Naturally Imperfect

The Following is an article I wrote for CMU's Student Newspaper, the Doxa. You can read the Doxa's digital edition here.






 On March 12, 2015, Loblaws announced that they would begin to sell “Naturally Imperfect” produce in their Ontario and Quebec Stores. In most cases, produce has to be just the right size, shape and colour without any imperfections or else a grocery store will not sell it. Life is not perfect. There is plenty of good food out there that gets thrown out because a carrot has a weird bend in it or an apple isn’t red enough. Loblaws will begin to sell this type of produce at a slight discount.

Canadians waste $31 billion dollars each year in food waste. This is a huge issue. If we can redirect some of this waste, especially when there is nothing wrong with it, then more people could afford to eat healthily.

One organization that is doing this is Ontario Christian Gleaners, an interdenominational organization that receives donations of produce that farmers can’t sell to grocery stores. They then dehydrate the fruits into snacks, and the vegetables into soup mix, and give this food to development agencies that can use it in famine situations.

When I heard the news that Loblaws was going to sell this naturally imperfect food, I was concerned that it would impact organizations like OCG, so I reached out to them for comment. Shelly Stone, OCG Manager, responded to me.  OCG processes 25,000 pounds of donated vegetables every week, the amount of produce that Loblaws is going to prevent becoming food waste is not going to significantly affect them.

Shelly told me that the amount of food waste in Canada is “astounding” and hopes that as Loblaws makes this option available, consumers will become better informed about their food. She writes that 25-30% percent of some farmer’s produce never makes it to market. This can be because it is too small, or a stone in the soil caused vegetables to twist around it. “We do applaud Loblaws for leading in this initiative”.

You too can help to reduce food waste. Perhaps one day Loblaws will expand this program in Manitoba as well. Until then, when you go to Superstore, you can see pink “Reduced for Quick Sale” stickers that offer 30% off of perishable items. This is because the food is reaching it’s “best before date” or “sell by date.” As Shelly notes, the food is still fine to eat at this point and hasn’t reached its expiration date. By purchasing this food, we can prevent it from ending up in a landfill. Or, if paying for food is too mainstream, you can fully embrace your identity as a hipster CMU student and go dumpster diving since so many retailers throw out food that is still safe to eat.

Embodying Resurrection: Luke 24 and Acts 3

I preached the following sermon this past Sunday (April 19th) at Riverton Fellowship Circle. The texts I am referring to are Luke 24:36-48 and Acts 3:12-19.

This week’s story comes from the Gospel of Luke.

Following Easter Sunday, which we celebrated 2 weeks ago, the disciples were confused and afraid.

 They had heard that Jesus has risen, but many of them were still confused? How is this possible? How could Jesus be alive?

They saw him on that cross outside of Jerusalem just a couple of days ago, crying out to God: “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

Was this rumour of Jesus being alive some sort of ploy by the romans to make them come out of hiding? Crucifixion is the sentence for rebels, If their Rabbi was killed for leading a rebellion, maybe the romans wanted to capture his followers so they could face the same punishment.

but it was Mary Magdalene and the other women that supported them that said that the tomb was empty, and Simon Peter, Jesus’ second in command says that he saw Jesus. Both are people that they could trust  And just a couple of minutes ago two disciples came into the door saying that they had walked all the way to Emmaus with Jesus, and that he had explained to them why the Messiah had to suffer.

Their confusion only increased when suddenly Jesus is there. It’s a Ghost! Oooooooooooooooooooh!

Or at least they thought it was a ghost.

But Jesus shows them that he is real.

He tells them  Look at my hands and my feet. It’s me! Touch me and see; a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see I do.”

They touch him, but somehow the disciples are still suspicious, so Jesus tells them to get him food, apparently even if you can touch them, Ghosts still can’t eat.

Then once he’s proven that it is him, he explains how this has happened:

He says:

“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Even though everything they needed to know about Jesus was available in the old Testament, the disciples still needed Jesus to make it real before they could understand.

David Steinmetz explains this in his article: Uncovering a Second Narrative: Detective fiction and the Construction of Historical method.

When you read a Sherlock Holmes, or an Agatha Christie novel, three things happen:

First you read the main story where the detective goes around looking for clues, while obviously something happened, you aren’t quite sure what, you don’t know who did it.

