One of the five aspects of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand's mandate is justice. We possibly don't focus on it as much as we might on this blog, so here is an extract from a blog (Never Mind the Bricolage) that itself doesn't usually focus on justice issues either.
In this post, the writer (whose name doesn't appear on the blog that I can find) has recently seen a documentary called Wasteland about the world's largest landfill on the edge of Rio, in Brazil. Whole communities live in and around this landfill, and the film shows how there is both hope and resilience amongst these people. The writer's comments are worth reading in full, but the following paragraph is significant.
Without reaching too far, it might be that there is a shift in consciousness occurring, a growing sense that materialism is not sufficient and that finding some to contribute to the well-being of others is integral to our humanity. If it is not a shift in consciousness, it is a trend for sure. It could be that the economic downturn has had some effect, but think it is beyond that. Another signal that we have experienced a move away from, or are past, post, after or entering some new phase of the modern project--can't be bothered with terming it postmodern, post-secular, hyper-modern, liquid modernity or whatever other characterization has been put forth---things have shifted, we don't live in the same world anymore, new values and ethics are emerging and Muniz [the film's director] embodies some of them in this film. Or perhaps they are old values being incarnated differently--just watch the film and make up your own mind.
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