Well today's the fifth Sunday of the month this doesn't happen all that often
But we have all the kiddos with us. It's a little round of applause for all the kiddos that are joining us today
If you're new or newer usually
fifth grade and in lower would would leave and go to tree house after the songs of
Worship, but I'm excited to have you guys in the room. All right. My name is Greg Hansen
I'm one of the pastors here at the house if I haven't met you yet
I would love to maybe grab a coffee sometime
We are in the back half of a series that's called the church called
Tove it's actually based off a book the subtitles forming a goodness culture that resists abuses of power and promotes
Healing tove is just a word that means good in the scriptures and we're talking about it because churches are meant to be good
Because all of us were created good from the beginning when God created
However, you believe that happened at the beginning God looked at what he created and said this is very good
And that still exists in us the image of God is still a part of who we are
And so as we gather as we become a family as a church, we are meant to be good so far
We've discussed warning signs
We've discussed nurturing empathy nurturing grace being people first in our culture and
Truth-telling last week with pastor Jen and today keeping in mind that we have all the kids with us
I'm gonna talk about how a church with a goodness culture
nurtures
Justice, so let's jump right in. I'm gonna go to Micah
chapter 6 in our Bibles
It it goes Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk in the first testament or what some people call the Old Testament
It goes Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk if you see any of those corners, you know
You're in the right neighborhood. If you don't have a Bible, you're welcome to have one. They're blue
They're out on the bookshelf in the lobby. Just take one home with you. It is yours for free and
Otherwise you can download a Bible from any of the digital app stores
We have a tradition of giving the scriptures our full attention when they're read during the sermon each week
And so you can do that any number of ways
One way is to stand with me if you'd like and if you'd like to do that now as you are able
I'll go ahead and read the scripture
Micah 6 verse 7 and
8 Micah 6 7 and 8 says this will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams
Will he take delight in 10,000 rivers of olive oil?
Should we offer our oldest sons for the wrong things we've done?
Should we sacrifice our own children to pay for our sins?
This is all rhetorical the answer is of course not verse 8 the Lord has shown you what is good
He has told you what he requires of you. You must act with justice
You must love to show mercy and you must be humble as you live in the sight of your God
Let us pray
Father God, we thank you for the scriptures
We thank you that we we still have them that they've persisted throughout the millennia
And I pray that whatever you have for us to learn today
I pray that it would stick that would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith would become stronger
And that we would become more like your son Jesus
Amen. Amen. Thanks so I can have a seat
All right, so most of us probably have something in mind when we hear the word
Justice we have a feeling or an opinion
We think we know exactly what it means or at least we're close and depending on our background our upbringing our education
our age gender
physical abilities our economic status
Culture or ethnicity we may have very different feelings about whether
justice happens
always
often or ever at all
So the first thing we need is a common
understanding
of what we're talking about when we're talking about
Justice when the bible speaks of justice. There's a couple words that get you
Mishpat is one of them. It's a hebrew word it points to
rendering a just decision in a court
Then there's sedagah sedagah is is about a kind of justice that
prioritizes
honesty and community
Loyal i'm going to do something that is just for my community. I'm going to be loyal to that community for the sake of justice
But then in the bible justice is also married
to mercy
This is what mica is doing
When he's talking about all of these things together because they belong
together justice and mercy
Belong together we tend to think mercy is just holding back what god could do to us or what we could do
To someone else. I was raised being told that that mercy is god not giving us the punishment
We deserve and grace is him giving us the gift that we don't
deserve
And so we think often that mercy is just not doling out a punishment if we could dole out
a punishment
But mercy isn't just the action
Hear me mercy isn't just the action or what we do mercy is the motivation
Behind what we do
In hebrew the word for mercy is about a faithful
unfailing
steadfast
and loyal
love
mercy
Is love that is married to justice
Saint thomas sequinus said justice and mercy are so united that the one ought to be mingled with the other justice
Without mercy is cruelty
Mercy without justice is disillusion
in other words division
Dr. Cornell west said justice is what love looks like in public
Just like tenderness is what love feels like in private
in other words
The biblical image of justice is a faithful love that does the right thing
At the right time so that we don't dissolve
And so that we are held
together
Justice expressed
through love is often if not always what holds dramatically
different
People together in unity as one community
When michael was writing these words that you must
Have mercy you must
Have justice you must walk humbly it was around
750 years before the ministry of jesus and the people that were leading israel at the time had
Had so warped what they thought of god the way that they thought they were supposed to follow god that they willfully allowed the most vulnerable
In their nation to be taken advantage of
Their women and children were mistreated
Businesses were allowed to prosper from unjust practices and the poor were systematically
Exploited the rich got richer the poor got poorer while paying for the powerful to become richer still
Maybe that sounds just a little familiar
It's not all that different from what we experience
Today when the richest 10 percent of americans own almost 70 percent of all wealth
When the lower 50 percent of income earners own only two and a half percent of all the available funds
50 percent
Two and a half percent
10 percent
70 percent
When the average ceo makes 400 times the salary of the everyday worker?
