April 26, 2004
Justice
Our country’s leaders get scarier with every new greed-based initiative and failed commitment. Few seem to realize that that kind of behavior is ever so much adultery all the same, that infidelity wherever can assume more shapes than one.
A newspaper columnist put the current damage assessment right: “I’m afraid to drink the water,” she said. “I’m afraid to breathe the air. I’m afraid glaciers will melt and seas will rise. I’m afraid to visit California in the dark. I’m afraid the Dow will dip below 5,000. I’m afraid Russia will take leave of its senses. I’m afraid China will take leave of its senses. I’m afraid North Korea will lob a missile our way. Soon, I’ll be fearing fear itself.”
Such anxiety yearns for pastoral care and presence. Such failure of leadership calls for prophetic indictment. Such an environment calls for a church. Of course, there’s that irksome old problem of whether the Bible is infallible, whether our clergy are orthodox, and who’s shacking up with whom. There’s simply no time for justice.