What excuses have you made when you have been accused of doing something wrong?

Sometimes my children respond to a simple question by escalating the emotions immediately to a higher level… “What?!?! You didn’t say that! I didn’t do it!” It’s a symptom of the part of us that immediately protects ourselves when accused.

We scramble, and squirm, get defensive, and cover our bases. And in doing that, we often miss out.

Micah 6 is a beautiful passage from the bible.

It begins, though, with a sort of accusation from God. It’s like a courtroom, where God is calling the mountains and the foundations of the earth as witness. [READ 6: 1-5]

God has just one question for Israel: do I deserve your bad behavior? Have I ever wronged you in anyway? In fact, Israel, haven’t I saved you time and time again?

Since the bible is written and not spoken, it can be difficult to know how God meant this. The same words said in a sarcastic tone versus a loving, pleading tone carry very different meanings.

I choose to hear this more with the loving, pleading tone. God is genuinely confused at Israel’s constant rebellion and injustice, completely at wits end to make sense of the way they ignore what God has told them.

Have I ever done anything to hurt you? Don’t you remember the ways that I have saved you and rescued you? I wonder why that hasn’t made more of a difference in how you live?

This question puts Israel in that defensive spot, that awkward spot of scrambling and squirming, trying to shift the blame.

[Micah 6: 6-8, from the readers version]

How can I stand before the LORD God most high? What can I bring to make up for what I've done?

Should I offer yearling calves? Will thousands of sheep or ten thousand rivers of oil make God satisfied with me?

Should I sacrifice to the LORD my firstborn child to pay for the sin of my soul?

No, O people! The LORD God has already told you what is good and what he requires of you--how to live, what to do, what GOD is looking for in all people--act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.

Well, what is it you want, God? What should I do to try and please you?

Would thousands of sheep and rivers of oil be enough? Probably not. You’d probably want me to give up my own child to meet your demands. You’d probably NEVER be satisfied, God.

You expect so much from us. Sure, we haven’t been perfect. But you probably wouldn’t be satisfied if I did it all, if I WAS perfect. You just demand more, and more, and more. What could I possibly do, God, in the face of your demands?

I can never do enough for you, can I, God?

This is familiar, isn’t it?

I’ve heard this before in others. I’ve heard them downplay their own wrongdoing, and exaggerate God’s expectations of us. I’ve heard people frame the way they see God as so demanding, so impossible to please, that God becomes the one who is unjust in his demands.

This kind of response is easy to make, because it helps avoid our own faults. Like every kid ever caught with their hand in the cookie jar, we find ways to shift the blame and make ourselves look ok.

Who am I kidding? I’ve been saying “others,” “them”, “they”…

This is me. I grew up feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders, feeling like if I made one little mistake or disobeyed at all, the whole world would come to an end. The expectation of perfection that I place on myself is easily transferred to how I imagine what God must expect of me.

I’m sure he’s accusing me. I’m sure I’ll never measure up. I’m sure if I had a thousand good deeds and did all the right things I could possibly think of, it would never be enough.

So I find ways to dodge, to get angry or annoyed at God. It’s a defense mechanism, to scream out, “What do you want from me, God? No one could ever live up to your expectations. I can never please you, never do enough or bring enough to you…why even try?”

But the truth is, deep down, I do want God’s approval and acceptance.

For those of us with this kind of response, one of the things it betrays is that we want to be able to bring enough to God. We want to do enough, give enough, BE enough so that we are worthwhile, good enough for God to like us.

When we do that, we’re barking up the wrong tree. There’s some truth in it, but we’re missing what’s most essential.

The truth part is, God is demanding a lot from us. He wants us. God wants every part of us to be completely his.

But too often the way in which we approach God goes about this completely wrong. It begins with God, not us. It’s not about doing enough or giving enough so that we are acceptable to God.

Already, God has taken the first step toward us, constantly revealing himself if we take the time to stop and pay attention. Already, God has demonstrated that we are created and wanted by God.

