A Spirituality for Doing Justice

Book excerpt: Dennis Jacobsen brings his many years of experience doing congregation-based organizing for justice into conversation with unique spiritual reflections. Jacobsen has learned along the way that deeper reflection must precede organizing action. He says, "As I age, I have respect for those who faithfully enter the inner room of their soul to meet and love God. Social action is messy and disruptive and noisy." Jacobsen turns to his work creating and meditating on icons to connect biblical themes and Christian personalities to guide those who are preparing for congregation-organizing and faith-based social action. His unique perspectives help anyone engaged in such work go deeper in prayer and devotion before diving into the messy work of organizing. This book follows his first volume, Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing, in which Jacobsen explored biblical and theological reasons congregation-based organizing offers a faithful way of living out the teachings of Jesus. In this new volume, he seeks to integrate spiritual practices (reflections on iconography, in particular) that he claims are foundational to congregation-based community organizing. The book includes introductory chapters to describe his own spiritual practice around icons, several chapters on different figures and what can be learned or gleaned from them as one prepares for justice work. The final section provides a month-long daily office for doing justice, which participants may adopt in their life of prayer and faithful reflection.