Title: “Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly with God”
9/10/06 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr. B
HOMECOMING
Micah 6:6-8, Mark 7:24-37
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
What does the Lord require of you?
To do justice
Love Kindness
Walk humbly with your God.
These powerful words from the Prophet Micah in the Hebrew Scriptures are the favorite of many - they are a wonderful summary of what it means to live in God. For me they go hand in hand with another favorite from Jesus say when asked what the two greatest commandments are: “To love God with your whole heart, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
As our Jewish brothers and sisters would say - put these two together and, “the rest is just commentary”.
It came to me one morning in prayer that Micah's words would be a wonderful theme for Homecoming Sunday this year. If we can seek to sink the ministry of this year into these powerful words then anything that grows from them would surely be healthy fruit! Whether we meditate on them as individuals or allow them to shape our mission in boards and committees, in our worship and in our outreach - surely we would find our work shaped by God's will.
When I shared this thought with the Worship Board and the staff, it seemed to switch on a light for them too. The idea came up that perhaps we could focus on aspect of the scripture in each season of the year. “To do justice” would be our focus this fall, “Love Kindness” during Advent and “Walk humbly” during Lent. By Easter we could celebrate what came to life for us through this passage.
Is God still speaking to us through the words of the prophet Micah as well as Jesus? I surely believe so.
The prophet Micah was a village peasant who spoke out in the eighth century against the power of the Jerusalem government.
The peasant people of his day were watching the growing and shameless power of the government, a scientific-military-industrial establishment that had usurped the well being of the little people. The agenda of the government was the census, taxes and arms. (Walter Brueggeman)
These words from Micah 6 were not instructions to the peasants but instead were challenges to the Jerusalem authorities that were indifferent to the peasants. His cry to “do justice” was really a critique of the injustice he witnessed all around him. (Brueggeman)
Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggeman writes that justice in the Bible is defined in this way: “Justice is to sort out what belongs to whom, and to return it to them.”
He also states that the Bible is most concerned with economic justice even though most of us do not realize how central this message is in scripture. Today our political and many of our religious leaders spend a lot of time talking about the Christian scriptures and morals around hot issues like abortion and the rights of sexual minorities - do you know how much the Bible writes about either of those two topics? Next to nothing; and they spend very little time talking about the injustices of our economic system and the rights of the poor that the Bible has a great deal to say about!
Micah is concerned with economic justice at all levels. His words were a cry from the bottom to the top of the power ladder. The Jerusalem government had made decisions that took access to work, fair wages, the right to own land, housing and education away from the peasants; Micah cried out that the God they believed in wanted what was rightfully theirs to be returned to them.
Today's reading from the Gospel of Mark tells us about Jesus' encounter with a Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was ill. Jesus did not see himself as a servant to the Gentiles, only the Jews so he tried to turn her away. She persisted in her plea and he realized that she was as much God's child as anyone. He returned to her what was rightfully hers - a place at the table for her and her daughter - the right to have her daughter's illness treated by someone who had the power to heal.
Again, according to Brueggeman, Biblical justice is the process of sorting out what belongs to whom and returning it to them if it has been taken away.
When I read scripture I ask myself who is being addressed in this reading then, and who might be addressed by it today? We know that Micah was addressing the people in power, in Mark, Jesus was the one in power and he was being addressed by the woman in need. Is Micah addressing us or are we to be the voice of Micah today?
Are we, like Jesus, learning the abundant nature of God's welcome or are we the woman who demands it?
Perhaps it is both. As comfortable, mostly middle and upper-middle class Caucasian Americans we are the ones in power that need to be aware of how our lifestyles are impacting others and admit to its inequity. As people of faith we are also called to be the voice of Micah who speaks up on behalf of the poor. We are also called to be as willing as Jesus to recognize who is left out, denied access to what is rightfully theirs as members of the human race, and do what we possibly can to help it.
“What does God require of you?”
Do justice.
If indeed we allow these words to become our foundation, what will that look like for Richmond Beach Congregational Church, United Church of Christ?
I know one answer to that question already -
We will need to work together using both our financial resources and our energy to get the Troyer House (a home our church owns that is used in a transitional housing program for the homeless) ready for another transitional family to move into. This is one very concrete way we “make room”, that we “give back” to a family that would otherwise be in a shelter or on the street searching for food, clothing, work and security. It is one way we make sure that two or more children will be in school right here in Shoreline on a daily basis and will have a bed to sleep in each night. Everyone can help in some way or another - it takes all of us to make it work.
Mel Hart, our Youth Group Coordinator is preparing to facilitate a six-week class on relationships for our Senior High youth. You can bet that the focus will be on developing “just relationships” - loving, respectful and equal relationships between boy/girlfriends and even parents.
Last week in worship we took time to reflect on how God's “implanted word” within you led people towards action on behalf of the common good in their daily lives. So many powerful examples of large and small acts of “doing justice” were shared. Imagine what else we might do if we would each meditate on these two simple words and allow God to move through our lives and actions this fall?
“Do justice.”
Considering the Biblical definition of justice, how might we “help sort out what belongs to whom and return it to them”? How might we set more chairs at the welcome table of God so more children can eat their fill? How might we express our desire for peace and reconciliation, for less war and more care for our planet?
Perhaps we need to consider how just we are in our welcome of new people to our church - new leadership, new ideas, letting go of being in charge or including new friends in our sometimes too tight circles of connection?
“Do justice”.
As we meditate on these words this fall - may we open our hearts to the will and wisdom of God.
Amen.