**Content Warning: SA, clergy ab*se**
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
- Amos 5:24 (ESV)
- Amos 5:24 (ESV)
“For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.”
- Luke 8:17 (NLT)
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”
- Romans 12:19 (ESV)
I started work on this drawing in December 2023, when news of another clergy s*x ab*se scandal broke - this time regarding a church organization that was dear to my heart and key to my spiritual formation and healing during my college years. I read somewhere once that we tend to be uninterested in the justice of God until we have experienced true wrongdoing. I have found this to be so deeply true in my own life, especially recently. Several years ago, my immediate family was deeply affected by the extremely public s*x ab*se trial of a man who had been a trusted healthcare provider for a family member. During that time, I suddenly found myself deeply interested in the Biblical depiction of the winepress of God’s wrath and the Jesus who wields a deadly sword. I used to be shocked or offended by these depictions, but as I felt the deep pain of evil and betrayal touch my own life, I found that the only answer to my anger and anguish was a belief in the perfect justice of God. Believing that there is a higher, truer power that can deal out justice and mercy in perfect measure has allowed me to feel my own hurt and explore the impossible realities of forgiveness in my own life over the years.
Recently, I have turned to this truth over and over again as a seemingly endless parade of clergy ab*se revelations has come to light. Every time that His church deepens the hurt of these sins by trying to cover and protect ab*sers and silence victims, I remind myself of God’s perfect justice, roaring like a flood; of His perfect light, revealing everything that has been concealed. And I remind myself of His perfect love and mercy - offering healing and guidance to those who need it most. It’s a simple truth, but one that I have had to remind myself of over and over again - God is not an abuser. God is love, and He will bring perfect justice to bear on the earth.
Here, couched in the traditional imagery of the guardian angel, I imagine a ferociously protective bearer of God’s justice - here to violently oppose evil and bring about His perfect judgment in our fallen world.
9 x 12 inches (23 x 30 cm)
Polychromos colored pencils and gesso
on Strathmore 400 Series toned gray paper
This item is **FOR SALE**