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"Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:9
This scripture passage states clearly that advocating for justice is part and parcel to living out our faith. As the late Congressman John Lewis might put it, discipleship requires that we “get into good, necessary trouble.” This is a call that we must all take seriously and respond to amid this week’s high-stakes negotiations around what will likely be the final stimulus bill before the new year.
The biblical prophets consistently proclaimed the consequences of defying God’s will. They also affirmed God’s priority to protect the vulnerable and marginalized among us. In the times of Amos, Ezekiel, Micah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, this meant protecting the orphan, the immigrant, the widow, and the poor. In Where Have All the Prophets Gone?, one of my favorite books about prophetic preaching, Dr. Marvin McMickle writes, “With an urgency that could not be contained and a fervor that could not be controlled, the prophets declared ‘Thus says God’ despite the ridicule, rebuke, and outright rejection that most of them experienced throughout their lives.” As we experience this escalating pandemic that has laid bare deep-seated racial inequities and systemic racism, we too must say to our elected officials, “Thus says God” about who must be protected amid the dire consequences of negligent leadership and immoral priorities.
The U.S. is averaging more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 per day. As the pandemic drags on, the United States’ staggering failure to control the spread continues to have devastating impacts not only on those who are getting sick and tragically losing their lives — more than 150,000 people just in the U.S. — but also on the ability of tens of millions of people to put food on their tables and keep a roof over their heads.
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