What Does the Lord Require?

What does the Lord require of you? Those words haunt me.

I have often claimed that Micah 6:8 is my favorite Bible verse. It’s the one I will recite if someone asks, “what’s your favorite scripture?” It was the verse I used at my ordination service and the one I recite when I lay hands on another who is being ordained.

This verse contains a serious charge - to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. According to Micah, it is a requirement. Micah says, “God has told you this.” It feels like Micah is delivering a bit of a reprimand, that God has told us this, but we are refusing to live in this way. The requirement is justice. The requirement is the love of mercy. The requirement is to walk humbly. And all of this is to be done with God.

With God. Can living justly, mercifully, and humbly be done without God? Can we live in this way without daily turning to God for guidance? Can we live in this way if we despise our brothers and sisters, and live with jealousy, anger, and hate? Can we be ministers and prophets of God’s way if we are dishonest with our words and unkind in our actions?

If we back up to verse 6, in Micah chapter 8, we read that God’s words came to Micah in the form of a question. “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?”

It seems that we seek to please God in ways that don’t really get to the heart of the matter. “The presents are nice,” God says, “but what I really want from you is this – I want you to be fair and honest with each other. I want you to be kind to each other, to offer understanding, and to be gracious. I want you to walk with a humbleness that resembles a child of God.”

We can all remember times when people have disappointed us – treated us unfairly and unjustly. I am guilty too. There have been many times when I have failed in this call to love as I should, and times when I have let my ego trump my spirit.

God’s instructions in Micah 6:8 are for each of us. No one is an exception – minister and layperson, CEO and support staff, teacher and student, politician and voter – each of us is called to the same requirement.

The question of discipleship is: How do we live and love in this world? The answer is: We are called to journey with God, and we are called to act with compassion toward those we encounter along the path.

We are to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly – with our God.

Advent Chuckles

The sights of Advent sometimes delight me and sometimes make me chuckle. The lights, the liturgy, and the music remind me that this is a spiritual season.

The inflatable yard displays, silly holiday movies, and frantic shopping malls remind me that we intermingle this season with our longings to connect and have fun. We are human after all.

I had to chuckle out loud when I drove through my neighborhood and spotted a yard display that boasted an inflatable nativity scene next to a cast of merry minions.

I had to smile quietly to myself as my family held hands in our favorite Mexican restaurant and offered prayers of gratitude over our enchiladas and margaritas.

Merriment is on display all around. Holy and fun moments exist side by side in this season and offer us a glimpse at the Word made flesh.

In this season, we are permitted to embrace the human side of Christmas. Christ comes to us in physical form and becomes for us God’s active power in the world. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

We are permitted to learn from the things that hold our attention, bring us joy, or make us cry. We dwell in these places, and they have lessons to teach us. Maybe the lesson is that God’s incarnation is ultimate love coming to dwell with us in everything. Perhaps it is to learn that God’s love is limitless. Maybe it is to learn that it is okay to intermingle our humanness with our holiness.

Christ came to show us what it means to be made in the image of God. The true coming of Christ is the coming of Christ into our lives as the universal Christ who has existed with God from the beginning. It is the coming of Christ not to construct a religion with limitations but to build a life of love in all of its fullness.

If merry minions next to an inflatable nativity make you chuckle, then chuckle in love. If offering a blessing with family and friends over enchiladas and margaritas makes you grateful, then offer the prayer every time.

Christ comes to us wholly human and wholly divine, and gives us permission to live, to laugh, and to love.

Anticipation and Accomplishment

I am sitting in the chair that my family has named my “prayer chair,” on the Saturday morning before the third Sunday of Advent, and my mind is filled with thoughts of how quickly we are heading toward the celebration of Christmas day. I am reflecting on what this season has brought so far.

Through the days of late November and December, I have bounced between anticipation of an event or a task and the accomplishment of that event or task. The ebb and flow of working towards a goal and fulfilling that goal have been my rhythm.

In these days of Advent, I prepared for singing after experiencing some vocal fatigue, and then breathed a sigh of relief after getting through the solo. I have worked with children through the excitement of presenting a Christmas concert and have arrived at the moment of performance. I have purchased gifts that sit ready for wrapping. My almost daughter-in-law, who has studied and worked so diligently towards her goal of becoming a nurse, graduated with her BSN this week. (I am so proud of her!) Together, my family and I have celebrated birthdays and prayed with friends who are dealing with health issues in hopes of healing and wholeness.

Advent has been a series of anticipations and accomplishments. Each event or task has brought with it the work of preparation followed by the outcome.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew all too well the feeling of anticipation and accomplishment. Her expressions of anticipation are written for us in Luke 1: 46 – 55, in the passage we know as Mary’s Magnificat – her canticle of praise.

"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham

and to his descendants forever."

Mary not only anticipated the birth of the baby that she was carrying, but she also looked toward what would be fulfilled through his coming. He would scatter the proud, bring down the powerful, and send the rich away empty. He would lift up the lowly, fill the hungry, and help his servant.

The cycle of anticipation and accomplishment that Mary experienced continues in our day. We walk through Advent with quiet prayers that Christ will continue to scatter the proud and fill the hungry – not just fill them but fill them with good things.

We live in this cycle because we know that Christ dwells in it with us. Christ comes to fullness in us when we surrender to his presence, and he fills us with good things. It is only when we do this that we can love and live in the ways of Christ.