Amy and Kindness and Liberation

Advent Reflections on Justice:
Kindness and Liberation

As people of faith, we are called, in the words of the prophet Micah, to "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly" with God. (Micah 6:8)

How are you doing according to Micah's words? How are we as St. Francis Episcopal Parish/Epiphany Community Center doing?

For many of us, it's probably easier to think of ways that we as individuals and we as a congregation and community center are "loving mercy." We can likely name many times when we have treated one another with kindness, with compassion, and with gentleness, even when that may have been hard for us to do. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted..." St. Paul encourages us to do in his letter to the Ephesians. (Eph 4:32)

But what about justice? Consider God's words to Moses in Exodus: "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go..." (Exodus 9:1) The Hebrews are enslaved, treated brutally with no end in sight for Pharaoh's malevolent purposes, and God calls Moses to participate with God in their liberation, in their freedom from slavery. Is Moses "kind" and "merciful" to Pharaoh? Is God? (See Exodus chapters 7-12 for an overview of how things turn out for Pharaoh and the Egyptians.)

What are ways that you in your individual life are "doing justice"? Who are you liberating? What are ways that we as St. Francis are "doing justice"? Whose liberation are we working with God to ensure?