When it comes to our practice of faith and a relationship with God – God is not interested in simply seeing a box checked. Instead, God wants the relationship to be ingrained in us. God wants justice and kindness to be embedded in the culture of the community, to be the very air that we breathe. To be, as Jesus taught, the Salt and Light that we were created to be.
He 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 have always loved this verse from the prophet Micah. The words are beautiful, the instruction is succinct – they give an idyllic image for what God asks of us as people of faith. What we don’t realize is that this verse is part of an intense back and forth argument between God and the people of Israel.
When we back it up and read some additional verses, you begin to get that picture:
How can I stand up before God
and show proper respect to the high God?
Should I bring an armload of offerings
topped off with yearling calves?
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,
with buckets and barrels of olive oil?
Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,
my precious baby, to cancel my sin?But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.
– Micah 6:1-8 (The Message)
The people appear to be a quite a bit exasperated and confused about what God wants from them. You have to love ancient sarcasm! The people want to make the relationship transactional, when God has something different in mind. God isn’t interested in simply seeing a box checked.
Instead, God wants the relationship to be ingrained in us. God wants justice and kindness to be embedded in the culture of the community, to be the very air that we breathe.
Now, that is all well and good, but certainly not easy to achieve. The concept of “justice” is deep and complicated and challenging.
While we inherently understand what it means to serve God and serve our neighbor – identifying ourselves as those who also are at work in the world for justice, it would seem is a step or two further.
In this interchange between God and the people – God through the prophet Micah is calling them back to their purpose – to who they were created to be – boiling it down to three things: do justice – love kindness – walk humbly.
In today’s gospel reading, continuing the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus issues a similar call back to the basics, but he uses a totally different approach:
Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)
When our girls were very young, one of their favorite songs was “This Little Light of Mine” – probably because in that song is the singular favorite word of most two year olds.
I don’t remember if it was Sydney or Lydia particularly, but we would sing the verse: Hide it under a bushel – NO – I’m gonna let it shine….Hide it under a bushel – NO – I’m gonna let it shine… Every time we got to the word NO, the child would yell it out and giggle. One of those great memories.
In this passage from Matthew, Jesus tells the disciples they are salt and light. Notice, he doesn’t say they might become salt and light if they tried real hard. This isn’t a prediction or a promise that may or may not come true at some future moment.
Instead, Jesus flat out declares that the disciples–those still clueless, still confused fishermen who had only lately been invited to follow Jesus—Jesus tells them who they really are – they are salt and light. That is their status, period. They had no more earned that status than they really understood it, but there it was: salt and light. (Scott Hoezee)
I think we need these reminders – these calls back to the basics – reminders of who God is and who we are. That is part of why it is good to have an Annual Meeting day, not just to pass budgets and elect council members, but to intentionally look back on where we have been this past year – how have we done justice – loved kindness and walked humbly? Where have we been salt and light?
And then also to look forward – to listen to each other – to listen for God’s voice speaking into our lives and into our world.
Because as we look out on this world we’ve been given – I don’t know if you feel it too, but I feel the challenge every day – the challenge, for example recently, to make sense of the decisions that are being made by the new administration – to make sense of what it means to protest and what are effective ways to make change – to think deeply about Jesus’ call on our lives to follow, to be salt and light. Micah’s plea to do justice – love kindness – and walk humbly.
Can we set aside politics and affiliations and rhetoric for just a moment and think about the teachings of Jesus in relationship to the refugee, to the immigrant, to the undocumented. Can we consider how Jesus responded to the sick, the mentally ill, the hungry and the vulnerable? Can we recall what Jesus said about the government and paying taxes?
As Christians, as followers of Jesus, as people of faith – we have to keep our eye on the ball – to draw deeply from Jesus’ teachings as we look out on our world – as we act and respond.
Yes, Jesus has declared us to be salt and light by grace alone – but Jesus still worried about salt losing its savor and light being hidden. And we see that happen today when we allow rules to mean more to us than people do. Or we let the way we have always done things stand in the way of seeing other people as welcome in God’s sight. (Scott Hoezee)
Hopefully, you will take some time to look through the Annual Report, both in its long version and in the highlight version in your bulletin this morning. In those pages, you will begin to notice ways that we are indeed growing and evolving in our collective perspective on God’s call to justice.
This can be seen not only in the things that we do together, but even in the way we talk about and think about ministries of which we are already a part. God is at work in this place and through each one of us and I look forward to how we will continue to grow in the years to come.
I will close with this story from a man named Warren Hudson from Ontario, Canada, who writes:
“One night at the end of a special Saturday night worship service, a thunderstorm unleashed a bolt of lightning that plunged the church into darkness.”
With the congregation seated in that total darkness, the pastor found his way to the sacristy to get some candles – handing them out to each person and lighting them the same way many churches do on Christmas Eve. The worshipers then made their way to the front door.
“Peering out, we could see the rain coming down in sheets,” Warren remembers. With traffic snarled, people were running for the nearest shelter. Looking around they realized that the entire city was in darkness.
“There in the darkness we stood,” Warren writes, “a little band of Christians, each clutching a light, not sure whether to venture out into the storm or stay inside the church in hopes that the storm would soon blow over.”
There in the darkness the light of truth struck him. In this most dramatic way he realized what it meant to be the “light of the world”, writing, “It occurred to me then that this is the temptation I face every day. It is easy to play it safe and be a good Christian in church. It is a lot harder to venture out in faith into the storms of the world.” (Warren Hudson, adapted by King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com)
As we look out on our world, on the lives that we lead, let us be God’s people who heed Micah’s call to do justice – love kindness – and walk humbly. Let us take confidence from Jesus’ declaration that we, each one of us, are salt and light – and then let us be bold in the practice of our faith as we live into this gift of life. Amen.
Rev. John Berg
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Northbrook, IL
Readings from:
Authors consulted:
- Scott Hoezee
- Warren Hudson, adapted by King Duncan