Secondly the detective reveals who did and how.

Finally the detective walks you through the original story and explains how everything makes sense with this new information.

This is what Jesus is doing. The Disciples knew the story of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, but they were still waiting for someone to save them.

Then Jesus comes, lives a life telling them they are saved, but he’s crucified

Now that he has returned from the grave, he explains how the old testament told his story, even if they didn’t know how to read it.

Finally he sends them out telling them to preach:

“ repentance for the forgiveness of sins to be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.^”

They need to go out and preach repentance for forgiveness of sins.

And just as Jesus first presented the real world evidence of his resurrection: by letting them touch him and by eating their food, before he presented the textual basis for his resurrection, Jesus’ followers need to demonstrate the real world evidence of what repentence looks like before we can expect the people we are talking to to listen to what we have to say.

We are the hands and feet that Jesus tells the wanderers to look at to see the resurrection.. We are the evidence that sparks people to look at their own lives and change.

For me, the people's whose actions allowed me to understand the good news are my grandparents

Donald Wenger  was the son of a Farmer, Born in Pennsylvania to a conservative Mennonite family, he was called into pastoral ministry by the drawing of lots.

Back then, when they needed a new pastor, they would pick a couple people from the congregation and put their names in the songbooks, shuffle the song books around, and then pick one. The person whose name was picked was then their pastor.

Even though he didn’t feel qualified to be a pastor because he was not familiar with the bible, he still pastored in pennsylvannia for several years because that is what GOd was telling the community. Then he was given the opportunity to learn more about the bible at a small school in southern Ontario, he brought his wife and 4 children to Kitchener, a city about an hour south west of Toronto. Where my Dad was born.

While studying there, a congregation learned about this student and asked him to be their pastor, letting him use his class notes for his sermons. He led three congregations in southern Ontario before being led to leave the ministry to start a cheese and meat store in Toronto, then become an insurance sales person, and finally a Christian book distributor. But the whole time he showed what it meant to be a follower of God. He read his bible, he loved his family, and he helped those around him any way he could.

My Grandmother Ruth, worked as a cashier in a general store, then as a teacher before becoming a mother to five children, she walked diligently alongside my grandfather, together they sponsored a family of Laotian refugees who now consider Don and Ruth Wenger as their own parents. She also has her own ministries. She covers all of us in prayer every day. And drives other people in their retirement complex to get groceries. Now that my Grandfather has dementia and can’t read anymore, she reads the bible to him daily. They embody resurrection living to me. They love each other, and everyone that comes into contact with them very much.

I didn’t know how much an impact they made until I was a freshman in university. I attended a congregation in Toronto, and the second week I was there, I told someone my full name and they recognized it.

 It turns out that 40 years ago, my grandparents had attended that very congregation, and had shown them the same love then that I had witnessed myself. They remembered my grandparents as people who cared for those who needed help. And 40 years later they were still a part of that congregation’s story.

I look at the story of my grandparents and see God at work, building his resurrection community. My grandparents embody lives transformed by following God, and seeing that transformation, their grandchildren are able to then listen to the biblical story, believe, and repent, seeking God’s forgiveness and transformation.

Let’s go back to the bible, Just before the Acts text we read today, a couple of weeks after Jesus' appearance, the disciples were walking to the temple and Peter and John healed a lame beggar. This leads to the part we read today. When people question what they’ve done, Peter and John are able to teach them the gospel. Telling them about Jesus, and how the people in Jerusalem had killed him, and how he was resurrected.

They demonstrated the transforming power of the Gospel through their healing, then they teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. Telling them to turn to God so their sins may be forgiven, and their lives transformed.

Let’s be like those disicples, who demonstrate the resurrection power in their lives, and share the gospel, even if they are afraid at first.

Let’s be like my grandparent’s whose lives act as witnesses to the faith they taught me and my cousins.

Let’s embody Christ’s resurrection for those that come after us. So that when they see how we live, and listen to what we say, they too will repent and follow Jesus.

Creation and Covenant: The Story of Scripture

The Following is a story I wrote for a class I took called, Reading the Scripture in the Church. I hope you enjoy it.

