Parson Tom’s Tomes
As I write this addition to the Tomes I am also
preparing for the Vestry Retreat where we figure how what to do this year. Yet
from the time I woke up this morning, my mind is stuck with a loop in a quote I
memorized years before; Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O mortal,
what is good; and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
your God?”
What else should we be doing? The
list seems to go on forever. We are in a building that is getting older and roofs
and HVAC systems need to be replaced when the time comes. We need to get the
finances of the institution in order. We need to get the Christian education
program for our youth and children stabilized. We need to connect people closer
to each other so they don’t feel as if they have fallen through the cracks. We
need to put together Episcopal services that are faithful to the Episcopal tradition.
We need to go through the process of finding a new Bishop for the diocese now
that Bishop Daniel has resigned to go to Philadelphia. We need to do all the
stuff that the religious institution of the church requires; but if we do all
of that stuff for institutional maintenance and forget about doing justice, loving
mercy, and walking humbly with our God, we sort of miss the point.
I think we do justice when we, as a
community of faith, speak out for, and minister to, the poor and marginalized
in our community. I think we, as a community, act as if we really do love mercy
when we minister to the hurting, sick, broken and dying. I think we walk humbly
with our God when we stop our busy corporate and individual lives and gather together,
as a community, regularly to give worth
(that is what the word worship means)
to the power greater than ourselves, our individual agendas, and our
institutions.
This last fall I attended a young
girl’s Bat Mitzvah in New Jersey. She is a summer neighbor of ours and her name
is Micah. On her wall she has a picture which her parents gave her when she was
born and have hung in every bedroom in which she has slept of the verse of Micah
6:8 in calligraphy with an illustration of a group of dancing Rabbis around the
verse. At the ceremony, this young 13 year old girl spoke movingly about how
much that verse meant to her. She shared how her learning of Hebrew helped her
to go deeper in her worship of God and she sang the entire chapter of Micah in
Hebrew- there wasn’t a dry eye in the synagogue. Micah also related the volunteer
work in school and community she has done to make the world a better place; one
example is her volunteer work each summer at the Dare County Animal Shelter.
When we adopted our dog, Yoda, and brought him home from the shelter, that day
we walked Yoda around the neighborhood and Micah ran out of her house and there
was a tearful reunion because she used to walk and play with him during the
months he was waiting for a placement.
Today read, mark, learn and
inwardly digest Micah 6:8 “He has told
you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
your God?” As we look forward to Lent
this month ask yourself; how are you doing with Micah’s spiritual direction.
SHALOM
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