with liberty and justice for all

I love the last line of our Pledge of Allegiance, "...with liberty and justice for all". This excerpt has special significance for me right now for a number of reasons. Because this is a blog of thoughts, I'll share...

Liberty...for all. A friend of mine recently became a US citizen. What a joy it is to celebrate this with her! I never had the privilege of doing that (taking an oath to be a US citizen...because I was born here) so to be able to live the moment vicariously through my friend is exhilarating! It's also something that could seem trivial or unimportant for so many people who live, work and thrive in America...but never actually take the time (or even have an interest) in becoming an American citizen. But what is available to those who so desire? Freedom. Democracy. Equality. Liberty. Interestingly enough, my friend is from Liberia, which was started as a colony in Africa where freed American slaves could go and live out their "liberty" in their homeland.

Justice for all. Lately, this organization has been on my mind. To be quite honest, it's a part of the Christmas celebration at my church, so I sort of have to know a little about it. But, as I read the stories of these modern-day slaves and prisoners who were freed because of the right application of justice, I'm overwhelmed. How is it possible that we continue to allow sex-trafficking, modern slavery and the forced prostitution of many men, women and children in other areas of the world? In America, we say that "justice is served" a lot. Especially when a perpetrator gets punished for their crimes. But who will speak up for these innocents? Who will be their advocate? Who will help see that justice is served for those who harm them? That's what this organization is all about. I'm excited to see how this series plays out at Christmas...a time where we traditional look inwardly and sing happy carols and decorate and bake and eat and....well you get the idea. I like that we are replicating the awkwardness, filthiness, humility and uncertainty of the very first Christmas by turning our attention to this injustice in our world today.

PS: I know this post is a little deep for this blog. But, it's honest.