“God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
(Micah 6:8)

I met with an old friend of mine at the Rural Pastors Institute this last week and we spent quite a bit of time talking about ministry and issues of ministry in the United Church of Christ. Much of what we shared had to do with a personal sense of call and vocation, yet a great deal of what we shared had to do with the state of the larger Church and, in particular, the United Church of Christ. We spent some time, too, envisioning new ministries, ministries of reconciliation, empowerment and restoration, particularly in rural settings ~ and we spent considerable time in worship and prayer as we listened to what God had to say about all of it.

In the evening of our second day on retreat I suggested to my friend that, perhaps, what we were being called to consider was, what I called, the Micah 6:8 Ministries, an umbrella expression for ministries of the larger Church which Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly With God. It is a notion underscored by Jesus when confronted by a lawyer of the Pharisees who asked “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-39)

Regrettably, such a manner of living, such commandment understanding, requires more of us than most are willing to commit, for Micah 6:8 Ministries requires of us to walk with Christ in the midst of the human condition (which is true piety), rather than act as though we ourselves were above our sisters and brothers, rendering upon the masses the judgments of petty and insecure faithlessness. Micah 6:8 calls the believing community into accountability concerning attitudes of injustice, intolerance, and mistrust of God. If we cannot be ‘just’ with each other before God, if we cannot be tolerant of each other before God, if we cannot walk in mutual trust and understanding with each other before God, what makes us believe we will ever have a snowball’s chance in ‘____’  of sharing in any of it directly with God? Christ is the one who makes it incredibly clear that our relationship with God is not a relationship that can be maintained separately from the way we regard each other on this journey through life, and that includes our attitudes towards immigrants, the Middle East, the poor and disenfranchised, gays and lesbians, as well as those whose culture of mistrust and hatred leads them to fence anyone and anything out that doesn’t look just like them.

Not unlike the religious community of Jesus’ time, we have so many trying so hard to be so right and God-like, that the Spiritual community where faith meets need, face to face, ends up having so few who try so hard to do so much for so many – and end up on little crosses along the roadside of our culture, bearing witness to the long shadows cast by the Pharisees among us who would rather be right and in power than be faithful before God . . . and the blind are left unseeing, the lame laying in the dust, the poor begging for help they will never receive, the naked hoping for clothes that will never be sewn, the thirsty left with throats too parched to cry out, and the sick will go unvisited. Will there be no justice in the streets of Jerusalem? Will there be no mercy, no loving kindness found in the lowliness of Bethlehem? Will there be no one left to walk with God beyond the stones of an empty tomb?

Only in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who dare to do justice, even when it threatens to undo tradition and disrupt what has long ago lost its meaning. Only in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who dare to love kindness, even when it means embracing the unembracable and running with excitement to greet the stranger and welcome them into their home. Only in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who dare to believe that the world is not theirs to possess or that true power belongs in any way to them, even when it means sharing privilege and responsibility and accountability equally. Only in the faithful of God in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. All else is a sham and an institution condemned to fail. All else calls to ‘Crucify him!’ just one more time.

I am proud to be a member of the United Church of Christ and I am equally proud of the stands taken by the General Synod of our denomination in its latest meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. There the delegates dared to Reaffirm Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior as well as Reaffirmed our Historic UCC Cross, Crown & Orb with Motto Symbol. There the delegates dared to pass a Resolution Concerning Use of Economic Leverage in Promoting Peace in the Middle East. There the delegates dared to urge President Bush and Congress to engage in a process of Openness and Bi-Partisan Consultation in Nominating Supreme Court Justices. There the delegates dared to pass a resolution to Tear Down the Wall between Palestine and Israel. There the delegates dared to stand in support of justice as they passed a resolution calling on our legislators to Support Equal Marriage Rights for All. There they dared to pass a Pronouncement seeking to address Ministry Issues in the United Church of Christ: Forming and Preparing Pastoral Leaders for God’s Church. There the delegates of our Illinois South Conference, along with delegates of the other 38 conferences of the United Church of Christ, dared to stand with Micah in the manner of justice, mercy and humility . . . even as they joined the fore bearers of our historic denomination who, like those of this age, dared to take a stand with Christ before the powers and principalities of their age. (For a complete list of UCC ‘Firsts’, go to www.ucc.org/aboutus/firsts.htm and find out more about our heritage.)

I am proud to be a member of a denomination where every person’s voice is heard, where every person’s life matters, and every person’s faith means something. I am proud to be a part of a denomination where we can wrestle with the harder issues of life, culture, what it means to be the church, and how we will live and work together in faith . . . all in an attitude of prayer, worship, service and mutual accountability. I am humbled to be a Pastor and Teacher in a denomination that strives to listen to God Still Speaking, rather than simply, easily and comfortably buy into the rhetoric of God has spoken. And, I am even more humbled to be called to serve in a place and time where people dare to agree and disagree with each other in Christian love, recognizing in each other the desire for justice, mercy and humility as we work out the fullness of the meaning of our Baptism, side by side.

When my time on earth is done, may it be said of me that God’s voice in Micah 6:8 shaped a disciple in me: I pray that God strengthens me in the ways of justice, that God challenges me in the ways of mercy, and that God finds in me a humble and joyful servant with whom God can walk the way. This is not an easy prayer, nor is it a prayer for the light-hearted. It is a prayer for those who dare to look the crowds in the eye and say, ‘Not my will, but Thine, O God.’ So may it be for me. So may it be for us all. So may it be for the United Church of Christ.

Are you
ADDICTED TO HURRY?

Do you feel your worth is being measured by:
How well you multi-task?
How many appointments you can schedule in one day?
How many committees you are on?
How many hours you are on the job?
How much you can do? 

Thomas Merton offers this insight:
“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence.”

Join the Carpenters of Faith
Adult Sunday School Class
Beginning Sunday, September 11
9:15 – 10:15 a.m., Fellowship Hall
As we study,

“addicted to hurry
SPIRITUAL strategies for slowing down”
By Kirk Byron Jones

“Hurry is not an innocent and inevitable consequence of modern life. Chronic hurry is a serious malady of mind, heart, and soul putting at risk our relationship with God, each other, and ourselves.” – from the Introduction

Everyone is welcome, but we ask that you indicate your interest to the Office at 537-4991 so that enough books can be purchased.