Creation and Covenant: The Story of Scripture

Timothy Wenger

BTS 5310

2015-04-10

Prologue: Creation and Sin

In the beginning was God the Creator.

And the Creator spoke into the nothingness and created light. The Creator loves light.

The Creator spoke again and created sky. The Creator loves sky.

The Creator spoke again and created land and sea. The Creator loves land and sea.

The Creator spoke again and created plants. The Creator loves the plants.

The Creator spoke again and created the sun and the stars. The Creator loves the sun and the stars.

The Creator spoke again and created fish and birds. The Creator loves fish and birds.

The Creator spoke and created animals for the land. God loves animals.

The Creator spoke and said “Let us make humans, who can care for what we’ve created. They will be our face on creation.” So the Creator created humans, and they were given the earth to care for. The Creator loves humans.

So the Creator had created, and created a way to care for the creation. When this was all done, the Creator rested.

But the humans didn’t care for creation. They wanted to be more than just the creator’s face, they wanted to be creators.

They created separation from the Creator by not obeying the Creator

They created enmity with each other through violence

They created destruction of nature by building cities

The Creator still loved the Creation, and so the Creator creates one more time: The Creator creates a Covenant.

Act 1: The Covenanting God

Act 1: Scene 1 Covenant with the World

The Creator mourned the hurt caused to creation, and looked at the humans and saw that there was one left who had not participated in this destruction. This human was Noah.

God spoke to Noah and told him that God was going to create a fresh start for creation. The Creator told Noah to build a large boat to hold all of the different birds and animals. Noah obeyed, and when he finished building the boat, The Creator brought all of the different animals to the boat, once the animals were on board, Noah and his family entered the boat as well. Then the Creator sent rain and flooded the earth.

            Noah and his family waited on the boat until the water receded. They found themselves on top of a mountain. Noah thanked God for saving them and all of the animals.

            Because they were created in God’s image, God told the humans that they cannot kill each other and that though they were now allowed to eat animals, they must drain the lifeblood out of them as a sign of life’s importance. In return Creator made a covenant with Noah and all of creation, that God will never again destroy the earth. As a sign, God placed a rainbow in the sky, so that all would remember the covenant God made with creation.

Act 1: Scene 2: Covenant with a Family

            So Noah’s descendants populated the world. But rather than spreading out and allowing the land to sustain them, they created a city, with a massive tower as a challenge to God’s authority. So God forced them to spread out by making them speak different languages, but the humans still did not understand their proper relationship with God, the land and each other.

            There is a man named Abram, who was married to Sarai, God called them to leave their home and come to a land that God would show them. God made them a promise that Abram’s family will become a great nation, that will be prosperous, and that will bless all peoples. So Abram and Sarai and their household left their home. God showed them the land of Canaan, and told them that though there are people living there now, one day Abram’s family will possess the land. God makes a covenant with Abram that Abram will father many nations, changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah, God promised to give the land of Canaan Abraham’s descendants’ and to be their God. God tells Abraham to circumcise all of the men in his household as a sign of God’s Covenant with Abraham. This covenant is God’s plan to help all people come back into a proper relationship with God, the Land and each other.

Act 1: Scene 3: Covenant with a Nation

            Sarah gave birth to Isaac, who in return had a son named Jacob, and God made this same covenant with them, that they would become a great nation, be given land, and be a blessing to all nations. During a famine, Jacob and his family moved to Egypt thanks to his son Joseph.

            But after Joseph’s death, there was a new Pharaoh of Egypt who did not know about Joseph. Jacob’s family had grown exponentially into a people group called the Hebrews. The new Pharaoh was worried that they might take over Egypt. So the pharaoh enslaved them, making them build many projects. But the Hebrews remembered the covenant that God made with their foreparents, and cried out to God to save them.

            God heard them and remembered the covenant that God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A Hebrew named Moses was hiding in Midian after killing an Egyptian. His father in law, Jethro, was the high priest there, and Moses tended Jethro’s flocks. One day a sheep wandered away from the herd and Moses had to go after it. The Sheep climbed up a mountain, and went into a cave. Moses followed after it and found a bush that was on fire but was not being consumed.