400 times
When half the people that make our laws in the united states are millionaires
When billionaires can spend endless amounts of money to lobby for legislation and elect politicians that might favor their interests
When money opens doors and defines what is right justice is on life support
And mercy goes missing
Today we might
Expect a biblical justice and mercy
To be sparse because the u.s. Government as much as some want it to be
Is not a theocracy it is not a biblical monarchy. It is not run by a religion but in mica's day
There was no line between church and state
They were a religious monarchy they couldn't excuse their injustices with explanations of capitalism and individual rights
Because their government was responsible for caring for the vulnerable
Because their government was supposed to be following the laws of god
So what does that mean for us?
It means that we cannot
Impose what mica is saying on the u.s. Government but we can impose what mica says on the church
Now that doesn't also doesn't mean that churches shouldn't speak to the injustices in their country or elsewhere
That's not what it means at all
And hear this please
What it absolutely means is that for a church to speak to the injustices they see in the world without also or first
Speaking to and caring for the injustices in the church
It is hypocritical and hurtful and is not real justice or mercy
Couldn't tell if that was a sneeze or a say it again
Yeah, what it absolutely means is this
For the church to speak to the injustices they see in the world
without also or first
without also or first speaking to and caring for the injustices that happen in the church
Whether it's by the church or just the things that are happening between people the gaps that are between us
If the church does not address those things it becomes hypocritical and hurtful and is not real justice to only speak outwardly
The first thing they say is to look to the parable of the good samaritan found in luke 10
Because the samaritan rejects the rigid rules of the religious. He embraces empathy
He moves in mercy. He cares for a wound that he didn't create
And pays for healing. He was not responsible for the wounds he was not responsible for the wounds he was not responsible for
In fact, he says I will come back and pay any debt that has occurred
While this person stays here and heals
Justice in a church looks like brothers and sisters
Communicating shortfalls and failures that exist even if they are uncomfortable
And responding with mercy
Working to fill the gaps between us with mercy because justice married to mercy is what so often
Holds people that are so radically different
together
as one community
It is unjust to be privileged and to ignore the needs of the church
and to ignore the needs of the church that are in the same one community
It is unjust to be privileged and to ignore the needs that are around us
This is how mcknight puts it
There's no law in our legal system that demands love
But jesus does
There's no law that demands grace, but Jesus does.
Jesus is calling us to behave in ways that measure up to and conform with his teachings,
not the teachings of the world.
So then McKnight and Beringer say that after we do what is just, after we listen, after
we communicate, after we share, after we have mercy among us, that we have to be willing
to press on after the fallout.
What does that mean?
The very first year that we were at church, Christmas of 2014, that first year we didn't
do foster gifts.
So we've done, this Christmas will be the 10th time that we do foster gifts for DCFS
kids that are experiencing foster care right now.
