Blasted! I left the iron on...

*Disclaimer: I’ve got a lot of discombobulated thoughts right now and I just need to get them out, so I apologize if you’re swept away in the torrential downpour of randomness. Somehow, this will all make sense in the end. (And no, the title has nothing to do with the post. Why? Just because...)

- Human Trafficking. Asking God to break my heart.
I’ve spent the last few weeks deeply entrenched in numbers, statistics, and stories. Very real stories about very real people stuck in the wiles of very real depravity and desperation. Yes, I’ve been writing my thesis and it’s breaking my heart. To give a little background, my thesis is concerned with the major work of the 19th century poet, Christina Rossetti, her lifelong concern with prostitutes and exploited children, then the subsequent linkage of her passion with efforts today to stop human trafficking and child exploitation. It’s impossible to research this stuff and not let it affect you in a profound way. But it’s supposed to deeply affect us and break our hearts because I know it breaks God’s.

- Amos. Captives…and how we’ve put them there.
I know there’s a lot of talk of justice and ending oppression, of the Gospel linked with worship, fairness, and equality. I want to explore a bit of all of this simply because it is a popular topic right now in our culture (though it has never gone out of style with our God) and because it just keeps coming up in nearly ever arena in my life.
I’ve been reading through Amos again lately and let me tell you, God kicks my butt every time I read through the prophet-farmer’s little book. Justice and righteousness are wed time and time and time and time and time and time and time over and over again, not only in the book of Amos, but throughout the entirety of the Old and New Testament. In fact, those two words, in Hebrew and Greek are linked almost inextricably to one another. Of the 145 times the word justice shows up in the Old Testament, 60 include a linkage or direct reference to righteousness, and in many of these passages, the words are used interchangeably. Okay, Courtney, what’s your point? My point is that “being right with God” must equal “doing right, upholding fairness and equality.” These two are, after all the foundation of the throne of God (Psalm 99:4) and yet these are things that we are urged to not only uphold but to do - “act justly, love mercy…” as well as justly caring for the widow, the orphan, the captive, the oppressed… So, where does that leave us? Let’s look at a few passages from Amos:

“I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religious projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to Me? Amos 6: 21-23 The Message

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” Amos 6:24 NIV

“They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.” Amos 2:6-7

Jon Foreman (mmm…Jon Foreman…) sings in his husky Californian dialect:
“Your eyes are closed when you’re praying. You sing right along with the band. You shine up your shoes for services, there’s blood on your hands. You turned your back on the homeless and the ones that don’t fit in your plan. Quit playing religious games, there’s blood on your hands. Instead, let there be a flood of justice, an endless procession of righteous living, living…instead of a show…I hate all your show.”

Quite simply, it’s this: we must complete the integrity of the things we say with the things we do.

Back to human trafficking (I told you this would all relate, some faith, people!)… The question isn’t Where is God in the midst of all of this? Instead, it’s Where are God’s people? I was reminded by Beth Moore this week (while Aims, Jen, and I sat crowded around an over-heated computer in the dark…and then Equain walked in - haha!) that we were created to do some good - we were meant for the benefit of the world around us. Her encouragement urged me to do a bit more investigating of the verse from which that concept comes. Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” English majors, you’re gonna love this: the Greek word for “workmanship” is poiema. Looks incredibly familiar, eh? We’re not only God’s creative work, we’re His poetry! (I dunno about you, but that speaks to me! I could really go into some Giambattista Vico right about now about God being the Great Poet, but I’ll refrain…for now) That poetry is supposed to do some good (walk in, live one’s life as good, so the Greek suggests).

- God, right here and now, working wonders in your lives!
I’ve been uh-mazed to watch God work incredibly in the lives of so many of you. From ministries that fit you so well, to getting married, to getting into the seminary that’s so tied into your roots, to going to grad school, to following your passion of serving people, to quitting it all and going into missions because you know you’ve been called and you can’t run anymore…whew, I praise God for you, His beautiful poetry, and what He’s crafting (why yes, like a master wordsmith) in your lives to glorify Himself!


I’m learning to appreciate people who totally wreck my paradigms. More on that later.


Grace and peace to you, my sweets.

(My sister, the bearer of spring)