            And The Creator God spoke again. God told Moses that the God of Abraham has heard the cries of God’s people. God chose Moses to free the Hebrew slaves from Egypt and lead them to the Land God promised to their foreparents.

            Moses was unsure that he could do this. God gave him another name for God to tell the elders of the Hebrews: “I AM WHO I AM.” This is a promise that God’s identity will be revealed to them through God’s actions.

            Moses returns to Egypt, and tells the Pharaoh that God wanted the Hebrews to be free. Pharaoh refused, and makes the Hebrews work even harder. In response God sent 10 Disasters on Egypt, demonstrating that the great I AM controls all of Creation. But it took the final disaster, the death of all the first born sons of Egypt for the king of Egypt to allow the Hebrews to go free. After the Hebrews had left, Pharaoh decided that he had made a mistake and wanted the Hebrews back, so Pharaoh’s army was sent to recapture the Hebrews. Moses and the Hebrews were caught between the Pharaoh’s army on one side and the Red Sea on the other. God told Moses to put his staff into the water and the sea parted for them to walk across. Once they got across, the sea crashed down onto the Egyptian army and the Hebrews were safe.

            Moses led the Hebrews through the wilderness. When they were thirsty, God gave them water, when they were hungry, God gave them bread called manna and quail. Moses was very busy with leading the Hebrews when his father in law came to visit him. When Jethro saw how busy Moses was, he told Moses that Moses was supposed to be the Hebrews’ representative to God, and that he needed to delegate his judging duties so he could focus on teaching the Hebrews what God wanted them to do.

            Shortly afterwards, they arrived at Mount Sinai. Moses climbed the mountain and God made an offer. Since God had saved the Hebrews from Egypt, if they kept God’s covenant, then God would make them into a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation. They would demonstrate to the world how to be in right relationship with God. Moses brought this offer to the Elders of this new nation, Israel, and they accepted. Moses returned to the top of the Mountain, and God gave him the 10 Commandments that made up basics of the covenant. On top of that, God gave more instructions about how to be in right relation to God, others, and the creation. Include instructions for a tent that God could meet with them.

Act 2: Israel living under the Covenant

Act 2: Scene 1: The Land of the Covenant

            Moses led them to Canaan, but when Moses sent in spies to examine the land, while they saw that the land was fertile, most of them were afraid of the inhabitants of the land, only Joshua and Caleb believed that God would hand them the land. Because of this, God made Israel wander in the wilderness until the generation that did not trust God passed away. Before Moses died, he taught the new Generation about the Covenant that God made with their parents. The people recommitted to the Covenant with God, and God allowed them to enter the Promised Land.

            God then chose Joshua to lead the people of Israel. As they approached the City of Jericho, Joshua sent spies to examine the city. They were almost caught, but a prostitute named Rahab let them hide on her roof, after the city officials escape, they promised Rahab and her family safety.

            When Israel came to Jericho, instead of attacking, God told them to walk around the city. After seven days of walking around the city, the priests blew their trumpets and the walls came tumbling down. The Israelites killed everyone except for Rahab and her family. Israel swept through Canaan, God conquering town after town for them. Once Israel had taken over, Joshua gathered the People of Israel at Shechem and they renewed the covenant they made with God.

Act 2: Scene 2: The Cycle of Covenant

            But once Israel got into the land, they fulfilled their part of the covenant for a while, but eventually they would stop living in right relationship with each other and with God. When this would happen, God would allow the remaining inhabitants of the land to oppress Israel until they called for help. God would raise up a Judge who would lead the Israelites to freedom, they would renew their covenant and live faithfully for a while, but eventually sin again and repeat the cycle.

            One such Judge was Deborah, who rallied Israel and defeats the Jabin King of Canaan, another was Gideon who led Israel against the Midianites. When Gideon rallied thirty thousand soldiers, God told him to send home 29700 of them so Israel could not think that they did it by themselves, rather they needed to rely on God.

