Devotional Series: Do Justice Started: 11/10/2013 Devotional for Tuesday, November 12, 2013 Where is Your Bridge? . . . he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:2-3) On March 11, 2005 Kevin Berthia had finally stopped thinking about taking his own life. On this day those thoughts and the mounting despair that came with them had reached a tipping point, pushing him to take action. Having climbed over the rail of the Golden Gate Bridge, Berthia stood perched on a narrow pipe high above the waters of the San Francisco Bay. That’s when Sgt. Kevin Briggs of the California Highway Patrol showed up and gently engaged Berthia in conversation. His voice calm and positive, Sgt. Briggs gave space for Berthia to tell his story. More than an hour later Briggs helped Kevin Berthia climb back to the other side of the rail, back to his life and the future of which he had lost sight. Sgt. Briggs has been with the California Highway Patrol for 23 years. He belongs to a group of officers whose duties include patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge, trained to notice situations that seem off, out of place. They especially have an eye for the lone and lingering pedestrian. They are skilled in striking up conversation to discern their reasons for being on the bridge. Last year on the Golden Gate Bridge there were 86 successful interventions by the CHP. Earlier this year Kevin Berthia and Sgt. Kevin Briggs met for the first time since that March day in 2005. Berthia looks back on that moment and recalls, “He never made me feel guilty for the situation I was in . . . that an individual who doesn’t even know me could listen to me and show me compassion gave me another reason maybe to try again.” Whether Sgt. Briggs would say so or not, his work is holy work. As a Sgt. with the CHP he does not merely enforce the law, he does justice. Psalm 147 tells us that God gathers the outcasts and heals the wounds of the broken hearted. Despair of soul is a form of oppression, and in scripture doing justice means liberating the oppressed. To see the outcast and to heal the brokenhearted is certainly not the totality of God’s justice – but it is one expression of it. And it is something that we can begin doing right now. Doing justice does not mean that you have to fix the deep and systemic inequalities in our world. Nor does it mean that you have to solve the problems of every person around you. Perhaps doing justice begins with paying attention. Seeing the person who carries a heavy weight is not hard to do. You may see it in their face or hear it in their voice. Many people hide this very well, but not everyone. Look and listen closely enough to see the outcast, the brokenhearted. Where is your bridge? Where is the familiar place in which you live your life day after day? As you do so, do you notice what is around you? This is the place and these are the people among whom you can begin to do justice. Prayer: Make us ready, O God, to lift the yoke of oppression from those whom we may encounter today. Give us grace to be attentive to words and expressions. Make us willing to risk reaching out with a question or encouragement. Work through us to gather the outcast and heal the brokenhearted, we ask in Jesus’s name. Amen. Mark H. Crumpler Pastor for Teaching and Spiritual Formation markthis.blogspot
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:43:36 +0000
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