January 30, 2011
4 Epiphany
Micah 6:1-8
The latest person to really inspire me is Kristen Kane-Osorto, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps member who coordinated our recent mission trip with the high school youth group to D.C. Kristen was great – a real model of someone who practices what she preaches. If she had a car, she’d have the bumper sticker “Pray for peace, work for justice.” But she walks and takes public transportation. She lives in a group house with other Volunteer Corps members and they share chores and eat together on a shoestring budget. Kristen is spiritual in a deep and thoughtful and very relational way. She is fully committed to the needs of others – currently working against the systemic causes of poverty and homelessness, and before this working to help victims of domestic violence. She doesn’t need the bumper sticker.
Kristen led us through exercises that helped us consider the privileges that we weren’t even aware of – books in our houses, college-educated parents, safe communities, loving families. The privileges that provide a safety net that makes it far less likely that we will ever end up experiencing poverty or homelessness ourselves. And she provided us with opportunities to be in relationship with homeless people – to talk with them, laugh with them, learn from them, and see that they are not “other” afterall.
Sometimes, if you are lucky, during experiences like this there is some “aha” moment, when some piece of the learning finally hits you in some real way. My moment on this particular trip is embarrassing, but I’m going to share it with you anyway.
Part of our weekend included an Outreach Run, where each of us brought items to distribute to homeless people that we met in the D.C. streets. Things like soap and toothbrushes and snacks and water and -- the biggest hit -- socks. We’d organized all these supplies in my stash of reusable grocery bags. Big sturdy bags that I’ve collected over the years from the Book Festival in D.C. and various street fairs where they’re given away. Holden loves to call me the bag lady when I go out grocery shopping with my wad of them. They are so much better for holding things than the flimsy plastic bags that grocery stores give away.
As we handed things out in McPherson Square and the bags got lighter, it turned out that the bags themselves were a big attraction. For homeless people that have to carry around so much with them all the time, a sturdy bag that won’t break and dump their belongings is more precious than gold. Plus, in D.C. they no longer give plastic bags away for free. And so the people we were passing stuff out to began asking for the bags. And the kids holding the bags very kindly and generously started giving them away. And my first impulse, I am ashamed to admit, was to stop them: “Oh, no,” I thought, “not my grocery bags!” Thankfully, my better angels eventually prevailed and I managed to grit my teeth and stop myself from grabbing the bags away.
The irony struck me quickly – probably Jesus wouldn’t be too impressed with my self-righteous environmentalism as a reason not to give my beloved reusable bags. “If someone asks for your coat, give him your shirt too” came to mind. I came face-to-face with the limits of my generosity – with the selfishness that was lying not terribly far beneath my surface. And it was a shocking and sort of horrifying realization.
Slapping the bumper sticker on the back of the car is not the same as walking the walk. Go figure.
Enter Micah, from our Old Testament reading this morning. Micah was a prophet in the 8th Century B.C. Unlike the biggies like Isaiah and Jeremiah, you may not have heard of Micah. And his book is hard to find. It’s one of those teeny ones that are easy to flip past. Only 8 pages, but a pretty good read. It comes right after Jonah, if you go looking for it.
Micah was from a small village in Israel during a time when Israel was undergoing something of a revival. The temple was crowded, the military was expanding, the rich were getting richer.
But Israel was arrogant and uncaring. The religious leaders made a public show of how religious they were with loud lip service to God. Their religion was about worshipping correctly and staying away from those that didn’t. The King at the time, King Hezekiah, had imposed martial law in the land and was using the little people almost as slave power to build up fortifications and military power. The country’s main goal was to stay on top. The powerful political rulers collected debilitating taxes and took bribes from anyone and everyone. The powerful landlords seized fields and homes from lowly landowners. The poor got poorer. And all in the name of God.
They probably had some pithy religious bumper stickers on their chariots as they drove right on past the injustice all around them. Reusable grocery bags clinched tightly in their fists.
