Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!’”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, September 13, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
A friend recently shared a personal story with me about this passage. He was visiting the holocaust museum in Washington D.C. years ago, and when he saw this verse written on the monument, it moved him to tears (even in the re-telling). The complete horror of what was done to so many millions of innocent people and the realization that God felt every bit of that pain and terror with those innocents, and heard their blood crying out from the ground—it overwhelmed him.
Genocide is still happening in our world. Darfur. Myanmar. South Sudan. Ukraine. The list goes on. Add to this the ongoing wars and conflicts killing thousands around the world, and the rampant gun violence and state violence in the U.S., and one can’t help but hear God’s anguished cries of “What have you done?” We, too, should be crying out “injustice!” and doing whatever it takes to work for peace.
What is my role in working to end the violence in our world?
