I don’t preach very often in a church setting. I do lecture and tutor theology, teach in house groups etc. so maybe some preaching comes out there from time to time. So sermon prep this week is a reasonably unusual activity. In preparation for wondering how Micah might approach New Year’s resolutions I’ve been reading Walter Brueggemann’s “Voices of the Night – Against Justice.” (Pages 5-28 in To Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly: An Agenda for Ministers Edited by Brueggemann, Walter, Sharon Parks, and Thomas H Groome. New York: Paulist Press, 1986.) Some good stuff in there.
I especially like his comment about Micah 6:8 where he says,
The three elements are well known to us. To do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with God – these may embody all that we need to know in order to be faithful and to be human. They are not three “virtues.” They are not three “things to do.” Rather, they speak of three dimensions of a life of faithfulness, each of which depends on and is reinforced by the other two.
Reminiscent of Duncan Forrester’s view that justice is not the application of faith – it is its substance – the how and why of living.
Anyway, time for a break. It’s that warm, hard-to-think, part of the afternoon.
2 responses to “Pondering justice, kindness, humility and the new year”
Mate. Sounds like a great read. I just read an AMAZON customer review. Pity we don’t have great theological library down here. Brueggemann is pushing my buttons at the moment.Hope the sermon goes well.
I’ve found it variable in places. It’s a talk that’s been turned into an essay. Some bits stand out and hit you, other bits are a bit wordy. A class I took (as a student) used the essay for a module on connecting social justice with Christian spirituality.