A Righteous Cry

Why we tell stories of suffering.

Illustration by Rick Szuecs / Source images: Wikimedia Commons

Recently I attended a meeting with Black church leaders in Chicago. The host was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. At one point, as the pastors spoke of the injustices their congregants had endured, the rabbi exclaimed, “Sometimes it’s a mitzvah to shout!”

A mitzvah is an act of righteousness in accordance with biblical law. The rabbi pointed to Exodus 22:22–24. If you mistreat the widow or the orphan, God says, and “they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.” God hears the cries of those the world neglects—and rather than leave punishment to the courts, as in other verses, God himself takes responsibility for punishment.

God makes a similar promise a few verses later to those who suffer economic injustice. “When they cry out to me,” God says, “I will hear, for I am compassionate” (v. 27). To paraphrase the rabbi, sometimes it’s righteous to cry out to God. And if it’s righteous to cry out when you are oppressed or mistreated, then it’s righteous to cry out on behalf of the oppressed and mistreated.

At CT, we are delighted to tell stories of good overcoming evil. Sometimes we get to carry shouts of joy to the world. But we’re often asked why we tell the harder stories—stories of evil, oppression, or abuse. Do we delight in bad news? Of course not. But we carry the cries of others. And if God cares for the person who shouts for joy, he cares just as much for the person who cries out in pain.

Many men and women within the pages of this magazine are raising a cry to God. CT’s global storyteller Sophia Lee reports on a Russian pastor who, prompted by a dream, fled his homeland. Jayson Casper, our Middle East correspondent, describes the challenges that confront Christian couples in countries like Jordan who would adopt children in need of families. S. J. Dahlman describes the plight of churches in Appalachia struggling against the overwhelming might of the opioids crisis. Hannah McClellan relates the struggles of Indigenous Christians to understand their theology and their culture together. And Cedric Kanana, a Rwandan who survived his country’s civil war, tells how he came to faith in Christ in the midst of great suffering.

The church certainly needs good news. It needs the encouragement of seeing the mighty things God accomplishes through his people in the farthest corners of the planet every day. But the church also needs to hear the cries of the mistreated. It needs to express God’s heart of compassion. Sometimes it’s a mitzvah to shout.

Timothy Dalrymple is CT’s president and CEO.

Also in this issue

Our cover story this month explores the question, Does it matter if Christians declare their personal pronouns or use those given by others? Also in this issue: the changing face of atheism, reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Dream,” how churches in Appalachia are responding to the opioids crisis, and a closer look at repentance in the Gospel of Luke.

Cover Story

Should I Offer My Pronouns?

15 Percent of Churches Laid Off Staff in COVID-19. Many Are Still Looking for Work.

Reclaiming MLK Jr.’s ‘Dream’ 60 Years Later

With Eyes to See Addiction, Appalachian Churches Respond to the Opioids Crisis

Christians Could Change Adoption Laws in the Middle East. Will They?

Lawsuit Seeks Information about Missing Malaysian Pastor

At Indigenous Seminary, Students Learn the Power of Faith Embedded in Identity

A Russian Pastor Spoke Out Against Putin’s Invasion. It Cost Him His Church.

Your Mind Is on God’s Mind

Paul Put His Own Stamp on the Ancient Pattern of Opening and Closing Letters

Testimony

Jesus Met Me on the Morning of My Funeral

Repentance Is Both Vertical and Horizontal

Excerpt

Some of My Social Justice Allies Are Terrifying, and I Value Them for It

A Washington Church Grows Great Commission Wheat

Mormons Expect More of the Next Generation. Why Don’t We?

A Chorus of Replies about Church Worship

Jesus Loves Opioid Addicts

New Atheism Is Dead. What’s the New New Atheism?

Western Theologians Need Non-Western Theologians—and Vice Versa

Review

Since When Did Pleasing God Become an Unattainable Ideal?

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Repairing the Evangelical House Means Renewing the Evangelical Imagination

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