Justice doing is
Sitting at lunch counters and on buses in seats reserved for whites only;
Suing one’s master for freedom from slavery;
Leading your people on an underground railroad,
Going to jail for riding the whites only trolley car and going to the supreme court;
Marching from Selma to Montgomery across deadly dangerous bridges;
Standing up and telling the truth to powerful men until freedom is won for all;
Justice doing is
Marching and protesting and writing letters and campaigning and calling up your congressman or senator or governor to speak your mind on behalf of those who know injustice; It is a demand that power serve the vulnerable, the least, the marginal, the small. It is a demand for the truth in politics and an end to corrupted self-interest. It is a demand for environmental protection and climate action to save the planet from greed and gluttony and abuse. It is children marching to end gun violence in schools and children marching for the planet and children leading us to do what is right, even when it isn’t easy.
Justice doing is
Going to rallies in Harrisburg on buses with strangers who become friends because our cause is the same, our hope is the same, our hearts are the same---until those who are wronged are given every right, we will keep up the fight for justice;
Justice doing is inclusion and compassion and holiness and bodily presence, a blessing of rightness in a world full of wrong. It is knowing what is right and acting for the right and demanding that what is right for me and for the white man and straight woman and for the wealthy family is also right for the black man and woman, the gay man and woman, the trans man or woman, the poor man or woman. Justice doing is a courageous demand for freedom and equality and human dignity and opportunity and reparations for generations of wrong. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mercy loving is
Feeding and clothing and housing the hungry, naked, homeless poor. It is generosity that relieves suffering by giving some of what I have to you so that you have what you need. It is good samaritan funds spent to keep a family housed or the lights turned on or the heat working in winter. Mercy loving is holding space for someone to grieve, to fail, to struggle and to stay with them in it. It is empathy for the strugglers, whose lives are too hard, because isn’t it hard for all of us, aren;t we all strugglers on the journey?
Mercy loving is
Opposing the death penalty and mandatory sentencing that robs our humanity and destroys black bodies, guilty of blackness if nothing else; and encouraging rehab for almost everyone because everyone has pain and everyone suffers and bleeds. It is to want affordable health care for everyone because health is not about money. It is to welcome the asylum seeker and the refugee fleeing suffering in search of mercy; it is to oppose public policies that detain and imprison brown children and deport brown parents and reject entry to a better life for black and brown peoples. Mercy loving is to reject war and militancy as the first resort in global conflict or global conquest. It is to insist that people matter more than profits and bottom lines.
Mercy loving is
Caring for all the creatures like God cares for all the creatures; it is to adore pets and reduce ones impact on the planet and to be concerned about the planet’s health and to consider the needs of all living things when I leave my house and go out for a walk. It is to plant trees and flowers and meadows and feed the birds and the bees and the bats and the butterflies. It is to reduce waste and single use plastic and the throwaway consumerism that kills so much, including the soul; It is to give a little extra to save the Koala and the Polar bear because they have value too; Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.
Humble walking is a stroll, a meander, a hike from my ego-centric self-indulgence toward a self-emptying, subsistence on God, the earth, and the others walking beside me. It is the insistence that we depend, that life depends, that everything depends on some things we cannot do or accomplish or make ourselves. Humble walking visits the homebound and shows up at gravesides and sorts clothing and packs food and cooks breakfast and doesn’t ask what’s in this for me? Humble walking is worship; Because humble walking is walking toward and with someone else, and God is walking there too. It is not arrogant strutting or mean tweeting or wealth boasting. Blessed are the meek for they alone will inherit the whole earth!
What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Amen.
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