June 1st, 2020

A blessing on this first Monday in June,
It is fairly normal that our eyes and ears can get so accustomed to something that we either no longer see it or hear it.  It is not a deliberate decision, it simply seems that our brains somehow tune it out.  For example, when Pam and I were newlyweds, we secured military housing at the Presidio in San Francisco. We had a beautiful place that had a view of the bay. This also meant that one of buoy lights flashed in our window at night. The first few nights in our new place found us struggling with going to sleep because about every thirty seconds, a flash of light would flood out bedroom. After awhile, we no longer noticed it or at least it had no effect on our sleep.

The same can happen with billboard signs, reader boards, and advertisements we see every day. It can even happen with a logo on a business card or bulletin.  Part of our logo includes the words that are found in Micah 6:8 [He has told you, O  man, 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.] While we may not intend to ignore the lesson in these words, we can fall prey to seeing them so much that they can almost become a mantra without much thought. The words translated as doing justice refer to doing the right thing more than judicial justice. The choice of the word "kindness" in English is limiting because the Hebrew word carries the understanding of practicing kindness, mercy, love, gratitude. The idea being that we do the right thing, and that because of the kindness, love, and mercy, we have been shown by God, our gratitude includes practicing those traits towards others.  Along with walking humbly (in right relation) with our God, the text speaks of our horizontal reality (behavior towards others) reflecting our vertical reality (our connection with God).  Justice (doing the right thing), mercy, kindness, love and a heart conscious of our connection with our God. This is mindset that is to guide our steps each day. 

There are times when such words can be blurred by seeing them often or our frustration at not seeing them practiced by others.  Sometimes it leads to doing something in the name of one of them but in reality demonstrating the opposite.  This weekend, there were three groups of people acting out in the name of justice. One protested, one destroyed, and one came to help clean up destruction. Which group lived out Micah 6:8?

Food for thought.
Have a blessed Monday
Vic