{"id":386,"date":"2021-07-16T13:57:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T13:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/2021\/07\/16\/starting-small-2\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T20:11:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:11:38","slug":"starting-small-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/starting-small-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting Small"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does the lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God<\/p>Micah 6:8<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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,  <\/em><\/strong>and to walk humbly with your God?<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Micah 6:8<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many churches this weekend, these lines will be read as part of the first of three readings from the Bible. These words carry a strong social justice message and may even seem like an appropriate mandate for everyone to follow in this fractious world. After all, who can\u2019t get behind the call to \u201cdo justice and love kindness?\u201d There were the very claims that Cornel West was making over us Monday of last week to rousing applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the claim that Micah is making isn\u2019t that broad. The imposition of a worldview that involves anything resembling \u201cwalking humbly with your God\u201d has no place in our pluralistic culture. This observation doesn\u2019t weaken the call of Micah. It strengthens it, for Micah\u2019s intended audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Micah\u2019s proclamations are God\u2019s proclamations to a community of faith. They are proclamations to people who believe that they have been rescued by God. Earlier lines in this same section of Micah rehearse the mighty deeds of God\u2019s salvation<\/a>: delivery from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, Aaron and Miriam; the irrepressible blessings of God as the Children of Israel made their way toward the Promised Land; the memorable passage across the Jordan River into the land that would be their birthright. All of these events are cited, not so much as a method of providing salvation as they are the means by which God\u2019s saving actions are revealed among human beings. The point isn\u2019t just freedom for a group of people. The point is the evidence of the righteous acts of God expressed and made specific in the rescue of these people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem that Micah is addressing isn\u2019t that the people of the world behaving badly, it\u2019s that people \u2014 whose very beings are testimony to divine grace \u2014 are treating each other with contempt, openly disrespecting and abusing each other, systematically taking advantage of one another in business and breaking relationships. It is an outrageous situation, that human beings whose own experiences have been ones of blessing should mistreat one another in their daily dealings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Christians hear these words from Micah, they naturally continue the line of God\u2019s salvation from the Exodus right through to the death and resurrection of Jesus. The application then becomes very pointed, very precise: how is it possible that people who confess that Christ has been made a sacrifice for their lives could then go on to treat one another with anything other than abundant kindness and justice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I write this in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This observance, which the Chapel shares, began in the early 20th century as part of a strategy of gaining greater unity among Christians. The week is marked by the Commemoration of the Confession of Peter at the beginning (Jan. 18) and the Conversion of Paul (Jan. 25) at the end. These two men were leaders of the early church and are known to have had disagreements, which they resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closing line of the Micah reading is usually translated as \u201cwalk humbly\u201d but the Hebrew is more comprehensive than that. The word \u201cu-etzno\u201d in other contexts carries a notion of being fully aware of a situation and seeing the situation from the other\u2019s perspective. This certainly would engender a sense of humility but there\u2019s also a deep sense of empathy and appreciation for the wisdom of the other, in this case, God.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the line might go better as \u201cwalk in an attentive and heedful manner with your God.\u201d Such a way of walking with God has nearly automatic implications for the way we behave with others, especially those who share an awareness of divine grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we long for a day when, as Valpo aspires, people might dialogue across all sorts of differences in peace and mutual respect, Christians would do well to practice this with others who confess Christ. This isn\u2019t being exclusive. It\u2019s being in training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be blessed in the journey,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pr. Jim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan. 25, 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. James A. Wetzstein serves as one of our\u00a0university pastors<\/a>\u00a0at Valpo and takes turns writing weekly reflections.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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