Psalm 15; Micah 6: 1-8
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
January 29, 2017
O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;
who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbours;
in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honour those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
who do not lend money at interest,
and do not take a bribe against the innocent.
Those who do these things shall never be moved. - Psalm 15
Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
‘O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.’
‘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?’
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: 1-8
He was known as “The Man in Black.” Johnny Cash was a man of solidarity. He was not a perfect man but his faith shaped his concern for the least and lost. The reason he wore black still speaks volumes today in his timeless song:
I wear black for the poor and beaten down / Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town.
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime / But is there because he is a victim of the times.
I wear black for those who never read or listened to the words that Jesus said / About the road to happiness through love and charity.
Why you’d think he’s talking straight to you and me…
Well there’s things that never will be right I know / And things need changin’ everywhere you go.
But till we start to make a move to make a few things right / You’ll never see me wear a suit of white.
For Cash, wearing black was an ethical decision to remember God’s character of compassion as he walked the line of faith in the real world.
The prophet Micah was also a man who had the gift of poetic words. He was raised in a rural village of Judah which gave him a heart for those who needed a hand up. Micah was actually a street preacher who had a great passion to live in solidarity with the poor and beaten down. He was quick to lift up his voice in the market place and in the town square to speak into the daily oppressions of God’s people.
Micah talked about walking the line of faith. That line was between a faith that one talked about possessing compared to a faith that lived in response to God’s grace. You see, God’s grace had delivered Israel from the oppressive grips of Egypt through Moses. And then God delivered Israel again from the disgrace of Egyptian enslavement through Joshua as they left Shittim to Gilgal.
God’s people were called to remember God’s saving grace by seeking right relationships with God and one another. The people were called to live in response to God’s character by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.
Essentially Micah was urging the people to work with God to “restore the community with communal good.” This would allow them to work with God to bring justice to those oppressed by the sociological, economic, and political systems.[1] Micah was urging the people to love God and neighbor through the sacrificial love of serving others. This is what "kindness" means in Hebrew. Micah was urging the people to remember that their covenant relationship with God gave them all they needed to be loyal disciples.
“God desires a faith that is more than empty words. God desires justice that is measured by how well the most vulnerable fare in the community, a loyal love that [reflects] the kind of loyal love that God has shown [throughout Scripture], and a careful walking in one’s ethical life.”[2]
It is not enough to talk the talk of faith. We must walk the walk too.
My clergy colleague from seminary serves a church in Roanoke, VA. He recently shared a story about the way a young adult parishioner, named Jordan, heard God’s call to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.
Jordan begins saying: I want to tell you how God is using my life.
Most Saturdays since September, I have been riding back and forth to Charlotte with my new friend Jen. Now that is 6.5 to 7 hours in the car. So we are pretty tight now.
Within the first month of getting to know her, she told me about this idea she had, after hearing about a similar program in Northern Virginia. Jen’s idea was to start a program in Roanoke, VA with the goal of rejuvenating the West End area and crossing socioeconomic barriers. Women who had recently been released from incarceration could apply to this program where they would be given a mentor, learn job and life training skills, and earn a certificate called ServSafe at the end of the program. This certificate would give them a leg up in interviews for jobs in the service industry.
Jens vision is ecumenical too. Volunteers would come from all different communities of faith in the Roanoke Region uniting churches and other faith based organizations. Jen plans to name the program House of Bread, which Jen didn't know it initially, but “House of Bread” is what Bethlehem means in Hebrew. The product that would be made in the training would be bread because of both the metaphorical and literal roles that bread plays throughout the Bible. House of Bread would be feeding people literally and spiritually. The loaves would be sold to raise awareness and the proceeds would roll back into the program.
Jen had most of the logistic details worked out. But she could not find the leadership needed for the program. Jen knew it was not meant for her to lead it alone. She felt she had hit a wall. I asked her if she felt like God was telling her to give it up. She said, no, she had a strong sense that God was telling her to wait.
I told Jen, “That's funny. My pastor, Andrew, is always talking about how our church is being called to cross over to parts of Roanoke which might make our church uncomfortable. He specifically talks about the West End area. He'd probably like your idea. Anyway, good luck!”
And that was that. I mean, it did not occur to me to become involved. I had a lot going on and baking is NOT my thing.
A couple weeks later I was at the bible study that a friend somehow convinced me to lead. As I talked with another friend we agreed how feelings of restlessness are often part of a discernment process. She talked about the stuff she is really good at, which is most things, versus what she actually feels fulfilled doing. At one point, she made a throw away comment about being really really good at bread baking and buying groceries on a shoestring budget.
And I thought...Nothing of it.
A week later in Bible Study, another friend, Kristin, mentioned she was being promoted to a supervisory role at work and that as part of it she was undergoing this ServSafe managerial training.
And then I went home and thought, "Oh no."
I clearly saw what I was supposed to do. Because I had never ever ever heard the term “ServSafe” before, and I had now heard it twice, in a short span of time, from people that God had put me purposefully together with.
Ugh!! I don't like this part of serving God; the ‘being called to do’ stuff. I mean it is not convenient. And it is hard, really hard. God’s calling pushes me out of my comfort zone, God makes me do things I don't actually like, and God has me do things I am not good at. And I like to be good what I do.
But God moved my heart past my selfishness. The next Saturday I said to Jen, "I think you need to come talk to my bible study group. There are some people there whom you need to meet. I think we might be able to help you get House of Bread off the ground".
House of Bread is a real ministry now and has applied for nonprofit status. We have an actual budget and a mission statement for heaven sakes! We are helping women begin anew through God’s grace one loaf at a time.
Jesus told his disciples, "YOU give them something to eat." We're trying, Lord. I know we will do it imperfectly and we will sometimes fail, but we are trying.
As your pastor, I want nothing more than for God’s character to lead each of us to walk the walk of faith. And at the very center of God’s character is the ministry of compassion.
That word, compassion, means to suffer with. We see God’s loyal and steadfast compassion in Jesus Christ as walked alongside children, neighbors in need, the sick, the marginalized, the prisoner, and he welcomed the stranger. Christ calls us to ministries of compassion that bring God’s restoration, justice, and reconciliation.
We walk the walk of faith as we prepare hygiene kits for our homeless neighbors this afternoon. Our work honors their dignity with gifts of God's hospitality to be renewed with hot showers and clean laundry.
We walk the walk of faith by advocating for justice in the town square like Micah did - by calling our representatives with concerns for the well-being of our children, the vulnerable, and the marginalized.
And we walk the walk of faith as we listen deeply to hear where God’s Spirit of compassion is leading us to serve others with faithful and ethical integrity.
My heart aches for each of us – as individuals but also as a church - to have that defining moment where we clearly sense God’s Spirit showing us where we are to walk next in our ministry.
May we do nothing less than clothe ourselves with God's character. In doing so, the Spirit will open the eyes of our hearts to see the justice, the kindness, and the humble walk that God alone desires.
In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] Feasting on the Word, Year A Volume 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Pastoral Perspective by Andrew Foster Conners, p. 292.
[2] Feasting on the Word, p. 292.
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