Forty. Forty is a powerful religious number that calls to mind some of the great moments of the faith.

In the Book of Genesis, Noah and his extended family aboard the ark survived the floods for forty days and forty nights. The UCC Book of Worship and its Prayer of Baptism marks this as a period of renewal: "In the time of Noah, you washed the earth with the waters of the flood, and your ark of salvation bore a new beginning."

The Pentateuch recalls, in part, the "wandering" in the wilderness of the Israelites for forty years. The Book of Exodus marks this as a time of covenanting.

In the Gospels, we will soon read the Lenten passage about Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days. Matthew marks this as a time of spiritual strengthening.

For those who study Hebrew, they know that the number forty does not necessarily mean exactly the number forty, but instead it might mean, "a very long time." I'm sure to Noah - cooped up with all of those animals - it felt like a very long time. To the sojourning generations of Israelites, it felt like a very long time. To Jesus, in the midst of temptation, it felt like a very long time - and surely he was glad when the "angels came and ministered to him."

In the United Church of Christ, we think about forty in relation to the Wilmington 10 in North Carolina. Forty years ago, racism played a major part in convicting 10 young nonviolent civil rights activists for a firebombing they did not commit. One of the Wilmington10 was Benjamin Chavis, a twenty-four year old civil rights worker with the UCC's Commission for Racial Justice. The UCC worked tirelessly to raise funds for legal representation, appeals and bail. However, the Wilmington 10 all spent years in prison until their unjust sentences were commuted and they were released in 1978 and 1979. Ben Chavis was the last of the ten to be released from prison. A federal appeals court finally overturned the convictions in 1980.

Though their sentences were commuted and the convictions overturned, these nine young men and one woman faced life under a cloud of suspicion and doubt. Three of them have died since being released from prison. After a very long time, on December 31, 2012, the Wilmington 10 were officially pardoned by North Carolina's Governor Beverly Perdue. In her statement she said, "These convictions were tainted by naked racism and represent an ugly stain on North Carolina's criminal justice system that cannot be allowed to stand any longer."

Though this injustice took place a long time ago - 40 years - the need to combat racial injustice remains to this day. The Michigan Conference will be hosting an anti-racism training in February and March for its staff and board members, and then making available the same training in our Associations in the spring. The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on January 21 and Black History Month in February will be two important times during which to dedicate our lives anew to nonviolently work on behalf of racial justice and equality.

Yes, forty years is a very long time, but it is good to remember: "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." May we always have a part in that bending!