That very first year we did boxes.
There's an international missions company that sends boxes to parts of the world and
they tell you what to put in it.
And at the time, the president of that company was saying some very xenophobic, racist things
in the public.
And there was someone that had been attending the church that very first year that they
were very excited about doing that.
And so we did it.
The next year was kind of then they started saying those things, not the person at the
church, but the person that was in charge of the ministry.
So I got around and I said, hey, I think maybe we're going to go a different direction this
year.
I think we're going to be connecting with the local foster system so that the things
that we're doing are right here, local.
And they kind of pushed a little.
And I said, honestly, it's also because the person that's in charge of that is publicly
saying things that are racist, that are xenophobic.
And I don't know that I want us to be directly connected to that.
And so they said, okay.
And a week later, the husband and wife asked me if I would have coffee with them.
So I did.
And the husband showed up and I sat down with the husband and I said, oh, where's so and
so?
And they were going, well, just wanted to let you know, we're leaving the church.
You hurt my wife's feelings.
And I said, oh, how?
Well, because we're not going to do what you said about so and so and we're not going to
do.
And I said, oh, I'm sorry.
That's not at all what I intended.
It's not at all, didn't mean to hurt anybody's feelings.
There's been times that was just the beginning.
If you are my friend on Facebook, you can only imagine how many friends and people that
I have lost over the years because of things that I believed were just, that needed to
be said or done, that then were not received in the way that they were meant.
I have responsibility for how I say things.
One hundred, one hundred, one hundred percent.
But the reality is that when a church does what they believe is just, we should not pretend
that there will not be people that leave in the wake of doing what you think is just.
Does not mean that we should celebrate that.
I could weep right now for all the people that I've lost.
I want them all.
But I also believe in doing what is right at the right time.
And sometimes that comes with fallout.
Sometimes that comes with loss.
As a church, that will also be true for you as an individual.
If you do what is just, if you offer mercy to someone that someone else does not think
deserves it, you will lose people.
There's no other way to say it.
There's no positive spin.
But at the end of it, there will be times to lament, to be sad, to mourn the loss of
friends.
That's part of being just.
The other side of being just is that there will be stories that are positive, that come
from having acted with justice, that come from having acted with mercy, that come from
doing the right thing at the right time.
I could stand here and tell you a bunch of them, but I want you to think about the ones
that you have.
What story do you have of having acted with justice and mercy and seeing what it caused
in your life and in someone else's?
Because I know that not all of you spend your life thinking of stories and writing sermons
and immediately just going, oh, this is what that would be.
What I want is I want you to have an opportunity to have a story.
So I want to tell you some ways that you can do that.
First thing is that every week in this building on Thursdays, the middle of this building
is called closet to closet.
They serve not only homeless that need clothes, but it started as a ministry that gave clothing
to children that were experiencing foster care.
And it started that way because Ali, they were adopting twin daughters that had been
in the foster system.
And one day as one of the daughters was getting new clothes, they'd grown out of the clothes
they had, she just asked, mom, can I give these clothes to another kid that's in foster
right now?
When I was in foster, I would have killed for clothes like this.
And what happened was she said, yeah.
And they collected those clothes and they figured out how to start giving it away.
And then suddenly they had a storage unit that were full of clothes.
And then suddenly they had a room in the Lutheran church that they attend.
And suddenly they had five storage units.
And then suddenly they needed their own space.
And they still have storage units full of clothing because they are really, honestly,
struggling to keep up with the need that started because one kid wanted to act justly for someone
that had been where she was.
You can serve on a Thursday night.
You can come and you can pack packages and you can put together outfits and you can fill
up boxes or you can do whatever they ask you to do knowing that you are acting justly and
providing mercy to somebody that needs it here in the Green Bush neighborhood.
You know, I've started going over and helping unload groceries on certain days at the pantry
at the Rock Island Township over on 7th.
Listen, we're not going to have a pantry ministry the way we had before.
