and oppressed (4:16-21). If we are serious about following Christ, we will do the same. It’s true that our news-saturated world can paralyze us with the sheer scale of need, so it is imperative that we pray and exercise discernment as to where God would have us get involved. But I do believe that God does desire that each one of us participate somewhere in helping bring God’s justice to

Speaking out about injustice feels to me like the spiritual equivalent of, “If you see something, say something.” We must always pay attention to our own motives, of course, when drawing attention to injustice, but doing our own internal work can free us to point out systemic wrongs without being judgmental or hypocritical: realizing that many injustices are caused by unjust systems, rather than simply unjust individuals, helps disarm any hypocrisy. But knowing that Jesus came to free the oppressed, to set captives free, to preach good news to the poor, does help motivate us to move quickly when human

Perhaps our invitation to practice slowing this summer can actually create space for us to see or hear new ways to get involved with promoting justice in the world. If so, may we do so quickly! As Ms. Pouch also says, “…when the people of God are timely heralds of good news and swift to resist injustice, Jesus Christ is lifted up.” Let’s walk together—quickly but not hurriedly—with Jesus in proclaiming good news.