In my second and third year of three-years of residential seminary training, I was fortunate to do my field education/contextual ministry training at a very large parish church in Northwest Washington, D.C. where there were four clergy persons and one seminarian in this church. I had access to all four of the clergy for my training in every aspect of being an effective pastor, priest and administrator since all of those titles have become a requirement to serve in many churches today.
Faith
I remember a sermon given by the rector, using the opening verses of our service, from Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, verses 29 31, which say: Jesus said, “The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
This is the summary of the Law. The rector concluded with, “It is that simple. The Great Commandment gives us everything we need for Salvation, and everything else in Holy Scripture is ‘commentary’ on how to do it.” The Old Testament is a book of stories of how the Hebrew lived and moved and had their being in the presence of God and how God loved them and asked that they love him in return. Likewise, the New Testament consists of the Apostle Paul writing to the New Testament communities, teaching them how to love God and their neighbor and what happens when they did not. So, the rector is correct. It is as simple as loving God and loving your neighbor and loving yourself. Everything else teaches us how to do that.
The last 30 years, I have practiced a ministry that I have felt completely prepared to exercise, with the Spirit guiding and leading me. And yes, what I learned in seminary, my field education, and my CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education), on the streets of Atlanta with the homeless, has led me to add these verses of “commentary” from Micah 6:8, “what does the Lord require of me but to ‘Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God’ as a reminder to me as to why God would use me to bring Good News to God’s people in the first place. Less I forget, I have this verse printed on my ball caps, T-shirts and on my social media as a constant reminder of why I believe God called me in the first place, which is to believe in the Great Commandment and to do Micah 6:8.
I was at the seminary in Northern Virginia this past week, attending the bicentenary of the anniversary of its founding to prepare clergy for the church. I had a conversation with my field education supervisor, who is now an adjunct professor. She asked me what the most important part of my 30 years of ministry was. I said it was assuring everyone that I met that God loves them and by being willing to walk with people who were hurting and struggling with their faith. People whose pain, in many cases, was caused by the church and clergy like me, and even by some faithful people who have forgotten that our job is to “Love God and our neighbor as we love ourselves.” And to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.”
I think that too often we forget that salvation belongs to God and God alone. Our job is not to save. It is to love neighbor and not judge. It is to love mercy, and by example teach them to love God and themselves. Always realizing, if I may paraphrase, “except for Grace, there go I.” 1 Corinthians 15:10
To do justly means acting honorably. We act honorably with God by walking humbly with Him. We act honorably with others by loving mercy. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are encouraged to strive, to do better. To be just is a call to action, not to be silent or complacent when others, especially the most vulnerable, are abused, mistreated, in need, scorned or exploited.
Doing justice means that we can’t just love people who look like us and live like us. We are called to love all people, and we can’t do that faithfully until we are working toward justice for all. This is what the Lord requires of us. To do justice, but also to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God. Our spiritual growth is directly related to our walk with God. Walking is a step-by-step process that becomes a day-by-day lived action with my brothers and sisters here on earth. How can I say that I love God when I hate my neighbor (1 John 4:20)?
Micah’s emotional plea for God’s chosen people to repent will cut many of us to our core. Most of us don’t decide daily to cut people down or find ways to carry out injustice. Instead, we do it out of habit. Let’s allow the words of the prophet Micah to break us out of our apathy about extending justice and kindness to others and press on toward a world that better resembles the kingdom to come. Let us resolve to live as God desires: “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
For 30 years, I have begun worship services with these words: “Jesus said, “The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29 31.
How do I do that. I try to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. On these words, you can hang all the Law and the Prophets!
Rev. Bill Alford is a retired priest who served St. Alban’s Episcopal Church for the last 30 years and who has been priest-in-charge of the Church of the Atonement in Hephzibah for the last three years. Originally from Albany, Ga., Rev. Alford is a Navy Veteran who sings with and who is on the Board of Directors for the Augusta Choral Society.
