“Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” “prophet” Micah 6:8
A few weeks after Justin Trudeau was elected to be the Prime Minister of Canada, he announced his cabinet. It was news that he named an equal number of females and males to the cabinet. I agreed with this policy of Mr. Trudeau. He was asked many questions about this announcement. When asked by one reporter why he did it, he answered, “ Well it is 2015. “ For me, that is not enough reason to do anything.
This kind of thinking assumes that we are always getting better as a human race. The more we go forward, the better we will become. Mr. Trudeau is not the only person who has said this after making a decision. This kind of moral thinking, that we are smarter than we were yesterday just because the calendar turns into another year, is just not a good way to live or act as a society.
I have heard this about the war going on in Syria. It is 2017, and we assume that we are better than being at war with one another . But we know that we are not. This kind of thinking also assumes that because it is 2017 we are all thinking the same. This is lazy moral thinking.
President Trump ran on the idea of “ making America great again “ and this is also lazy and dangerous. When exactly does Mr. Trump think that America was great in its history ? I have heard that two dates are important in American history ( and I am not an American), 1776 and today. So, is Mr Trump stating that we want to return to 1776, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence ? I do not think so, but when does the President believe that America was at its greatest ? It is not when they had slavery, or when they dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima or Nagasaki, or is it ? Or was it the economic boom after World War II ? Or was it when they experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Russia ?
We are looking for the “golden era “ of our societies, and when we try to do this, we do not look at the dark parts of who we are. The Greeks think that they were the greatest at the time of the time of Alexander the Great, and all of those philosophers. Some think that the Muslim society was at its height during the Ottoman Empire around 1500-1600. Here in Canada , some Christians believe we must return to school prayer and no Sunday shopping rules.
But, we live in the here and now. I believe we are working for a just society for all. That is my bias that I try to live by. Everyone deserves to live in a safe and hunger-free environment . So, how do we decide to act in certain ways to make this happen. I know that not everyone wants justice for all. In his Inaugural Address, Mr Trump stated that his bias is that America will be first . Period. I am biased against such a worldview.
I think we should live by the first 11 verses in chapter 5 of the biography of Jesus that we call Matthew. It is the “blesseds” passage where Matthew quotes Jesus sermon… “ blessed are the poor in the spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus’ words are to lift up those who are at risk. This is the mark of great society, that they always keep those most at risk at the center of who they are. But , we live in a broken place.
The prophet Micah’s words were written maybe 2500 years ago. His society was at risk. His nation, Israel, was not living like a just society. They were not taking care of the most vulnerable in the society. His words are forward looking inviting his community to live and act differently… “ Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God “ . These words are to live by, not looking back to a better period, or saying that we just ought to be better because it is 2017. Change the world, our world, by living like Micah. The journey is hard, but worth it.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 