Care for the Vulnerable is Knowledge of God

I worked in the foster care case management system for 4 years. It's important work. It's vital spiritual work (using biblical language) to care for the widows and orphans. The prophet Jeremiah writes: "This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place." (22:3)

Today, we "rescue" victims of intergenerational and systemic robbery by giving out treatment plans and telling people to find a job. We do violence to the foreigner by criminalizing their very presence. We "take care" of widows by making their children orphans. Innocent blood runs thick in our soil. Pay attention to what our administration administers--and stay awake to how your communities care for the vulnerable. We have a long history of child-snatching.

Images from my work in the foster care system cannot be erased from my memory:

An 8 year old boy, falling to his knees, hands clasped and arms raised up in prayer, refusing to rise for the CPS worker. His mother crying out. The police standing by.

Gazing through a sparse but well-worn family photo album, sitting side by side with a mother who had lost 2 children to the system already. I listened to her voice, pregnant with longing and emotion for each of her sons. I looked in her eyes. I heard my voice saying that I would be recommending termination of her parental rights over her medically fragile infant at our next court hearing. She wouldn't (or couldn't) look at me as I sat in front of the judge that day.

The foster parent's face, who had cared for a 6 year old girl for over a year, torn with grief and concern as the girl was placed back in her mother's arms. 

It's hard to reconcile faith with this reality of experience. But, "Care for the vulnerable is knowledge of God," Walter Brueggemann writes. This does not mean that the one leads to the other or vice versa. "Rather they are synonyms!" he exclaims.

Christian nation, your God has spoken, but your ears are closed. Hear this: "You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans" (22:23-24, emphasis mine). Why is this so comforting for me even when I know I am implicated? Perhaps, because to my ears, it sounds like the administration of justice.