Tuesday, October 9, 2007

"Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." - Amos 5:24

Let justice roll. Justice. Justice? It's difficult to define exactly what justice is. It's so situational. All too often it is viewed in a temporal sense, a finite sense, as an end in and of itself. But that seems so inadequate in a world of gross injustice. It seems rather that justice is a process, a verb, something toward which to strive. Justice is not the dam of self-gratifying revenge, but rolling waters; an ever-flowing stream. An ongoing attempt to right wrongs, even when nothing could truly right the wrong that has been committed.

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear a case brought by an alleged victim of the US's rendition policy - a German citizen who was abducted in Macedonia and subject to harsh interrogations in Afghanistan - seems to support a great injustice. By refusing to hear the case the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision that a legal doctrine called "state secrets privilege" protected the government's actions from judicial review. This, says the Chicago Tribune, endorses "the administration's use of a sweeping legal defense that prevents claims of abuse and torture at the hands of U.S. interrogators from ever being heard in court."

This is only one instance of injustice - a seeming setback in the riverbed of justice. Just today, Australian contractors in Iraq killed two more civilians. Is it just that these mercenaries are allowed to act in such a way? Where's the justice. Nothing can bring back the lives of those two women. They have been taken forever from their families. What will happen to those contractors? What justice will be done? What about the recent Blackwater debacle, in which more civilians were slain? Not to mention all the civilian casualties of this war. There just seems to be no adequate justice.

It is at times like these when it is easy to despair. It's easy to doubt. It's easy to get caught up in anger and even to wish injustice on those who perpetrate injustice. But this is exactly what we must guard against. We are the tributaries of this mighty river of justice and all of our actions need, as far as possible, to be consistent with this goal in mind. It's as if the means are the end. Justice begets justice. So let us pray:

Merciful God, you are the source of justice. You are the creator of the heavens and the earth and all that dwell therein. You, O God, know the injustices of this earth. You sent your prophets to call the people to repent from injustice. You sent your Son, who suffered the injustices of this world and yet conquered through forgiveness, praying "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." By rising from the tomb Jesus turned the injustice of state violence on its head and conquered the powers of this world that would keep us from loving you ever more fully by actively doing justice to our neighbors and all creation. Give us the strength, wisdom, and courage to be tributaries of your great love, so that we may feed the mighty river of justice. We pray this in the name of your most holy Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.