May 17 2019 Amos 5:10-15,21-24 Commemoration of Thurgood Marshall

Let justice roll down like waters,  and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.



From a young age, Thurgood Marshall wanted to be a lawyer. He wanted to study law in his hometown law school in Baltimore, but in the 1930’s the University of Maryland was racially segregated, something Marshall couldn’t support. He graduated from Howard University, practiced law, founded and served as chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and went on to serve as the first African American Supreme Court Justice. He successfully argued that ‘separate but equal’ was not a thing, ending the intentional practice of segregation.



The readings appointed for the day commemorating Thurgood Marshall are evocative. Whether it’s fiery speeches, or old hymns, there’s something very poetic and powerful about “let justice roll down like waters”. This is not an image of still waters, of a peaceful lake. No, I can almost hear the roar of the waters, and see the swift current. There’s an urgency to ever-flowing streams, to rolling waters. There’s movement.



I admire those who call for justice like an ever-flowing stream. To be clear, I strive for and seek justice. My work for justice, however, doesn’t have the urgency that I sense from Amos or Marshall. Perhaps that’s because of my constitution, or because I’ve not experienced injustice as they have.



This morning, I’m thinking about my cry for justice. Should it be more like a cry for justice to roll down like waters? I want to think that I can, and I think I should. And while I can occasionally serve as that prophetic voice, pointing out how things should be in God’s kingdom, I am unlikely to be the street-corner prophet, crying out for justice. Rather, I find opportunities to be quietly but effectively prophetic, seeking justice and affecting change behind the scenes, in meetings, and conversations. 


And I admire the power and poetry of the prophetic voices like Amos and Marshall. Today, I want to be aware of the different ways to strive for justice, to be prophetic, and to see justice to roll down like waters.