As I continued to think about the way God works to bring about justice in the world--seemingly slowly and mysteriously--my mind went to Sweetie, the baby that the WAR community is praying for. Sweetie is the child of a young woman, barely out of childhood herself, who is the victim of sex trafficking probably in India. Sweetie is what the rescue workers call this baby because she has no name and is held captive like an animal, tied to a post. Sweetie remains nameless and is denied loving care because her captors want her to grow up to be used in the sex trade, not to be a relational human being. My heart and mind wail out to God for her deliverance, and I wait and hope for the mercy of God. But at the same time, I know she is just one example of the cruelty and evil perpetuated on women and children throughout the world. And my soul cries out with the psalmist, "Oh Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?" (Psalm 94:3) And the prophet Habakkuk complains, "Oh, Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save?" (Hab. 1:2)

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Reading the Lenten passages in Exodus this morning reminded me that my sense of timing is so different from God's. The people of Israel waited for many years, languishing under the domination and abuse of the Egyptians, waiting for God's deliverance. It reminded me of African Americans suffering for 300 years under the cruel system of chattel slavery in North America. My human understanding screams, "Why?" Why did God wait so many years to bring deliverance to people who were crying out to Him? For some reason, God has chosen in most instances not to supernaturally intervene in situations of injustice, but does His work slowly and mysteriously, creating change in individuals and then societal systems to bring about justice. This is not something that I like or understand with my finite understanding of time and God's purposes, another situation in which I must simply trust God.

As I apply these thoughts to our current situation in a religious culture that seems to be oppressive, isolationist, and deforming (Shawn's word) to spiritual formation, my instinct cries out for immediate justice and reformation. However, God seems to be again bringing about change in gradual, sometimes almost imperceptible ways, that may outlast my life on earth. Though that may be the case and creates intense angst in my soul, I can have confidence that God is working and will accomplish His will, not only in His people, but in all the world. The will of the Father is clear in the gospel according to St. John chapter 13, verses 34-35--..."By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Again in the same gospel, chapter 17, verses 11-26--..."that they may be one, even as we are one...that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me...that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me...that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." Jesus repetitive emphasis on the unity of believers underscores the importance our Heavenly Father places on it. Saint Paul in the letter to the Ephesians elaborates on this theme and purpose of God when he speaks of God's love for the church, the bride of Christ--"Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (chapter 5, verses 25-27). The church in North America cannot be described in those terms. We are fragmented and steeped in rebellion, opposed to the purposes of God in this regard. However, God's purposes will be accomplished, and I must believe that He is at work, purifying His bride and bringing her to love and unity, albeit not on my schedule, but His. The question for me is, "How can I cooperate with God to accomplish His purpose in my time on this earth?" Whatever the answer to that questions is, I know it must be by faith and in love.