Micah 6:8--the foundation for social justice ministries

Yesterday I continued a summer sermon series called, “My Favorite Scripture.” Earlier this year I asked the people of Chain of Lakes to share their favorite Scriptures. They shared about forty. I then asked everyone to take that list and vote for their favorite. The top four vote getters are making up this series.

I’m so pleased that the congregation chose Micah 6:8 as one of their favorite Scriptures. I had the opportunity to preach on it yesterday. The sermon can be found at colpres.org and starts at the eighteen minute mark. 

This Scripture is a foundational one for those who are committed to social justice ministries. I've come to believe that the ministry of a congregation goes beyond its social justice commitment. And this commitment is important for all congregations.

And full disclosure--even though I am a hundred percent committed to serving a congregation who reflects a social justice mindset and shares these ministries, I'm also a hundred percent committed to serving a congregation that brings people into a relationship with God and grows in discipleship. I want the people of the congregation that I serve to be passionate about evangelism and Bible reading and prayer and powerful worship. The numbers people will point out that two, one hundred percent commitments are not possible; however God can do amazing actions that transcend the understanding of our human minds.  

I grew up in a household very committed to social justice. Ever since Bob Burnett preached with passion about social justice at Westminster Presbyterian church in Worthington, Minnesota I’ve been surrounded by people committed to helping the wider community look like the Kingdom of God. Because of this preaching my parents moved our family to Kansas City, Kansas to live in the Inner City when I was in elementary school. For the first time in my life, I saw the effects of poverty. I lived within a few hundred yards of “the projects.” We had trash in the alley and some abandoned homes close by. Not far away from our neighborhood was Johnson Country, touted at the time as the third richest country in the United States. The contrast in neighborhoods was jarring to my fourth-grade mind. I didn’t understand how people could live in such wealth while people in the neighborhood where I lived experienced such poverty.

Being surrounded by people committed to social justice continued when I worked for the farm workers in California just after graduating from college. I had the opportunity to speak at churches to solicit support for the grape boycott. I encountered many pastors, religious people, and lay folks committed to social justice.

Micah 6:8 was our foundational Scripture.

I shared in my sermon yesterday that this Scripture is a complete response to the question, “what is the meaning of life?” If congregations can live out Micah 6:8 in their ministries they will grow in all sorts of way—including in their numbers. Micah’s prophetic call is a vision for each of our lives. At my funeral if people shared that I did justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with God, then my life will have been a success.

Doing justice AND loving mercy AND walking humbly with God together is key. We can’t be complete people unless we do all three.

I think of justice as removing that which causes suffering for those on the margins of society—specifically the poor. Justice is going beyond helping those on the margins—and helping is significant. Right now at Chain of Lakes we are involved in a campaign to bring a hundred bags of groceries to pack the pantry for HOPE 4 Youth, the only organization in the Twin Cities whose sole mission is to help youth who are homeless. Our congregation is halfway there. It will be significant to contribute to give this much food away.

AND to do justice means we have to ask the question of why youth are becoming homeless. Then we have to find solutions that help youth not become homeless. This work of justice is hard and can be controversial. But I believe that if Jesus was living in the north Metro he would do everything he could to encourage people to create a world where no youth is homeless.

The work can be daunting. According to the World Health Organization, 13,000 children under five die from starvation every day. That’s one child for every ten seconds. This is not living in poverty. This is dying because of poverty.

Such a high number is not going to immobilize my work for justice. I just have to find specific ways to channel my desire for justice that are effective.

The second admonition in Micah 6:8 is to love mercy. A synonym for mercy is kindness. This is a reflection of our heart. We are called to be kind to others.

Kindness is linked with justice. This is significant because when we’re doing justice it’s easy to be angry. It’s easy to condemn people for not doing more. I remember just a few years ago when I worked for the farm workers and I learned about how the farm workers were being poisoned as they picked crops. I was overwhelmed with anger. Why is this happening? Why do people accept this? Why aren’t more people doing more to prevent this?

My anger was righteous. But not effective. I learned over time that what Martin Luther King Jr said that appealing to another person’s heart is the key to justice. Appealing with kindness is more effective than appealing with anger. Anger does have its place. And sometimes we just can’t help but be angry. But just as Micah said to make systemic change for justice we are called to love kindness.

Being kind is how Christians are to be known. Christians should always be the kindest people in the room. If we want to excel as a Christian excel in kindness. This takes focus; it takes the ability to let go of our anger; it takes a level of maturity. Kindness does not mean we give in. I can be kind to you and completely disagree with what you are saying.

And finally Micah said we want to walk humbly with God.

