Read: Micah 6:1-8
If you find this reading fascinating insofar as God takes his people to court, you will find that I reflected in that in my Thought on 11th August 2022. (My Day in Court – The Methodist Church, Ipswich Circuit) (Page 107 of Thought for the Day). The passage culminates with one of my ‘favourite’ texts, if ‘favourite’ is the right word. Verse 8: ‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’
God was making the point that no matter how much the people ramp up the scale of their sacrifices, nothing responds properly to what God wants, which is that we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. After all that has been said about how wrong things had become this seems a bit too nice.
Saint Ninian’s Isle off Shetland is reached by a walk across a sandy link, a tombolo. The walk is worth it for the ruins of the 12th century chapel, the glorious cliffs and seabirds and the pleasant grassland. It was here that in July 1958 a schoolboy found treasure whilst helping an archaeologist in his work. How ironic that it was the volunteer lad and not the professional who made the discovery.
Just as the outline of Saint Ninian’s Isle looks nice and turns out to be much more than nice, so the text is more than a sugary platitude. It is about more than being nice to each other and going to church on Sunday:
Act justly – Be fair and show integrity towards others.
Love mercy – God’s promised loyalty and unshakable love are for us to live out towards him and each other.
Walk humbly with your God – A lifestyle of dependence, obedience, and humility towards God because we are the youngsters finding the treasure, under the watchful eye of the professional, Christ himself.
A prayer
O Lord, give me the grace to live, work and walk under your watchful eye. Help me to see others as fellow novices seeking new discoveries and enable me to live every day in the expectation that you are constantly revealing new surprises. May I walk humbly with you, for Jesus Christ’s sake, Amen.