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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues.
"Oh my people"
The refrain ‘O my people’ comes from Micah 6:3. where it is God’s lament over his unfaithful people. It is used in the Reproaches which contrast the cruelty Jesus suffered with the kindness of his purpose and the message of the beatitudes.
Context
‘Oh my people,’ cried God over the defeated German nation after the First World War. But they looked for a victim on whom to take out the bitterness they felt, resulting in the Holocaust, the murder of 6 million innocent Jews. 27 January, Holocaust Memorial Day, is the day when the cry ‘Oh my people’ is once again God’s cry over the suffering of people as they recognise and respond to their maker. It's also a reproach against those who have turned away.
Theodor Meron, the ‘The Holocaust survivor judge who issued Netanyahu’s arrest warrant’ still feels, at the age of 95, a responsibility to ensure the horrors of Nazi persecution are never forgotten, but upholding justice also requires him to act against injustice committed by fellow Jews. He hears God’s cry made over the people he loves, as Micah proclaimed it, and with it, in great sorrow, asks why they have turned against God, forgetting all he has done for them. Micah not only accuses the people of idolatry but extreme rejection of their true God in offering human sacrifice: ‘Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression?’ (Micah 6:7).
Psalm 15 addresses a people embittered by their suffering. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah are long gone, and the remnant of those once enslaved is all that remains. Instead of acting in kindness (Do justice, love kindness Micah 6:8) they look for a victim on whom to take out their anger, and think making a sacrifice of an animal or, in extreme cases, their firstborn, is appropriate conduct. Time and again the prophets had warned that making sacrifices was not pleasing to God (Amos 5:21-25). God asks only for justice, as epitomised in the life of Theodor Meron.
But we don't learn. Today would-be political leaders cry out that our country is ‘broken’. Their rhetoric is designed to give people a feeling of grievance like that felt by defeated Germans after WW1. And with that comes a feeling that the solution is to lash out, to make a sacrifice of others as in the days of Micah. It could be immigrants or anyone who can be used as a target, as during the 2024 riots in Southport. Tragically, faithful Jewish people, who do justice and love kindness, have also been targeted.
All need to hear the gentle voice proclaiming God’s blessing on all victims, and blessings on peacemakers, the merciful, and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Reflections
‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ Can peace be found from those who peddle a sense of grievance? From Putin, who thinks he has a right to control Ukraine which was once part of the Soviet empire? From Trump, whose cry to ‘Make America great again’ is based on the grievance that he believes America to have been robbed and he needs to respond with tariffs or even war? From Netanyahu, who has made Gaza a land only of refugees? The feeling of grievance gives way to the even more dangerous feeling of entitlement - the right to:
- obliterate Gaza or Kiev, bombing hospitals in the process;
- capture a president;
- turn national troops on one’s own nation.
God laments over these, his people, also.
Questions
- Are there dangers in political rhetoric? What can be done to avert them?
- The week of prayer for Christian unity ended on 25 January. How does the disunity of Christians grieve God, and have we ceased to care?
- The first of the beatitudes in the NEB says ‘Blessed are those who know their need of God.’ In what ways have you found knowing your own need to be a blessing?
Revd Dr Tom Ambrose is a retired priest, ministering in the Parish of the Ascension, Cambridge.
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Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people
There’s lots going on for sports fans this week, with the Six Nations rugby championship beginning on Thursday, the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games being on Friday and the Australian Open tennis championship coming to its final round.
There has been some controversy around player privacy at the Australian Open after footage was broadcast of American tennis player Coco Gauff smashing her racquet in the players’ area following defeat. In a later interview, Gauff told reporters that she once smashed a racquet in frustration while on the court, but she vowed never to do that again. She explained that she needed a way to let out emotion but didn’t want to take it out on her team or to set a bad example in front of children in the crowd. By going somewhere she thought was private, she was consciously altering her behaviour to try to act more kindly towards others. When have you intentionally changed the way you do something to be more kind to others?
In Micah 6:1-8, the people of Israel ask God what sort of offering they should bring. Micah tells them that God doesn’t require sacrifices or burnt offerings, but actions which show justice and kindness. When we consciously make an effort to act justly or kindly, we are also making an offering of worship to God. In what ways might you show justice and kindness this week?
The Winter Olympic opening ceremony will take as its theme ‘Armonia’, meaning ‘harmony’ or ‘fitting together’. The organisers have said that this is to bring the world together to showcase shared values and to unite and inspire people. At a time when so many stories in our news around the world are about division, conflict and disagreement, this concept of ‘Armonia’ offers an alternative: a way of approaching difference with love, kindness and justice.
- Where do you encounter difference?
- How might a spirit of ‘Armonia’ help you live out Micah’s call to do justice and love kindness in that situation?
- How would that help you walk more closely with God?
Darren Philip works for the Church of Scotland and is author of Being an Intergenerational Church: Practices to Bring the Generations Back Together.
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