Find the Spirit of Humility

The Rev. Jeri Gray-Reneberg
For the Times-Standard

There is a cherished plaque on my wall, made for me by a calligrapher friend in Iowa, that says “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This bible verse is found in the book of Micah, Chapter 6, Verse 8.

Even apart from their historical context, these words present an ethical position that appeals to me. Each of the exhortations is perfectly balanced with the other two – and, together, they seem to be an unmatched tool to deepen spirituality.
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Rest of article from Joe Blows Report:

We all know what it means to do justice. When we are focused on justice-doing, we look at the human-made structures that oppress people, animals and the Earth. We may be looking at an individual situation, but there are elements of the general, even the political. Some of us would prefer not to have to deal with these situations. They are often messy and controversial, and they demand effort -- even our life's blood. For this reason, we sometimes find that we are able to focus on only one or two areas that we are especially passionate about.

Regarding kindness: I think many of us love kindness when it is directed at us, but maybe not when we are asked to be kind to others. We are kind mostly in individual situations. And those who prefer the “justice mode” of ethical response are sometimes uncomfortable with kindness. It feels too mushy, too based on feelings – but there it is, we are asked to respect, and even protect, each others’ feelings.

Walking humbly with our God … I am reminded of the old Chevy Chase saying from “Saturday Night Live”: “Hello. I’m Chevy Chase – and your not!” This phrase invites us to remember that God is God – and we are not. Remember that “We are dust … and to dust we shall return,” in the words many congregations hear on Ash Wednesday. “Humble” is related to “humus,” or dirt. In other words, we are no greater than anyone else. We are all on the same level, being kind and striving for justice while we worship our God, who is greater and more wonderful than we are able to imagine.

Distortions of these three ethical positions are all around us, and impact us every day. We are unjust when we refuse to look at systems and attitudes that contribute to racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism and anthropocentrism (when we see humanity as the center of the universe). We feel free to apply a double standard, and we keep new models of leadership from becoming widespread and generally accepted because we prevent women, people of color and those whose voices have not been dominant from holding positions of influence.

We are unkind when we become angry and speak one word too many. We are unkind when we see only our own needs. We are unkind when we allow our prejudices to determine the degree of empathy we feel for others. We are unkind when we refuse to care that a felling creature, human or animal, is be hurt.

And finally, we don’t walk humbly with God when we make sure that ours are always the loudest voices, drowning out all the others. We show a shocking lack of humility when we believe that others are put on this Earth to serve our needs, and that we are justified in isolating, abusing and controlling them. We commit spiritual abuse against others, and God, when we threaten people with excommunication or hell because they refuse to be victims or the believe our narrowly constructed theology.

Let us all pray, within our own traditions, that we might recover the spirit of humility is all of our interactions, that we might be reoriented toward God, the rest of creation, and each other.