FROM THE PASTOR
Do Justice, Love Kindness
Three powerful lessons await us this coming Sunday from the Epiphany Four lectionary.
Our Epistle for Sunday invites us to focus on the cross and consider the many surprising and unlikely ways that God is with us. “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians: 18-31)
The Gospel gives us the Beatitudes, the opening of the sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12). I will comment on these beautiful “blessings” of Jesus in the video this week.
The Old Testament lesson is from the prophet Micah (6:1-8) God has a grievance against “business as usual religion.” It is interesting that he summons nature itself as witnesses for God against the people: “Rise, plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice…” Then God brings to mind all that God has done for Israel: delivered them from slavery in Egypt, gave them a promised land and leaders…The people answer by asking what kind of offering they should bring to God. The answer is one of the best known passages in the Bible:
Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.
I emphasize the verbs because sometimes we get this back ward. We can tend to do mercy: acts of kindness, support, compassion (and we should continue not only to do them, but to love them).. And we tend to love justice, the idea of it, a lofty goal. But the text asks us to do justice. What might that look like in our ministry at St. Luke’s, and our mission in the world?
Pastor Stephen Paul Bouman
