Epiphany 4                                                                                        1/30/05

“Just A Closer Walk With Thee” 

 A Guided Meditation 

God established a covenant with his people very early in their history.  A covenant is a kind of agreement.  Now, when one of the parties in the agreement is much more powerful than the other that terms of that agreement tend to benefit the more powerful party. 

By God’s grace, the Covenant He gave made the people the true beneficiaries.  God’s Covenant promised that He would walk with His people, care for them, guide them, protect them and bless them all their days.  God’s Covenant asked very little in return: only that they love and honor Him as their God and that they care for each other as He cared for them.

Of course, it was sin that made the Covenant necessary, for until Adam and Eve disobeyed, they had the privilege of walking with God every day.  As sinners, God’s chosen people repeatedly violated their part of the Covenant and God had to discipline them so that they could once again appreciate the gift of the Covenant.

This is what is going on in the days of Micah.  Micah lived and worked in the Southern Kingdom of Israel, south of Jerusalem around 700 years before Christ.  He prophesied around the same time as Isaiah and his message was a warning to the people, especially the wealthier, more powerful people of Israel that God will punish them for their sinful behavior toward the weaker members of their people.  Soon., they will be conquered by the Assyrians and taken into exile.

But, God always holds out hope for His people.  He is always faithful to His Covenant promises.  This will be even more important to those who have been taken advantage of by rich, whose homes and freedom have already been taken away.  They have even more reason to place their hope in God’s promise to walk with them again when God’s justice is satisfied.

Thus, we have these beautiful words in Micah 6:8, “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.”  When the people have learned their lesson and are ready to fulfill their part of the Covenant they will once again care for each other, exhibit the “chesed” or loving kindness of God to each other and will be able to have that relationship with God that Adam and Eve had in the garden.

Ultimately, as the most gracious act of God’s Covenant love, He sent Jesus as the final seal of the Covenant.  His death and resurrection made it possible for us to, however imperfectly, take that walk with God.  Today, we are able to say to God, “Just a closer walk with thee” and then open ourselves to the experience of that relationship through prayer and meditation.  God still calls us to Covenant faithfulness – to love and care for each other, and to be faithful to Him.

He also still promises to bless us in ways we can hardly imagine even if we are among those who don’t have wealth or power.

God calls us to take this walk with Him and listen to not only what He would require of us, but also to the ways He would bless us. 

Let’s take a walk with God right now and listen to what He would say to us.  I’d like you now to get at comfortable as possible in your pew, close your eyes, and try to see, hear and feel what I describe for you.  Most of all open your inner ear and hear the unique message God has for each of you.  For just as He made and gifted each of us uniquely, He also has a somewhat different messages for each of us.  I will end the meditation with a version of the Beatitudes from a book called The Message.

Take a deep breath and use your inner eye to see yourself in a different place.

You are walking along a country road with Jesus.  The pace is slow because you are one of His disciples and He has been teaching you about God’s Covenant promise as you walk along. 

(Take a moment to see the scene.  Look at the grain doing a slow graceful dance in the light breeze that cools you.  Hear the call of birds.  Smell the clean air.  Feel what it is like to have been walking for miles.

You are not one of the twelve apostles, but rather one of the temporary disciples who comes to learn from Jesus and then goes back home to a less vigorous life of faith.  See yourself as this disciple.  Are you young or old?  Are you poor or among the working class?  Are you alone or do you have the support of family and friends who are also disciples?  These are parts of your story that makes it your unique story, so take a moment to see yourself as you really are.  (Pause)

Jesus has paused in His teaching to give you a chance to ask Him questions about what you have learned.

What would you ask Him about what the Lord would require of you in this relationship you have with Him?  (Pause)

Ask Him what doing justice is to mean in your life.  Is this to be more doing on your part or more receiving of justice?  (Pause)

Ask Him to show you what loving kindness would mean for you.  How do you experience it in your life?  How can you show it to others at home, at school, at work, in the community, at church?  (Pause)

True humility comes from strength, from knowing you are loved and valued as you are.  As Jesus to show you the image of yourself that He has of you, His most beloved child.

What will it be like to walk humbly with God with this image of yourself?  (Pause)

You’ve been so involved in this closer walk with Jesus that you haven’t even noticed that you have been climbing a hill and that you are surrounded by a great crowd of people.  Hear Jesus tell you and them to sit down, that He has important words to share with you.  Now listen to His beatitudes as they might sound in your life today:

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.  Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less.  That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can be bought.

You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God.  He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

You’re blessed when you care.  At the moment of being care-full, you find yourselves cared for.

You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right.  Then you can see God in the outside world.

You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.  That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes tiredness and discomfort in you, or even results in persecution.  This drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. 

Not only that, count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me.  What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.  You can be glad when that happens, give a cheer, even for though they don’t like it, I do!  And all heaven applauds.  And know that you are in good company.  My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”

Jesus pauses to let this sink in.  He looks at you with love and compassion.  He knows that your life is not easy, that following Him in this day and age can be difficult and that what He calls you to may be hard at times.  He knows because He has suffered too and He knows because He is right there in your life with you each day.  Take a moment to enjoy this knowledge of Jesus walking with you throughout your life keeping God’s Covenant promise to you.  Then open your eyes and share a word of loving kindness with the person in the pew next to you or near you.  (Pause)

Amen