Ordinary Time

January 24, 2023

Scripture Reading: Micah 6:1-8

‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
   and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
   with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
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,
   and to walk humbly with your God? –Micah 6:6-8

Do we really understand that God calls us to a partnership with God and with one another to spread God’s love to all? Making a burnt offering, even using one of the finest sheep or bull, and then walking back into the culture of the world around us does not mean we have excepted the responsibility to fulfill our relationship with God. We are not called to bribe our way into God’s good graces. We are called to accept God’s gift of grace that enables us to be a conduit of God’s love creating the Beloved Community where each and all are persons of worth. Worship rituals can be very meaningful to our growth in faith, but such activities are never the final goal. The final goal is building that Beloved Community that includes all of God’s creation, and God tells us how to do that through the voice of the prophet Micah,

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for sending us prophets to share the great challenge but the simplicity of loving like Jesus. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.