Day 50 of reflecting on "Praying for Justice"
Walking on these wicked paths
Seems like it's all we do
The patterns of evil
On the earth there's nothing new
Greed and injustice
Permeate all time
Oppression of people
Time after
Sometimes I wonder
If we can ever get it right
Are we stuck in these ways
No way to mind the Light
Same old, pattern
Unjust and unkind
The cycle of all time
So the lost are forsaken and the poor oppressed
Time after time
Undefended and exposed, evil is waiting
Time after time

When I read the passage from Job, I was reminded of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, the concept of being stuck in a pattern, but in this case not a particularly positive one. Of course the book of Job rejects the idea of causality of our unfaithfulness and God's lack of favor soundly, God is faithful and God is beyond our whims, the rain falls on the just and the unjust....and it's not all of us who are unfaithful, as Job is not, the theology that all of us are deplorable isn't true or helpful, but as a group we have a track record of not taking care of each other or the poor and vulnerable among us. The indictment is true of us as a species, and we have a responsibility to face our complicity and be faithful to God's work in our lives.