justification
Justification seems such a piece of christian jargon, coming from a time when legal metaphors for salvation made sense. But what does it mean for us to say we have been justified by Christ, in our 21st century world? The place I most often encounter justification is word-processing. Microsoft Word has a series of "justify" keys- I can choose to right-justify, left-justify or centre-justify. And probably, if I wanted to, I could set up my own personal justification settings. You see, I'm the author of what I write, and I get to decide what it ought to look like. Even if something goes wrong as I write, and the words end up all over the place, with a press of one key, the whole thing leaps into place and looks exactly as I intended it to. I like to think that the story of my life is a bit like that. As I write the events of each day, they look a bit of a mess. There are crossings out, bits started and never finished, words jumbled up all over the place and even words I