Proverbs 10 (NRSV)
29 The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright,
but destruction for evildoers.
God’s justice is not an occurrence to wait on, but a reality to embrace..
Here are some questions for discussion:
1. Do you think it’s possible to miss out on experiencing God’s love today by waiting on God’s justice today? How can we fully experience God’s love today by accepting that God’s plan is a (present) reality to be embraced?
2. How can community collectively embody “The way of the Lord” as a stronghold for its members? What does it look like for a church to be a place of refuge and strength for the upright? What barriers are there within the church and how can we, as the body, seek to remove them?
3. Witnessing prolonged injustice and suffering is difficult to understand. What are some practical ways that we can remind ourselves and others that God’s justice is sure, even when it’s not immediate? How then do we rightly balance our trusting in God’s timing with actively living out mutual aid, justice, mercy, and love? And, how do we navigate without pulling back, disengaging, or falling into the apathetic “thoughts and prayers” cycle?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. The joy our children feel at the fair comes from knowing they’re safe and they’re loved, as games and snacks may do for children. Consider how this mirrors the joy we can find in the protection and love of God. What moments of joy fill your life in this way?
2. What parts of your life feel most aligned with God’s way? What parts feel out of step? What are the biggest temptations or pressures that pull you away from living uprightly?
3. Langston Hughes wrote a poem that relates to this difficulty of seeing our hopes for justice delayed to the point where justice is denied.
Does anything about this poem resonate with you?:
“Harlem”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
(For further reflection on this poem, see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/150907/langston-hughes-harlem)
For further contemplation, consider these prompts:
1. What is the definition of God’s justice here?
2. When you think about justice delayed, is justice denied?
3. What did you think when you hear that the way of redemption for evildoers was to have that evil obliterated? Now, what did you feel and how did you react when you heard that?
4. How do we live in the tension of a philosophical/theological concept of justice that might happen later with the very real need for some visible form of justice now? Is it enough? Why or why not?