Act 2 Scene 2: A Love Story

            During the time of the judges, an Israelite named Elimelek went to Moab to escape a famine with his wife and two sons, while there his two sons married Moabite women. But by the time the famine ended, both Elimelek and his two sons had died. His wife Naomi, was left in a foreign land with two daughters in law, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi decided to return to Israel. She told her daughters in law to go back to their families, but Ruth refused saying that she would stay with Naomi. They returned to Israel. Because they did not have any way to make money, Ruth would go to a nearby farm and pick up the shafts of wheat the laborers left behind. One day as she was picking up wheat. The owner of the farm, Boaz saw her and fell madly in love with her. Boaz told her that instead of walking behind the labourers, she could pick alongside the women who worked for him. When Ruth returned home with the extra food, she told Naomi what had happened. When the harvest was finished, there was a big party, and Ruth slept with Boaz. Boaz tells her that he loves her and they get married, and Naomi was invited to live with them.

Act 2: Scene 3: David’s Covenant

            Several years later, there was a Judge named Samuel. Even though the people knew that God was supposed to be their leader, they wanted a king like the nations around them. Samuel and God tried to dissuade them, but the people were adamant. God relented and allowed them to have a king, as long as God got to choose it. God’s first choice, Saul, did well initially, but eventually became too power hungry, so God chose another, David, the youngest child of a shepherd, the grandson of Ruth.

            David turned out to be a better King. He brought peace to the kingdom and even though he committed significant sins, he truly desired to obey God. When David tried to build a temple for God. God refuses to allow David, a warrior king to build God’s Temple, rather God makes another covenant. God will make David’s name great, and David will always have an heir to the thrown in Jerusalem.

Act 2: Scene 4: Kings and Prophets

            God allowed David’s son Solomon to build God a temple. Solomon spared no expense as he built a home for God. God lived among the people. But after Solomon’s death, his son forced the people of Israel to build too many projects. As a result the Nation of Israel split into two, the northern ten tribes became Israel, while Southern two tribes became Judah, David’s heirs remained king in Jersusalem, but their kingdom was diminished. God continuously called both kingdoms to remember the Covenant they had made with God. But while they would follow covenant for a while, eventually they would fall into idol worship, and injustice. When this happened, God would send a prophet, who would bring them back to the Covenant. The prophets warned Israel and Judah that eventually God would eventually lose patience with their ignoring the covenant and would eventually remove them from the land of the covenant. During Hoshea’s reign in Israel, Shalmaneser, King of Assyria conquered the northern Kingdom and sent the people of Israel into exile.

            Judah continued in this cycle for a while. When Josiah was King, they were cleaning out the temple and found a copy of the Covenant. Josiah had it read to the people, and they made a new covenant with God that they would obey God’s teachings. However, later kings brought the people back into idolatry, and God eventually allowed Babylon to conquer them, destroy the temple and send the people of Judah into exile as well.

Act 2: Scene 5: Exile and Return

            God did not forget God’s people though. Even though they were sent into Exile, God continued to send prophets, who told them to settle in to where they were and care for the wellbeing of their new homes. Eventually Babylon was defeated by Persia, and Cyrus allowed people in exile to return to their homes. A few of the People of Judah (or Jews) returned home, but because they had been in exile for so long, many decided to stay where they were. The Jews that returned home rebuilt the temple. There was a sense in which the exile had not ended because so many Jews were still outside of the land of the Covenant.  

Intermission: Scene Change

            Many years later, Rome has taken over a large part of the world. They had control of the Jewish homeland, and taxed the people heavily. The Jews wished to be free from this oppression. Many believed that God would send a leader like the prophets and judges of old who will save them. Some people, who called themselves the Pharisees thought that they needed to follow every commandment in the covenant to the letter and began building traditions around the Torah to keep them from breaking actual Torah, they hoped that when they did it good enough, God would send the leader. Others, called the Essenes believed that the world is too sinful and hid in the wilderness, waiting for the leader to come and lead them to battle to liberate the Jews. Others, called the zealots, believed that if they started the revolution, God would send the leader to them. The last group was the Sadducees, who did not necessarily like Rome, but Rome kept them in power so they wanted to keep the status quo. The common people also hated Rome, because they were taxed so heavily and hoped that the leader would come, but did not necessarily have a vested interest in how it would happen.

