Remembering something you want to carry with you...

Last week, I preached on Micah 6.1-8 during our weekly time of worship at UKIRK. If you need a refresher, Micah 6.1-8 contains the verse that’s been referred to as a “prophetic punchline” – the call to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.” Many of us are likely familiar with this verse (and have probably seen it painted on crafty sign of some sort). Rather than delve into those specifics of what it means to “do justice”, “love kindness”, and “walk humbly with God”, we talked about about God’s call for the Israelites to remember specific “saving acts of the Lord” – delivery from slavery in Egypt, the story of King Balak and Balaam (the Israelites were repeatedly blessed when they could’ve easily been cursed), and the crossing of the Jordan from Shittim to Gilgal (Micah 6.3-5). The inclusion of these particular “saving acts” ground the Israelites in this message: remember where you’ve come from and use that as a guide for where you’re going. Remembering where we’ve come from will certainly keep humility at the forefront of our minds; similarly, remembering where we’ve come from, with God, will inform the ways we enact justice and pursue a love of kindness.

To close our time of worship, I invited everyone to the front of the sanctuary to grab a notecard and write a word, phrase, or sentiment – whatever felt right – that they wanted to remember. In a culture that demands us to be producers, performers, and consumers, we aren’t often allowed enough space to remember. But I’m grateful that UKirk is a space and time where we are we able to hold this space with one another.