[Seek] Justice and Mercy and Walk Humbly

[Advent 5] 

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

If we are to believe the above - if we are to strive to live it - we need to know unequivocally that black lives matter. 

For those of you who still don't understand, saying black lives matter doesn't mean that other lives don't matter. It means that we all need a reminder that black lives do matter and that racial injustice and inequality run rampant in this country; that we need to open our eyes to our privilege and to our part in it. We need to act justly, with mercy, and do so humbly. 

What we don't need to do is speak for or over the voices of people of color or insinuate ourselves into their conversations about what needs to happen in order for justice and equality to come into being. We need to listen, to understand, to support, to advocate, to use our privilege to amplify the voices of people who don't have that privilege. We need to follow the lead of people of color and to ask them what they need from us and learn how what we may be doing or want to be doing needs to change. We need to acknowledge our own prejudices and our own racist qualities or tendencies. 

We need to do more than put a bumper sticker on our car or wear a t-shirt or #blacklivesmatter. We need to teach ourselves, our neighbors, and our children about justice for all, equality for all, and about the beauty in diversity. 

After all, that's what God's kingdom here on earth is supposed to look like. It's supposed to look like love for everyone, justice for everyone, mercy for everyone. It looks like listening to others with the intention to hear and take in and understand what they are saying, not to reply with our own agenda. It is about having a different opinion, but being humble in our response, accepting our differences and the great diversity with which God has blessed the world.