Act 3: Jesus and the New Covenant

            God did not forget the covenant, Israel was supposed to be the way in which the Creator reformed the world into the way it should be. With God, Humans and the rest of Creation all in right relationship with each other. It was time for the Jews to become the People of the Covenant. To do this, God needs to challenge their understanding of what it means to be a people of the Covenant. God sent part of Godself, the Son, Jesus to Earth, not as a warrior, but as a baby. Jesus is born a Jew, of the line of David, but he is also the descendent of Ruth and Rahab, non-Jews who were welcomed into Israel.

            When Jesus had grown up. God sent a man named John to prepare the Jews for the coming of the long expected leader. John told them to repent, John told them to take care of each other, sharing their possessions with those who had done, and to be baptized as a sign that they were becoming truly a part of the Covenant.

            Jesus one day came to where John is preaching, and told John to baptize him. When Jesus rose out of the water, a dove appeared in the sky, and God spoke saying “This is my Son, who makes me pleased.” From there, Jesus went into the wilderness where he was tempted to lead through social programs or acts of power, but Jesus passed the test. Jesus then began to call people to follow him.

            Jesus climbed the side of a mountain and taught those that followed him how to follow the covenant. It sounded different than how they remembered Moses teaching them about the Covenant. They had to love enemies. They had to set aside their own justice to bring others back into community, into right relationship.           

Jesus traveled around performing miracles, telling everyone that God was in charge again. He healed people who were not allowed in the community. He welcomed non-jews to live the way God wants humans to live. He challenged the status quo, telling the rich to not oppress the poor, and the religious leaders to not be hypocrites.

People listened to him, some of his followers were Zealots ready to fight, the crowd wanted to crown him King. When Jesus entered Jerusalem during the Passover, people said “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”.  It looked like he was going to free Israel from the Romans.

During the last night of the Passover, Jesus met with his followers. He washed their feet, and served the traditional Passover meal. But when he picked up the bread. Jesus said “This is my Body, broken for you”. Then when he picked up the cup of wine, he said “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Then Jesus got arrested. His rocking of the status quo and challenging the religion of the day pissed off both the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They brought him before the Roman authorities and said that he tried to cause an insurrection. Jesus was crucified, the penalty for rebellion.

Jesus’s followers were shocked and confused. What about restoring Israel so it could be the blessing for all nations? What about bringing God, humans and creation back into right relation?

            Jesus didn’t stay dead. God raised Jesus up, and Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary mother of James met him outside his tomb. Jesus was Resurrected. Jesus met with his disciples and told them to spread the good news that God is Charge to all nations. Jesus has completed his mission and ascended into heaven, promising to come back.

Act 4: The New Covenant

Act 4: Scene 1: The New Covenant Spreads

Jesus’ followers obey his commandments. God’s Spirit descends on them, and they preached that there was a new Covenant open to all. God is in charge, and that everyone should be in right relationship with God, fellow humans, and creation. Their message started in Jerusalem, spread to the rest of Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. As the message spread, groups of people, called churches, started to form who tried to live out the Covenant as best they could.

Church leaders started writing letters to distant congregations to help them understand what it means to live in the new Covenant. One of these leaders was Paul, who traveled a lot starting many new churches. As non-Jews joined this new covenant. The church realized that they need not be bound by the physical symbols that the old covenants used, as long as they only follow God, and love their neighbours.

Act 4: Scene 2: The Church Today

            The story doesn’t end there, today the Creator God calls us to enter into this new Covenant. The world has not had all of its relationships healed yet, so we need to continue to do that. We need to Follow Jesus’ teachings loving God and loving neighbour. We can look at the story that has happened before us, and learn from it.

            When we see oppression, we should remember that God saved the Israelites from oppression in Egypt and with the Judges, and that we are called to act for justice.

            When we see the poor, we should remember Ruth and Naomi who were welcomed back into the community through Boaz. When we see sexism, we should remember Rahab and Deborah, women whose action saved Israel. When we see racism and xenophobia, we should remember that Jethro, a Midianite, taught Moses how to lead his people, and that Rahab and Ruth were outsiders welcomed into the people of God.

Act 5: Return to Right Relationship with the Creator

            One Day, God will finish the work of the Covenant. Jesus will come back, and we will be in right relationship with God, and the rest of Creation. It will be like the beginning when God the Creator made everything. There will be no separation. Gender, language, and ethnicity will not be barriers. There will be justice for all. God will be in Charge.