Micah 6:8
“What does the Lord require of you?
To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
This past week we have witnessed protests across our country as people are outraged over the killing of George Floyd. Our nation is in pain and in turmoil. People are rising up. They have had enough of the senseless killings and mistreatment of people of color. People are demanding change, systemic, lasting change.
I attended a peaceful protest Saturday in Morristown. It began with hundreds of cars gathering in the parking lot of Morristown High School. People were also walking in the streets, and many were carrying homemade signs. Eventually the police lead us in a funeral procession to a park in Morris Township for a candlelight vigil where various clergy from the Morristown area spoke. During the procession, as my husband and I drove through through Morristown, the bell in the tower of the Church of the Redeemer was tolling. Over the sounds of cars honking and a tape of one of Martin Luther King, Jr’s speeches which was broadcast from the car in front of ours, that church bell rang and rang and rang, persistently, over and over, not letting up. In the midst of all the other competing sounds that night, that bell could be heard above all others. Against the other sounds, the bell took on a minor key. It was chilling. to me, it sounded like an ominous warning from God, that we all had better wake up to the reality that there are deep wounds of racism in our country that need to be healed, and that life cannot go on as “normal.”
This week I also attended a Presbytery Zoom meeting addressing what is going on in our country. It was good to share with other clergy and to begin to brainstorm what we each and all might do together to stand against, speak against, and work against racism.The Lord requires that we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. If you notice in this Scripture, this behavior is required by God, it is not optional. Change must come in order for us to fulfill Micah’s summons to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.
This past Sunday we celebrated God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful gift God has given us! God’s Spirit is moving among us, eager to breathe new life into us and our country. It is God’s Spirit that makes change possible, if we are open to receiving that Spirit. May God open our hearts to accept this gift, to have the courage to follow where God’s Spirit leads us, and to do what is pleasing in God’s sight.
In Peace,
Joanne