The Work of Justice Is to Soothe Aches
+ how we're conditioned to *other* one another plus a favor + a gift 🌾
I published a book on othering in American Christianity in June 2024. Then, I disappeared.
Ok. I didn’t disappear, but I shrank back from public-facing online interactions to find a sliver of shalom.
This was due (in part) to my own capacity—seminary, traveling, writing, teaching, etc.
Also, the second half of 2024 laid me out. I retreated to my corner of the world and was contented to rest to catch my breath again. By the time January 1st rolled around, I felt restored. Renewed. Refreshed. Resurrected.
And not a moment too soon because, if we’ve learned anything in the first month of 2025, it’s that resistance and making good trouble is going to be a part of our communal work for the next four years.
The cohort I lead with the PAX Fellowship covers Contemplative Activism and Spiritual Formation. Contemplative Activism is about being rooted and established in the presence of Divine Love. From the overflow of Love, I am able to do my part to bring shalom to a world at war. I spoke with my fellows recently about justice. Despite some cultural Christian leanings, God’s justice isn’t a cosmic cousin to karma. God’s justice is not simply retributive or vengeful. The Hebrew word often translated as justice in the Bible (mishpat, מִשְׁפָּט) is so much more expansive; it is erroneous to boil its meaning down to “vengeance.'“
Mishpat is restorative. God’s justice is the great equalizer, flattening power dynamics for the flourishing of all.
In Streams of Living Water, Richard Foster writes that three major themes of the “social justice tradition” of Christian faith are mishpat, hesed, and shalom.1 In Othered, I share plenty on the nature of God’s hesed and how it fosters shalom; we see this particularly in how God cares for those who have been hurt, harmed, and marginalized throughout Scripture. Mishpat/justice is also a part of God’s hesed in that justice fosters shalom, too.
Mishpat mends what injustice breaks. God’s justice restores. Renews. Refreshes. Resurrects.
In the words of the BibleProject, the work of justice is “courageously making other people’s problems my problems.”
The work of justice is to humble the proud but also lift up the countenance of the lowly. Justice is pursuing the folks on the margins, listening to their voices, and seeing their diversity not as threats, but as beauty to behold. Justice brings holistic, equitable treatment to those mistreated. Justice is inclusive as it brings folks into the fold.
As tempted as I am to fight the folks leading the current administration of the United States, justice is more than swinging swords.
The work of justice is to soothe aches.
The work of justice is to dismantle the systems that make us ache.
I will share with you what I shared with my PAX fellows: Every single system in our society is fractured. Education. Immigration. Healthcare. Family Systems. Municipalities. You name it. The world and the systems we’ve created to run it do not work as God originally intended. Repairing the fractures is the upward call of Jesus.2 Retreating to mend the wounds within us and reengaging to help mend the wounds of the world is the work of resurrection.
But the responsibility to repair the entire system is not on the shoulders of one individual. Repairing the fractures is a communal responsibility. You do not have to do everything, but we all have the capacity to do something.
Call your government officials. Connect with nonprofits who are doing the work of justice in the United States. Print and share red cards; learn how to keep your immigrant neighbors safe. (And if you know of other nonprofits doing good work, share in the comments!)
Love your neighbor as yourself. And, if you have the internal space for it, love your enemies, too.
Love others by embodying justice.
Let me leave you with the poem I wrote and shared on November 6, 2024.
Become safe people,
and find your safe people.
Mutuality and reciprocity.
Create refuges.
Foster compassion.
Build oases in dry places.
Gather goodness.
Sow hope.
Mourn the darkness
Gaining ground.
Steel yourself,
But stay tender.
Weep tears—
Of grief and rage.
Find what burns within you.
Tend to it.
Give it oxygen.
Breathe life.
Stoke the fire.
Warm a cold world.
Listen to the embers that are burning within you. Consider the sort of person God has created you to be. Spiritual formation is the work of becoming and belonging. Who do you dream of becoming? Who are the folks surrounding you who are helping you become that person? Are they helping you become that person? Cast off the voice of shame and listen to the still small voice inside you stirring you onward toward tender action.
I’m with you and for you,
Why Othered Exists
I wrote Othered to be intersectional. This means I hoped to fill a gap in the literature.
Many folks believed there were no books on religious trauma and spiritual abuse until recently. The truth is books, stories, and writings on harm occurring within the Church have been around for centuries. However, we usually understand them as books on racism, sexism, patriarchy, and so on. We (woefully) keep older and ancient writings separated from the current books on spiritual trauma because of how we understand the context of our cultural moment.
Our cultural moment of abuse and harm is a repeated pattern in church history. Othering another human being is an act of dehumanization that makes abuse and harm possible.
I wrote Othered so that survivors like myself and others could grasp that the ways in which our leaders/communities dehumanized and discarded us is very similar to the ways in which faith leaders and communities have been dehumanizing and discarding human beings across time and space.
I’m hopeful enough to believe that Othered could play a small part in helping stop the cycle of harm in the church by helping people see the pattern. As I’ve learned and relearn from my friend Patty Taylor, when we know better, we do better.
A Gigantic Favor
Could I ask you for a huge favor?
If you’ve read and appreciated Othered, would you mind leaving an Amazon review?
Folks have sent me DMs or emails about how much you appreciated the words I wrote. If you copied and pasted those words into an Amazon review, it would be helpful in getting the word out about Othered. Book promotion isn’t for the faint of heart, and getting the word out as a new and emerging author is like trying to shout in a thunder storm.
A rating and review would be a simple but huge help.
And for those who leave a review, I have a gift for you! Email me the link to your Amazon review, and I would LOVE to comp you a LIFETIME subscription as a paid subscriber to my Substack. This means that you would have access to all posts that I hide behind a paywall in the future (for whatever reason) without you having to pay monthly support.
Just For Fun
I made a shirt!
I’ve kept my sanity the last few months by texting and laughing with friends (h/t to my very own Iron Squad). This shirt is the fruit of some of those conversations. We’ve chatted a lot about how women are often labelled witches or difficult just for taking up space and being leaders in the world. So, I created this COURAGEOUS WOMEN design just for fun on Bonfire.
I will be donating every dollar I make from the sale of these shirts to different nonprofits. I’ll keep everyone updated on where I make donations here on Substack. I hope to cycle through different nonprofits.
Get yours at https://www.bonfire.com/courageous-women/
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You can find past posts from Othered by visiting jenaiauman.substack.com.
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Philippians 3:14
Love this so much! And so fun to be with you here on Substack! Here's to doing to the work of justice and soul care at the same time!
Beautiful poem. On point. At any time. When on earth did we lose sight of this simple, straightforward message? Thank you. *orders book after months of procrastination*