What does the Lord require of you but To Do Justice, To Love Kindness and To walk humbly with God Micah 6
I went to a concert at a church not long ago. It was a women’s choir and as you would expect, they sang some really beautiful songs and made some really beautiful music. But this wasn’t just any women’s choir. What was intriguing about this particular choir was that the woman playing the guitar is serving a life sentence for kidnapping and assault while the woman who sang one of the solos is serving the same sentence for murder. It was a very interesting evening to say the least.
The women came from a State Prison a couple of hours away. Their director, the prison chaplain, has had a vision to be involved in the 3 aspects of what the prophet Micah says we should all aspire to in our lives: To do Justice, To Love Kindness and To Walk Humbly with God. Nowhere was that more obviously at work than in that concert. The choir goes by the name Voices of Hope and I drove away inspired by having seen that hope in action. I saw justice, love and humility come alive. But I also drove away with another very different emotion at work within me. I was a little bit demoralized and disappointed in myself. I say that because that chaplain is clearly doing God’s work helping to bring redemption to women whose lives have been shattered and broken. She is doing justice. She is loving kindness. She is walking humbly with God. I, on the other hand, found myself wondering if I need to look for a new job; perhaps as a prison chaplain in order to fulfill Micah’s calling.
And yet, prisons can’t be the only place where justice, love and humility can be made manifest. It can’t be possible that only prison chaplains and the incarcerated can experience these amazing gifts of God. There must be a way in which those of us who work in our communities and live in our neighborhoods, can also aspire to fulfill Micah’s mandate. The only thing is, I can’t say for sure what that is. But I felt challenged enough by that concert to invite you to join me as together we look for ways to do in our homes, jobs and communities, what that chaplain is doing in her prison. I invite you to join me to look for ways to be involved in justice. I invite you to join me to look for ways to be involved in loving kindness. I invite you to join me as together we strive to walk humbly with God. If we do that then perhaps we too can be voices of hope to those with whom we live and work.