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but to me it all sounds uncomfortably familiar. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and our goal as a country is to stay on top. Everything is seen as a zero-sum game. I think the State of the Union address the other night was indicative. The theme of the speech was about “winning the future” – about how we need to beat out the rest of the world in innovating, educating and building. I think that is what’s called American exceptionalism, and it’s something both political parties trip over each other to promote. King Hezekiah would have approved heartily.
And so Micah goes on the attack and no one is spared. Not the king, not the official state prophets, not the priests. And not us either, no matter how exceptional. No one is spared from Micah’s anger and his accusations.
For the lawyers in the congregation, myself included, you will be interested to hear that Micah did this in the form of a lawsuit. Not exactly the kind you are likely to see in your practice, however. Micah brings a divine lawsuit for breach of covenant.
The covenant is the one between God and God’s chosen people, the people chosen by God to be in relationship and to shine as a light to the rest of the world. In this covenant relationship, God promised to love them and care for them and make them His people. And in return they too promised certain responsibilities. They would be faithful and obedient to God and relate to other people in love and community. The covenant was not just a spiritual agreement, but had ramifications for every realm of life – economic, military, social and political. The covenant was not a one-time thing, but was intended to work through and be renewed by each generation. The stories of God’s generosity and saving grace were to be told and retold, not so that the people would be stuck in the past, but so that the stories would be absorbed and become part of the people’s on-going life together.
If they (or we, for that matter) were fully living into this covenant’s model of relationship, we would have the Kingdom of God here on earth, rather than a bumper sticker about the Kingdom of God. We would have peace and unity and enough for all instead of prophetic warnings and injustice and poverty and war.
And so, the Prophet Micah brings his law suit on behalf of a deeply disappointed Yahweh. “Hear what the Lord says …. The Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.” Instead of witnesses or judges, Micah calls on the mountains, the hills, the foundations of the earth, to hear his controversy. Micah stirs up the people’s memory to the saving acts of God. The religious and political leaders have forgotten God’s generosity and are about as far as possible from God’s hopes for them
Rather than understanding, Israel’s response digs it even deeper into the ditch it has dug for itself. Israel offers to increase its cultic offerings to God. How about some year old calves, God? Or maybe thousands of rams? 10,000 rivers of oil? Or perhaps, the ultimate in offerings, the sacrifice of the first born child? Israel has completely missed the point, thinking God is calling it to be more “religious” (in the worst sense of the word). They are ready to offer whatever it takes to satisfy God and then check God off their to-do list.
But God spurns their excessive sacrifice and meaningless piety. God wants nothing less than what the covenant requires – total human transformation. That means not just turning a spotlight on so that they look bright and shiny, but being so full of light that everyone is welcomed into the warmth. And so Micah gives the beautiful summary of the covenant that is the Old Testament precursor to Jesus’ summary of the Law about loving God and neighbor: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It would make a fabulous bumper sticker. But living up to it – phew – that’s another matter entirely.
Do Justice. Doing justice means extending the compassion and mercy we’ve received from God to all people. Critiquing our own actions that might produce injustice and daring to disrupt the systems and powers themselves, if need be. Doing justice means learning to see that every person matters and becoming a voice for people who have none.
Love kindness. God has faithfully loved us throughout history and Micah calls us to respond by sharing that same deep and steadfast love with others. This isn’t about being warm and fuzzy, but about living in community in such a way that we are marked as God’s people in relationship.
And walk humbly with your God. Micah calls us to walk with integrity and reverence. To rid ourselves of our continual need to be the best, to win, to consume. To look and listen for God, our companion on our journey of life. To see the world through God’s eyes and act in the world as God’s hands. And to allow our heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of God.
Therein lies our covenant with God. These aren’t romantic ideals or abstract concepts. They are hard work.
But the great news, both for Israel, the defendant in Micah’s divine lawsuit, and for us, the unnamed co-defendants, is that the judgment God bestows upon the people is not an angry undoing of relationship, but a new beginning. We are still invited into covenant with our God who is faithful to us no matter what. We are part of the on-going story.
Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. How will you make these words more than a bumper sticker in your life?
