Date: Wednesday, February 26
Scripture: Ezekiel 13:20
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds.”
by Linda Watkins, Episcopal Network for Economic Justice
God created us all with wings! Like the angels, each wonderfully made human being is meant to soar. But can any of us soar when some fly and some are shackled? Can we be the angels we are meant to be while we are all captive to sin? Sin that builds walls of hatred and violence. Sin that leads us to assumptions and judgements made without the mercy and compassion God requires.
So we build prisons – systems meant to hold each other down, meant so that we can avoid seeing the face of Jesus Christ in every person we encounter. And then we call this justice – all the traps that prevent us from seeing in each other the face of Jesus Christ. We build endless walls of retribution, punishment – forgetting God’s call to justice and mercy.
Thank goodness for the prophet’s reminders that there can be no justice while some fly freely, while others are chained down with systems that labels them not as children of God, but as something “other” – something to be feared, put away, forgotten. There can be no justice as long as there are those who long to be restored to community and are denied that chance.
We do God’s work when we break through our own bonds of prejudice and fear – when we practice compassion; daring to forgive even those who have hurt us the most – when we strive to do our part in helping to overturn all systems that prevent humans from flying as they ought – free to be the angels we all are.
Prayer: God of Justice, Help us to see your divine presence, especially in those who have wronged us, so that we may forgive as you have forgiven us. Grant that we all may soar together again someday. Amen.
Criminal Justice Fact: The US incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation.
Action: Share this devotion booklet with a friend! Let them know you are spending lent reflecting on criminal justice reform. Follow the PA Council of Churches on FB, Twitter, or Instagram for updates.
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