These last 8-9 days have been chaotic. It seems silly and rather like a first-world problem that ice and snow have messed up so many of our plans here at church, in our schools, at our homes, and around the community. And yet, cancelling, postponing, rescheduling, calendaring, changing deadlines, modifying modes of operation, problem-solving to ensure folks are fed, sheltered, warm and learning, shortened tempers, and cabin fever have ruled these days. Perhaps our wells of generosity about the chaos would be deeper if a parallel chaos were not happening throughout our country as political and communal life seems to unravel to new depths.
And so, like I always do, I turn to the scripture for the week, praying the lectionary has something to offer us. Initially, I was delighted because I love the beatitude from Matthew. Every time I read them, I instinctively hear the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock singing their version of the Beatitudes[i]. We’ll put a link to the song on our social media. But even their beautiful voices singing those beautiful words this week could not offer the salve I needed. You see, in each of the sufferings articulated in the beatitudes (those who mourn, the peacemakers, those hungering for righteousness, those persecuted, and those reviled), Jesus promises future blessings (They will be comforted, they will be filled, they will be called children of God, their reward will be in heaven.).
But a future promise feels too reminiscent of generations of people who suffered and were offered the same promises. Be an obedient enslaved person, and you will be rewarded in heaven. Take the sexism, harassment, and lack of rights, and you will be filled. Wait for the ability to marry, and you will be called children of God. Stay in your own country, impoverished, persecuted, and oppressed, and you will find comfort. When the women of Sweet Honey in the Rock sing, you hear the ache of those generations of people. And though they articulate the pain vocally, the words in these days do not satisfy the suffering today.
So, what do we do? Does Holy Scripture offer us no comfort today? You and I both know that is not God’s style. Micah screams out to the void today, and cracks open Jesus’ words. In our text today, the people of Israel and God are in a profound argument. The people of God complain to God of injustice, and God comes back with a mirror. “‘What?’ God says. ‘I have come to you time and again. I brought you out of Egypt, I gave you leaders, I saved you over and over again. And you act in this way?’” The people, humbled, scurry about, wondering what to do: should they bow down? Make offerings? Sacrifice more precious things? And God reminds them who they are and how they are to be at all times. Micah reminds them, “He has told you, O mortal, 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?”[ii] Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly.
Jesus is not saying in those soulful words that we as his followers are to sit on our hands and wait for some future blessing. Jesus is telling us that future blessing comes by being who we are called to be and how we are called to act now. When we do justice, love kindness, walk humbly; when we are meek, when we thirst for righteousness, when we are peacemakers, when we are merciful; or even closer to home, when we seek and serve Christ in all persons, when we strive for justice and peace among all people, and when we respect the dignity of every, every, human being – then we are being our truest self – we are acting like children of God.
Maybe that still does not feel like a balm for you today. Maybe the chaos of this life has gotten you so despondent that remembering who you are and how God calls you to be doesn’t soothe the hurt of these days. What scripture does for me today though is remove the paralysis of overwhelmedness. That may mean that you go join a protest, or go watch Buddhist monks walk for peace. That may may mean you write your Congressmember, or join in prayer. That may mean you grieve, or you go shovel a neighbor’s driveway. In all those words of Micah and all those words of Jesus, neither says go bury your head in the sand. Both of them say to us today, “You know whose you are and how followers of Christ are to act. So, go. Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly. Go be a child of God.” Amen.
[i] Sweet Honey in the Rock, “Beatitudes,” Live At Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, November 7, 1987, found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXofcD7-VN0 on January 30, 2026.
[ii]Micah 6.8.
Seeking and Serving 