• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Witness for Justice
  • Blame and Responsibility
Witness for Justice

Blame and Responsibility

by Rachel Hackenberg | published on Sep 9, 2021

Managing Editor, The Pilgrim Press and Faith-Forming Publications

The LORD said to Moses, “Let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” (Exodus 32:10, NRSV)

I wonder, sometimes, why God does not.

Consume us, that is. Burn against us. Unleash holy rage.

Surely we are no less stiff-necked than the ancient Israelites who melted their finest jewelry in order to cast in gold an image of a calf for worship. I might even suggest that we are more stiff-necked than our forebears in the wilderness: Start wars that will devastate generations? Bring it on, we repeatedly say. Hold our nose at accountability for past injustices? Don’t mind if we do. Excuse hatred and bias in the name of God? Always convenient.

Genuinely I wonder: Why doesn’t God take us out?

(Spoiler alert: the answer isn’t “Jesus.” And full confession: if it was in my power to do so, I’d be sorely tempted to press “restart” on humanity.)

There is an ongoing debate between Moses and God, Moses and the people, God and the people about who is responsible when the community misbehaves … and who is to blame. In Exodus 32, the blame is squarely on Aaron and the people for creating a golden calf. As punishment, they are made to drink gold-infused water from the deconstructed calf, and then further subject to massacre and plague. A classic feel-good Bible moment.

But blame is easy. The harder question: Who is responsible for holding a community accountable for errant and injuring behavior? Who is responsible for correction, healing, redemption? Who responds to redress an injustice?

Who will clean up the mess of war?

Who will account for history’s wounds and measure out the necessary repairs?

Who will show up for God’s work of healing from hatred, of confession from bias, of reconciliation from fear?

Moses and God draw straws over the question. “They’re your people,” God says to Moses. “No, they’re your people,” Moses says to God.

Too often those who have already experienced injury—those whose privileges and comforts have already been sacrificed—are tasked with the responsibility of healing and justice, while those who made the mess (and those who consider themselves unaffected by it) provide analysis and critique. “The Afghans can take care of themselves.” “The Palestinians need to stop resisting land acquisition.” “The Civil War should be remembered with pride.”

Moses loses his debate with God over who is responsible for the people, so he must do the work of cleaning up the mess. There are people sick from drinking the gold-infused water. There are grieving families from the aforementioned massacre. There are lingering spiritual wounds and doubts from the horrors of slavery in Egypt.

Moses puts in the hard work of repairing the people’s relationship to God, to themselves, to one another.

Why doesn’t God take us out?

Perhaps because it’s not God’s responsibility to do so. In the flip of divine coin and the drawing of holy straws, humanity “lost” and God made us responsible for one another—commanding us to take on the necessary labor of healing, reconciliation, and justice.

It’s God’s responsibility to love us.

It’s our responsibility to do the hard work of holding one another accountable in light of that love.

The Rev. Rachel Hackenberg is the Managing Editor for The Pilgrim Press and Faith-Forming Publications for the United Church of Christ.

View this and other columns on the UCC’s Witness for Justice page.
Donate to support Witness for Justice.
Click here to download the bulletin insert.

Categories: Column Witness for Justice

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

Column

God-Centered Action

I recently learned of a project that even someone newer to knitting or crocheting could knock...

Read More
Column

Growing a Community of UCC Women

Right now this ministry is primarily envisioned by me and this newsletter is written by me. I...

Read More
Column

Women Arising

Women all over the world are leading amazing work, and I want to celebrate them! One UCC woman...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC CrestUCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative