This is what Yahweh asks of you...

So I have another seminary session starting up soon. This session I'll be taking Ministerial Issues, and one of my books is a collection of three essays. The collection is called To Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly: An Agenda for Ministers, and I began reading it last night. The title comes from Micah 6.8. The first essayist is Walter Brueggemann, a Biblical scholar, and he's absolutely amazing! I've come across some of his stuff in other classes (Hebrew Scriptures, Preaching, etc.), and his understanding of the scriptures is simply fascinating.

Here's a quote from the book from Micah's vision of a new future for Israel in 4.1-4:

Disarmament is not a commitment in a vacuum, but is part of the justice-making process. The other side of the issue, in this poem, is the willingness to settle for a peasant standard of living, content with vine and fig tree. So peace envisioned here requires a shift of economic priorities, which permits the end of greed, the end of rapacious taxes, the end of exploitation either by strong parties or ruthless governments.

I know that the comments about government could be used as "I told you so!" points from either side of the aisle here in the US, but it's bigger than that. Rather than pointing fingers at one political party or another, we I need to own that I am part of the problem if I'm not willing to be part of the solution. It is very difficult to figure out where to strike a balance in our standard of living, but - as Brueggemann suggests earlier on in the book - how do we consider what is really ours after all? In our day and culture, this is less a criticism of our government and more a challenge to us as individuals that exist in a society that feeds off of consumerism, vanity and narcissism instead of love, compassion, peace and justice. If we as a people are pursuing peace in our daily lives, relationship with others and justice - the return of what belongs to another - our government will be a reflection of that. Instead, we encourage poor trade practices, poor economical practices, poor justice practices and these all result in poor foreign relations practices.