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“Evicted” by Matthew Desmond calls to mind a frustration I’ve had for many years. Our society manufactures barriers between us across so many strata: economic, racial, gender, expertise. James enjoins us to care for the needy among us and to show no partiality towards the rich, but we’ve so segregated ourselves, both inside and outside church buildings, that it’s rare even to be in the positions that James describes.

Even when the church community has diversity, interior walls compound our separation further: pride, shame, fear. The rich sit quietly near the poor but say nothing of their wealth for fear of judgment or manipulation. The poor say nothing of their needs for fear of judgment and toxic pity. Between the systemic, external divisions and the equally rampant interior barriers it often feels like we’ll all die alone in wintry darkness, torn to pieces by vicious beasts and riddled with cancerous tumors. No wonder the prophets resort to apocalyptic language when addressing injustice and moral decay.