What do you believe God requires of you? Of us? 
Micah is a masterclass in how the people, and particularly those in power and in leadership have forgotten the covenant they have with a God who has never left them and has saved them more than once. They have forgotten what it means to love kindness, to do justice and to walk humbly with God.
The list of charges against them is powerful:
- Arrogance
- Oppressing those who have no means to weather that oppression
- Violently taking over fields and property for their own gain
- Injustice
- They hate what is good and love what is evil
- They rely on false prophets
- They plot evil, tell lies and practice violence
Their memories of what is required of them have grown faint and moved them into a state of immoral consciousness. They are not blameless, they do damage every time they open their mouths, they are deceitful liars, they act wickedly, they view injustice as status quo. Psalm 15 and Micah could not be clearer about who is actually practicing covenantal relationship with God.
Perhaps those listening to Micah hear how heartbroken God appears at their unfaithfulness and broken covenant and so we see them asking how we make this right with God. At least there is that. But listen again to what they think will make it right:
With what should I approach the Lord and bow down before God on high? Should I come before him with entirely burned offerings, with year-old calves? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with many torrents of oil? Should I give my oldest child for my crime; the fruit of my body for the sin of my spirit? (Micah 6:6-7).
In other words what ritual can I perform to get God off of my back, to make it right with God and not cause myself too much pain? What sacrifice, what words, what songs can I sing that will make this right? Notice that they don’t say, how can I orient my whole-being, my heart towards what you want me to be? Those who ask what we can do want to make it right through ritual reform.
What God is asking for is heart transformation. Reorient your hearts and souls back to me: Love kindness, do justice, walk humbly with me! Make that your way of life – a thousand rams will not move you away from what you are doing that is breaking covenant. Your burnt offerings will not make a difference if you continue to lie and hate what is good. Bowing down to God won’t make a difference if it doesn’t stop your violence – words and actions.
Do not mishear me – rituals in worship can be powerful experiences of transformation if we view them as not performative but as life-changing. When you recite the Lord’s Prayer – really hear and feel the words – don’t rush through it. Savor it. Hymns and words and taking communion are powerful if we don’t perform them but feel them.
So, what does it mean to love kindness, do justice, walk humbly? I love how Dr. Amy Oden frames it: To enact justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God, are not single acts that can be checked off the list and left behind. On an individual and social scale, in ways large and small, this is a way of life. Periodic nods to equity do not constitute a faithful life, Micah tells us.[1]
This is a way of life! What might that mean for us? Might it mean becoming an advocate and putting money toward a solution housing the unhoused here in Bethlehem? Imagine being outside on these very cold nights. Might it mean going deeper into the work to keep immigrants safe in our community? What might justice and kindness look like if we not only did charity work, but justice work too? The kind of work that changes systems of injustice?
Worship rituals can lead us there if they aren’t performative but something deeper. Repeatedly in this service you have and will continue to echo the words: “What does the Lord require of Me? To love kindness, to do justice and to walk humbly with the Lord.” Let that be your mantra every day this week. See where it might lead you. Savor the words of worship, feel the hymns we sing, take communion into your very soul today. Who can live in your tent God? Who can dwell on your holy mountain? Help us be those people. May it be so. Amen.
[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-micah-61-8, accessed 1.28.26