Verse for the year

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Sometimes God surprises us.  Often it is the little things.

Just before the New Year I was asked what our verse for 2023 would be.  At first I thought, ‘I don’t know, how am I supposed to choose?’  But then, sitting on our wall was an embroidery illustrating one of my favourite bible verses: ‘Act Justly; Love Mercy; Walk Humbly.’ These words are from Micah 6:8

So, we have our verse for the year.  But then I decided that in order to help our corporate spiritual journey we should use the Common Lectionary for our Sunday services.  The Common Lectionary lays out bible readings covering three years where we will be able to explore most of the bible.  It is widely used throughout the world by many different churches and denominations.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Old Testament reading for this Sunday, with our AGM happening, is Micah 6:1-8!

Sometimes we look back at the past, we consider them to be the ‘glory days’, when our churches seemed to be fuller, when we had more children and young people, when everything seemed to be bigger, bolder and better.  Sometimes we look at the present and think that we haven’t go the energy or ability to do big things, or that we are not good enough.  But in these verses God is telling us that it isn’t the big things, our worship doesn’t have to be ‘professional’ or perfect, our missional activities don’t have to be slick.  All God wants of us is to ‘do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God’.

In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul reminds them God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong (1 Cor.1:27).  God will use us as we carry on, one step at a time, walking with God, doing justice and loving kindness.  When we look back next year, we pray that we will be surprised by what God has done in and through us.