Let Justice Roll

The locations included two churches, one city hall, a civic auditorium, and two college chapels. Audiences varied in size from several hundred to a thousand. And we journeyed to six cities in nine days. It was the Fall 1990 Let Justice Roll tour, featuring Sojourners editor Jim Wallis and Brier Patch Music's Ken Medema.

Perhaps the most dramatic site was Calgary, Alberta, where the local organizers secured their spanking-new city hall for the event, and some 40 social action groups displayed their literature for the public throughout the morning and afternoon beforehand. Coalitions began taking shape during the day -- advocates for the homeless met Salvadoran solidarity folks; Calgary's Inter-faith Food Bank encountered local Greenpeace activists; evangelicals joined together with clergy and laity from mainline churches.

With these sorts of links being forged all day long, the objectives of our visit were well-accomplished even before Ken Medema sounded the Let Justice Roll theme music at 7:45 p.m. The group of 800 jammed the foyer and balcony steps of Calgary's municipal building.

We found the same to be true in the other cities along the way. Our tour provided the catalyst for local church and social action networks to form and set mutually supportive agendas for the short and long term.

Preparations for this fall tour began months before when readers of Sojourners magazine saw advertised the Jim Wallis-Ken Medema offer to bring their nationally recognized preaching and musical talents to local areas. Groups from nearly 30 cities made contact with Sojourners, inquiring about details of the event. From these emerged the six sites that our October-November 1990 tour would visit: Minneapolis, Calgary, Winnipeg, Boston, Toronto, and Rochester, New York.

Each local organizer received advice and assistance from Sojourners and Brier Patch Music regarding the coalitions we hoped to inspire, the thousand-and-one details involved in such a venture, the costs entailed, and what this event could mean in terms of inspiration, recommitment to justice, and spiritual transformation on local, national, and international levels.

The organizers in each city varied widely, including a very active lay church worker, an ordained wife-and-husband pastoral team, young peace activists, and a Roman Catholic priest. The religious and secular connections that these capable people established in preparing for our visit to their cities ranged along the ecumenical spectrum -- Protestant, evangelical, and Roman Catholic churches -- as well as the activist continuum of issue-oriented organizations.

BUT WHAT OF THE EVENTS THEMSELVES? After all the preliminary organizing, coalition-building, and detail-checking work that goes on prior to the public event, what happens when Ken sits down at his piano and synthesizer, and Jim steps up to the podium?

Let Justice Roll is an evening of inspiration, prayer, revival, Bible preaching, and, above all, commitment. Jim and Ken interweave social analysis ("looking at the world straight in the eye"); storytelling ("Her prayer that day was, 'Lord, we know you're coming through the bread line today, so help us to treat you right'"); signs of hope ("When asked if his children would experience the end of apartheid, the 9-year-old South African lad answered, 'I will see to it.'"); and biblical challenge ("God is calling out, crying out to those who are her children, I've got a job for you to do.'"). And all of this in word and music.

The nearly two-hour event has people singing, clapping, crying, praying, learning, dancing, and, finally, pledging a recommitment to effect much-needed changes in personal lifestyles and social structures. This on behalf of a world "that is not working for the poor or for the middle class." The evening ends not with an altar call but with a "street call" -- urging the audience to join with the many groups represented at the event and heed the biblical injunction to "Let justice roll ..."

It is clear that several groups of people benefit from the experience. First, of course, are the organizers. These dedicated and efficient women and men find themselves rewarded for all their efforts both by the response they see in the audience as well as by their own enthusiasm for what Ken and Jim offer. As one of the local organizers said, "I didn't think I'd get so caught up in the music and message."

Next, Let Justice Roll impacts people with the battle scars of many years, many issues, and many disappointments in the struggle for justice. These veteran activists need the boost that the event gives them. Jim reminds them that work for justice is not futile, that God's ancient call, sounded through Amos, still rings true. And Ken's original and varied music -- "How Do You Build a Love House?" and "Too Many People Standing Outside the Gate" -- refreshes their souls, hearts, and minds, encouraging us all to continue the good fight for a world more fit for God's children.

Then there are the youth, the ones just arriving at battlefields of social activism and wondering if and how they will survive and persevere. Jim's message and Ken's songs have brought students to their feet literally and figuratively in every city on the tour.

It is wonderful to watch these novices as the event penetrates their very spirits, causing them to say in a variety of ways, "I'm psyched," and, "I'll never be the same again," and, "This has been the best night of my life." Older folks might smile at such enthusiasm after an emotional evening of wonderful sound and sense. For the young people, however, there is no doubt that Let Justice Roll provides a pivotal experience, one they will remember and act on for years to come.

Finally, one detects men and women who heretofore have found little in biblical inspiration that moved them to social action. These are people of immense good will who work for a better world out of strictly humanitarian motives, basically untouched -- for whatever reasons -- by God's Word. Jim and Ken bring the scriptures alive for such folks. Jim points out that too often our North American Bible is "full of holes," with all mention of the poor and God's preference for the poor totally cut out of our reading and preaching of the good news.

Then Ken rouses the crowd with a long and singable musical call from Exodus: "Set the People Free." One can only imagine what goes through the hearts and heads of people who have rarely experienced any connection between faith, gospel life, God's Word, and their own efforts to effect social change.

As we moved through our six-city, nine-day wearying trek, we found our spirits revived by these responses. It was the old story of going out to minister and finding oneself ministered to. Let Justice Roll proved to be a success not only for those to whom it was directed, but thanks to the participants, we of Sojourners and Brier Patch Music had our own commitment renewed, enhanced, and deepened. Such is the power of God's living Word, preached, sung, and played back.

IN ADDITION TO THE MAIN EVENING events, Jim and Ken responded to media interest in several cities. The overall message of Let Justice Roll -- that God is calling forth the people once again to "set the captives free" -- coupled with growing concern on the part of faith communities about U.S. and Canadian actions in the Persian Gulf, caught the attention of the press and television.

Jim and Ken shared the task of responding to the media, explaining to reporters that justice could not roll down like water while Western nations continue to worship oil, even to the point of being willing to sacrifice young lives for "our way of life." The media attention highlighted our presence in the cities and doubtless increased attendance at the evening's performances.

More intimate gatherings -- morning breakfast meetings with church folks shortly before moving on to the next city -- were a very popular feature of the tour. Ken's enormous musical talents were even more clearly on display as he listened to the pastoral experiences of those present and translated each one into song on the spot. Laughter, tears, and heartfelt appreciation for Ken's giftedness, as well as his sensitivity to pastors' responsibilities, marked these early morning moments. Then Jim offered theological reflection on what the pastoral folks had shared. No less appreciated than Ken's music were these remarks by Jim as he offered his thoughts on concrete ministry situations.

A good feeling came over us as we returned home at the end of the tour, knowing we had participated in a worthwhile endeavor and had just about mastered the technical complexities involved in such an intricate weaving of music and word. Now we look forward to a spring 1991 tour of Let Justice Roll.

Joe Nangle, OFM, was executive assistant of Sojourners when this article appeared.