The offering of worship that God desires is to offer our very lives to God; to listen to God, walk with God, and live like God. Not to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love, but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God precisely because he loves us so much.

Many songs have been written with these words from Micah 6:8.

When Jesus was asked years after Micah was written to sum up the most important laws and commandments, he could have used this verse; in fact, his answer of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind and loving our neighbor as ourselves is almost a paraphrase of Micah 6:8.

There is something about us as human beings that causes us to focus too much on one thing. What’s so beautiful about Micah 6:8 is that it doesn’t do that. It is holistic. It brings together so many things that human history and church denominations want to separate over and fight over.

We are to act justly.

Justice is not some solemn courtroom value that exists somewhere in our intellect; justice is something we do. James Limburg says: “To do justice means to work for the establishment of equity for all, especially for the powerless.”

This is what God has been about all through the book of Micah. God is acting, using his power, to bring justice to those who are oppressing and hurting other people; and now, we see that God wants us to be active in the same ways.

We are to love mercy.

We’re not to only be about righting wrongs, fighting against the oppressors. We are to enter into deep, loving, committed relationships with other people, extending God’s mercy and love to others.

The word in the original language is so deep and rich. What are some of the translations of this phrase in the bibles you are looking at? [ASK…mercy, lovingkindness]

We are to love others with a strong element of loyalty, a deep commitment to each other that is able to forgive wrongs and insults, that won’t run away from conflict, but will stay lovingly committed to each other through thick and thin.

Notice it doesn’t say to whom we are to act in loving mercy. It’s wide open! No boundaries! This reminds me of when Jesus one time changed a question he was asked. Someone asked, “If I’m to love my neighbor as myself, then who is my neighbor?” The question was designed to set boundaries and limits, to see which people I’m off the hook from extending love to.

And Jesus changed the question. He told the story of the good Samaritan, and told the questioner to go BE a good neighbor, not to figure out who IS your neighbor and who ISN’T.

In Micah, God’s loving kindness, God’s mercy and love, are to be reflected in us and our actions, with no boundaries in place. We are to love mercy, extending God’s love to others.

And we are to walk humbly with our God.

Walk is the key word. James Limburg writes:

“In Judaism the word for ethics is halacha which means ‘walking’; the idea is that the task of ethics is to describe how one ought to walk one’s day-by-day life.”

The word translated “humbly” is not so much walk in humility, but more walk with care and attentiveness. Walk with God, walk carefully and intentionally and attentively with God.

All three of these key ideas come in one verse, intimately entwined and connected. And this is the key that Quakers and almost every other denomination missed in the 20^th century.

We cannot do justice or act in love without walking carefully with God. We cannot walk attentively with God without doing justice and loving mercy.

But for a very long time, we have tried.

Splits within and between denominations have come because we have tried to separate Micah 6:8.

Some people over there are the ones who work for justice, who act in loving ways in society. For them, walking humbly with God sometimes becomes optional: what’s really important is doing justice.

Some people over there are the ones who walk humbly with God. For them, acting justly and lovingly sometimes becomes optional, something secondary to our spiritual commitment to God.

We have divided ourselves over things which God never intended to be split apart.

It’s all part of the package!

We are to act justly AND love mercy AND walk humbly with our God. In God’s design, they feed upon and support each other, they grow together in beautiful ways.

I long for the day when more and more of God’s children will live out all of Micah 6:8, holistically and completely.

I long for the day when we no longer separate how we live and act in society from our spiritual lives.

I long for the day when hypocrisy comes to an end, when we who say we walk humbly with God live out that walk with action.

For the rest of worship today, we have the chance to let God speak into our lives the specifics of what this kind of integration can look like.

What does it mean for me to act justly? To love mercy? To walk humbly with our God?

As we sing, as we wait in silence together in God’s presence…how does God want to weave all three of these beautiful pieces into your life and mine?