4 Epiphany
Micah 6:1-8
The latest person to really inspire me is Kristen Kane-Osorto, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps member who coordinated our recent mission trip with the high school youth group to D.C. Kristen was great – a real model of someone who practices what she preaches. If she had a car, she’d have the bumper sticker “Pray for peace, work for justice.” But she walks and takes public transportation. She lives in a group house with other Volunteer Corps members and they share chores and eat together on a shoestring budget. Kristen is spiritual in a deep and thoughtful and very relational way. She is fully committed to the needs of others – currently working against the systemic causes of poverty and homelessness, and before this working to help victims of domestic violence. She doesn’t need the bumper sticker.
Kristen led us through exercises that helped us consider the privileges that we weren’t even aware of – books in our houses, college-educated parents, safe communities, loving families. The privileges that provide a safety net that makes it far less likely that we will ever end up experiencing poverty or homelessness ourselves. And she provided us with opportunities to be in relationship with homeless people – to talk with them, laugh with them, learn from them, and see that they are not “other” afterall.
Sometimes, if you are lucky, during experiences like this there is some “aha” moment, when some piece of the learning finally hits you in some real way. My moment on this particular trip is embarrassing, but I’m going to share it with you anyway.
Part of our weekend included an Outreach Run, where each of us brought items to distribute to homeless people that we met in the D.C. streets. Things like soap and toothbrushes and snacks and water and -- the biggest hit -- socks. We’d organized all these supplies in my stash of reusable grocery bags. Big sturdy bags that I’ve collected over the years from the Book Festival in D.C. and various street fairs where they’re given away. Holden loves to call me the bag lady when I go out grocery shopping with my wad of them. They are so much better for holding things than the flimsy plastic bags that grocery stores give away.
As we handed things out in McPherson Square and the bags got lighter, it turned out that the bags themselves were a big attraction. For homeless people that have to carry around so much with them all the time, a sturdy bag that won’t break and dump their belongings is more precious than gold. Plus, in D.C. they no longer give plastic bags away for free. And so the people we were passing stuff out to began asking for the bags. And the kids holding the bags very kindly and generously started giving them away. And my first impulse, I am ashamed to admit, was to stop them: “Oh, no,” I thought, “not my grocery bags!” Thankfully, my better angels eventually prevailed and I managed to grit my teeth and stop myself from grabbing the bags away.
The irony struck me quickly – probably Jesus wouldn’t be too impressed with my self-righteous environmentalism as a reason not to give my beloved reusable bags. “If someone asks for your coat, give him your shirt too” came to mind. I came face-to-face with the limits of my generosity – with the selfishness that was lying not terribly far beneath my surface. And it was a shocking and sort of horrifying realization.
Slapping the bumper sticker on the back of the car is not the same as walking the walk. Go figure.
Enter Micah, from our Old Testament reading this morning. Micah was a prophet in the 8th Century B.C. Unlike the biggies like Isaiah and Jeremiah, you may not have heard of Micah. And his book is hard to find. It’s one of those teeny ones that are easy to flip past. Only 8 pages, but a pretty good read. It comes right after Jonah, if you go looking for it.
Micah was from a small village in Israel during a time when Israel was undergoing something of a revival. The temple was crowded, the military was expanding, the rich were getting richer.
But Israel was arrogant and uncaring. The religious leaders made a public show of how religious they were with loud lip service to God. Their religion was about worshipping correctly and staying away from those that didn’t. The King at the time, King Hezekiah, had imposed martial law in the land and was using the little people almost as slave power to build up fortifications and military power. The country’s main goal was to stay on top. The powerful political rulers collected debilitating taxes and took bribes from anyone and everyone. The powerful landlords seized fields and homes from lowly landowners. The poor got poorer. And all in the name of God.
They probably had some pithy religious bumper stickers on their chariots as they drove right on past the injustice all around them. Reusable grocery bags clinched tightly in their fists.
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but to me it all sounds uncomfortably familiar. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and our goal as a country is to stay on top. Everything is seen as a zero-sum game. I think the State of the Union address the other night was indicative. The theme of the speech was about “winning the future” – about how we need to beat out the rest of the world in innovating, educating and building. I think that is what’s called American exceptionalism, and it’s something both political parties trip over each other to promote. King Hezekiah would have approved heartily.