We had a pantry ministry before at the school where we organized it.
We are now asking you of your own accord to say that because you are part of this church
that you are going to go and serve at that pantry.
Because the people that come to that pantry from half of our city, South Rock Island Township
has one as well, but this one serves our neighborhood and serves half of Rock Island.
They can come there any day of the week, Monday through Friday between 9-11 and you can be
there too.
You can help them fill up their box with food that they need.
You can help carry that box to their car.
You can learn their name and then you can have a story of justice and mercy, of how
you filled the gap, how you made someone that felt vulnerable coming to ask for food feel
like they were your equal because you are and they should not feel less than.
The township also has every weekday a meal site at 530.
You can go volunteer and serve in the meal site.
The meal site is also for the people that live in half of Rock Island.
Half of the population of Rock Island is able to go there and have a meal if they need it.
You can serve closet to closet.
You can serve the pantry in the township any day of the week, 9-11.
You can serve the meal site any day of the week at 530.
Go serve people, develop stories of justice and mercy so that the next time the Holy Spirit
or a pastor behind a pulpit says, hey, do you have a story of justice?
You think of that guy that you carried a box for.
You think of that single mother that you helped fill her box full of clothes.
You think of the person that you served food on a Wednesday night.
You think of the children that you know are going to be served by the plethora upon plethora
of clothing that occupies the middle of this building.
But I also wanted to give you a way to have a story today that before you leave that you
could have this story.
No, I'm not going to give you one of mine.
This past week, Andy Boswell made me aware.
He has a friend that is connected to a really, it's not a ministry because it's not a church
thing, but what they do is they write Christmas cards for women that have been abused that
are also incarcerated right now.
And a large percentage of people that are in jail have trauma or abuse at some point
in their life.
So, 97% of people that are in jail or prison have experienced trauma in their life.
56% of men and 54% of women have experienced physical abuse in their life.
If they're in jail or prison, you can assume that at least half of them were abused in
their life.
And then something like 20, 25% of women that are in prison or jail have been abused in
another physical nature.
I won't say out loud because there's children in the room.
This is an opportunity for us to write them a Christmas card and just give them a tiniest
little ray of hope.
Andy, being the overachiever that he is, he got 50 cards.
Just in faith going, I'm going to get all these things filled out.
And we have about 40 of them today because he's had other friends fill out about 10 of
those.
And after service, what I want you to do is, if you're willing to, come up and grab one.
There's pens here.
There's going to be instructions on the screen about things that you should not say.
These are not religious cards.
One of these might go to a Hindu or a Muslim.
And so they're not like, hey, Jesus is with you in the moment.
These are just encouraging cards for somebody that just needs the tiniest ray of justice
and mercy in a moment that they probably never planned to be in.
So right now I want you to sit where you're at and decide right now whether you'll come
up after service and fill out one of these cards.
Because I don't know how many people are in the room right now, but we got 40 of them.
So there's 40 women that just need to be told something positive.
Amen?
And then you can have the tiniest story of having acted with justice and mercy.
And it does not let you off the hook for continuing to act with justice and mercy.
Because I mean it.
I'm never going to shut up about you going over to that pantry or that meal site or closet
to closet.
You're going to keep hearing it.
But let's do this today, okay?
We as a church wants to be good.
And that goodness as we care about the things that need to happen within our own walls will
turn into and become the kind of justice and mercy that finds its way out into our city.
It will not be possible to be a healthy church and to not have an impact on the city that
you are in.
Because that's the way it's supposed to work.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Jesus, I thank you for what you're doing in us today.
I thank you that all these kids are with us in this room today.
I pray that they hear that churches, that Christians should be people of mercy, people
of biblical justice.
That they are fully equal, that they belong, that they are worthy.
While we are a church that exists to call prodigals home, to adopt the spiritually homeless,
I pray that by your spirit you would help them never feel like they are either.
That they would always feel like they are daughters and sons.
That they are family.
In the name of Jesus, amen.