Micah didn’t use the word relationship, but we can pull it out of this phrase. We’re called to have a relationship with God. it’s a daily walk.

Recently I was talking to someone who said that Presbyterians are good at the thinking about God. We have all sorts of theologies and ideas about God. Thinking about God and being in a relationship with God are not the same. A walk is not what we think about God. It’s really how we feel about God. Jesus took this idea in the second part of the Great Commandment when he said we want to love God with all of our heat.

I can’t adequately do justice without this daily walk.

I’m glad that Micah implored people to walk humbly with God. When I go for a walk with my wife, Amy, and I’m humbly walking with her then I’m putting my own needs aside and focusing on her. What is she saying, what is she communicating, what matters to her. The same applies to God. When I'm walking humbly with God I'm completely focused on what God wants. 

Doing all three together is what makes this verse from Micah one of the most important verses of the Bible.

Doing justice without mercy or a humble walk with God is actually dangerous. Loving mercy without justice or a humble walk with God is the worst of Minnesota Nice. Walking humbly with God without doing justice or loving mercy is spiritual narcissism.

We need all three together.

Though Micah lived about 2,800 years ago I’m so glad for his words in Micah 6:8.

Speaking up and out against Christian Nationalism

Yesterday I preached about Christian Nationalism. For the third straight week I’ve preached on a semi-controversial topic. A week ago Sunday I preached about being supportive of people who are LGBTQ; the week before I shared the case for women being ordained. No one can ever say we’re unwilling to talk about hard issues at Chain of Lakes Church.

Yesterday's sermon is part of the video of worship at Chain of Lakes. The link is at colpres.org. The sermon starts at the 26.30 mark.

The celebration of the 4^th of July prompted me to share the sermon. For me there is something almost mystical about the 4^th of July. Thinking that people in almost town in the United States are waving flags and watching fireworks and celebrating freedom is beautiful. My wife, Amy, and I went to a band concert on the 4^th at the Como Park Pavilion. Even though the median age of the audience was close to seventy, I loved hearing songs that celebrated America and loved singing “God Bless America.”

My love for the 4^th of July has nothing to do with Christian Nationalism. In my sermon I shared how Christian Nationalism is the fusion of love of country and love of God. A Christian Nationalist would argue that to love God a person must love the United States; and to love the United States a person must love God. I certainly love God and love the United States, but my love for each is not dependent on a fusion of the two. 

I love God, but I don’t need the 10 Commandments to be displayed in a school room; I love Jesus, but I don’t want a cross to be displayed at City Hall; I’ll sing God Bless America with all the vigor that I have, but I don’t think this request of a blessing makes the United States better than any other country. I would have no problem asking God to bless Canada and Mexico and Cameroon and even Iran. I do believe that America is exceptional--one reason is because of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But my belief in exceptionalism is not a missionary quest to impose freedom onto the world. Imposing freedom is a contradiction in terms. The best way to encourage others to be free is to live responsibly with the freedoms that are inherent in America’s founding documents.

In my sermon I looked at the conversation between Jesus and Pilate in John 18. Jesus clearly told Pilate that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. If his kingdom was of this world he would have encouraged his followers to keep him from being handed over to the authorities. 

When Peter cut off the ear of another person after Jesus was arrested, Jesus was horrified. He angrily said that if he wanted he could have summoned twelve legions of angels to defend him. Jesus was not going to use the tools that the state would use to defend itself. The Kingdom of Jesus was not of this world.

Instead one of the tasks of Jesus—not the only task, but one of his tasks--was to bring a set of values into the world. His Kingdom originated in heaven, and Jesus wanted the values of heaven to come into the world. He wanted his followers to live by the rule of love—to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind and to love their neighbor as they loved themselves. He wanted his followers to live by the Fruit of the Spirit (though to be fair Jesus never mentioned the Fruit of the Spirit, Paul mentioned it, but I believe Jesus would have affirmed the Fruit of the Spirit) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Jesus wanted his followers to go out of his way—just as Jesus had—to love the outsider—Samaritans, women, the poor, the lepers. Jesus would want his followers to place these values first—above everything else. Jesus would want his followers to place him first. This was his Kingdom.

This philosophy would not fit a Christian Nationalist.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the positive respond I got to the sermon. Many people were genuinely happy that I had preached on this topic and were happy with what I had said. Many more people than normal told me that this sermon was meaningful.

This response says something to me. I think many people are afraid of Christian Nationalism and are not sure what to do. I would encourage all churches to have a day where they speak to the problems of Christian Nationalism. And why not have a day where churches across the United States sing “God Bless America” while lifting up the kingdom of Jesus and also denouncing Christian Nationalism.

There is a lot at stake in speaking up and speaking out!