And so Micah goes on the attack and no one is spared. Not the king, not the official state prophets, not the priests. And not us either, no matter how exceptional. No one is spared from Micah’s anger and his accusations.
For the lawyers in the congregation, myself included, you will be interested to hear that Micah did this in the form of a lawsuit. Not exactly the kind you are likely to see in your practice, however. Micah brings a divine lawsuit for breach of covenant.
The covenant is the one between God and God’s chosen people, the people chosen by God to be in relationship and to shine as a light to the rest of the world. In this covenant relationship, God promised to love them and care for them and make them His people. And in return they too promised certain responsibilities. They would be faithful and obedient to God and relate to other people in love and community. The covenant was not just a spiritual agreement, but had ramifications for every realm of life – economic, military, social and political. The covenant was not a one-time thing, but was intended to work through and be renewed by each generation. The stories of God’s generosity and saving grace were to be told and retold, not so that the people would be stuck in the past, but so that the stories would be absorbed and become part of the people’s on-going life together.
If they (or we, for that matter) were fully living into this covenant’s model of relationship, we would have the Kingdom of God here on earth, rather than a bumper sticker about the Kingdom of God. We would have peace and unity and enough for all instead of prophetic warnings and injustice and poverty and war.
And so, the Prophet Micah brings his law suit on behalf of a deeply disappointed Yahweh. “Hear what the Lord says …. The Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.” Instead of witnesses or judges, Micah calls on the mountains, the hills, the foundations of the earth, to hear his controversy. Micah stirs up the people’s memory to the saving acts of God. The religious and political leaders have forgotten God’s generosity and are about as far as possible from God’s hopes for them
Rather than understanding, Israel’s response digs it even deeper into the ditch it has dug for itself. Israel offers to increase its cultic offerings to God. How about some year old calves, God? Or maybe thousands of rams? 10,000 rivers of oil? Or perhaps, the ultimate in offerings, the sacrifice of the first born child? Israel has completely missed the point, thinking God is calling it to be more “religious” (in the worst sense of the word). They are ready to offer whatever it takes to satisfy God and then check God off their to-do list.
But God spurns their excessive sacrifice and meaningless piety. God wants nothing less than what the covenant requires – total human transformation. That means not just turning a spotlight on so that they look bright and shiny, but being so full of light that everyone is welcomed into the warmth. And so Micah gives the beautiful summary of the covenant that is the Old Testament precursor to Jesus’ summary of the Law about loving God and neighbor: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
It would make a fabulous bumper sticker. But living up to it – phew – that’s another matter entirely.
Do Justice. Doing justice means extending the compassion and mercy we’ve received from God to all people. Critiquing our own actions that might produce injustice and daring to disrupt the systems and powers themselves, if need be. Doing justice means learning to see that every person matters and becoming a voice for people who have none.
Love kindness. God has faithfully loved us throughout history and Micah calls us to respond by sharing that same deep and steadfast love with others. This isn’t about being warm and fuzzy, but about living in community in such a way that we are marked as God’s people in relationship.
And walk humbly with your God. Micah calls us to walk with integrity and reverence. To rid ourselves of our continual need to be the best, to win, to consume. To look and listen for God, our companion on our journey of life. To see the world through God’s eyes and act in the world as God’s hands. And to allow our heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of God.
Therein lies our covenant with God. These aren’t romantic ideals or abstract concepts. They are hard work.
But the great news, both for Israel, the defendant in Micah’s divine lawsuit, and for us, the unnamed co-defendants, is that the judgment God bestows upon the people is not an angry undoing of relationship, but a new beginning. We are still invited into covenant with our God who is faithful to us no matter what. We are part of the on-going story.
Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. How will you make these words more than a bumper sticker in your life?
Have you taken the JustFaith course about social justice? I took it 2 years ago and it made a huge impact in my thinking and actions as well. It is a big time committment (30 weeks) but well worth it...
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