If Not Formicah
Ever since Jessica’s consecration I have been intrigued by the Bible verse (Micah 6:8) “Do justice love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” The three part doctrine flows off the tongue much the same way the greatest commandment does. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. It’s reads like a simple path to guide ones life. Yet there lurks a depth to this verse.
The verse can be entirely secularized with the removal of the last three words. “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.” The first two commands are left completely intact and the third is mostly undisturbed. What we do remains unchanged. We just eliminate the specificity of the partner one might be humbly walking with. I feel from a Christian perspective it should read “…walk humbly with the Lord.” This would eliminate any ambiguity in the statement. If I were to say this verse to someone, his or her “god” may be different from mine. The phrase “your God” does seem to imply that there is more than one. Further more, as to the ease of secularization the passage, I find that it is a good measure of a leader. In my experience good leaders do justice, love mercy and walk humbly.
Back in the religious context I find that I am to “do justice” and “walk humbly” yet I am not told to “be merciful”. I am told to “love mercy”. Here the simplicity of the statement evaporates and I am left with questions about my salvation. Am I supposed to let others be merciful, and then when I see that they are, I should love it? Perhaps mercy is just not as universal as justice and humility, or for that matter walking. The great thing about a blog though, is that I can throw this stuff out there and people far more intelligent and learned will respond with all the answers.
posted by Mark @ 10:47 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Now, if only GWB would read this, then maybe he would change some things and possibly become a tolerable leader instead of, well, what he is. He does claim to live his life following God. Maybe he has a differnt God than you and I?
One of the finest campfire songs ever written, too.
This is some deep, profound stuff. Represent, yo.
First of all, can I say that I am totally honored and astounded and flattered that you are linking my blog in your very first post? Thank you.
Also, thank you for being there at my consecration. If you couldn't tell by the wads of wet kleenex piling up in my pew, I was very encouraged and moved by the presence of so many supportive and amazing friends. So yeah, thanks.
I really enjoy the phrase "love mercy" too. Mostly because for me it just blasts open the barriers of just plain old 'doing mercy' or 'being merciful'. Love inspires in me a hopeful sort of creativity and the kind of blindness that sees right to the heart of things... Plus: "do, love, walk" is just a really fantastic trio (tryptich? triumvirate? trinity?)
:-)
What Campfire Song?
I think the conservative premise may be wrong. The economy and the government aren’t nearly as much at odds as they would have us believe. In fact, the government is pretty much a part of the economy, isn’t it?
I mean, what happens to all those tax dollars anyway? The government uses them to pay people to stand out in the hot sun and hold up “Stop” and “Slow” signs next to highway construction projects--right? Then those people take their money to Wal-Mart and HyVee, and they buy stuff. And HyVee and Wal-Mart use the highways for their big trucks. It’s all good for the economy.
Or the government buys tanks and planes and rifles to keep terrorists from blowing up our insurance companies--which allows the insurance companies to keep doing their economic thing and besides, the rifle manufacturers pay their employees, who then go out and buy stuff at Wal-Mart.
It would be a problem if the government kept our tax dollars in a big pile in the basement of the White House and never let them out. But I don’t believe that happens very often.
I'm pretty sure it's just called "Micah 6:8". I sang it a handful or two times at Faith Alive, but Hibbard doesn't care much for it so I never pushed to include it in our list of standards. Ironically, he later stole the chord progression for "Climb On".
I can only think of Paul Frantsen's campfire song based on that verse, and I don't recall any particular dislike of it. Also, I don't think that song has the same chord progression as "Climb On." Apparently, though, all I do is plagiarize...
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