WEEK OF PRAYER Pray with Mennonite Brethren across Canada
2016 uring the mid-1980s, I spent two summers doing camp work. One of my highlights was chapel. Camper participation would move from half-hearted, tentative singing to full-on, lung-busting expression. Week after week, campers’ favourite song was from Micah 6:8:
He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. At the time, I can’t say we thought about what we were belting out. Years later, I live much more aware of God’s call on his people to give voice to Micah 6:8 in thought, word and deed. In a world filled with injustice, where the rights of one trump what is best for all, Micah 6:8 is a call to rise above the human condition because of who God our Father is. The 2016 week of prayer is focused on crying out for Micah 6:8 to become
our reality personally and corporately, locally and globally.
the people of God, to bring the reality of God’s kingdom in this world.
Micah calls for justice. Not systemic justice but personal justice: willingness to “do the next right thing” day in and day out; choosing right over comfort or political correctness. It is the counteraction to allowing evil to prosper in our silence when we allow fear to consume our thinking and define our actions.
This begins with our own walk with Christ. Have you dealt with your personal sin? Have you given your life to Jesus as your Saviour, healer, redeemer? We cannot fully engage in the ethics of Jesus until we come to the cross of Christ. It is as we deal with our sin and brokenness through Christ’s atoning work and the power of the resurrection that we become agents of the kingdom life to which Jesus calls us. It is out of personal awareness of God initiating justice and mercy on our behalf that we can become his “Micah” agents.
He calls us to “love mercy.” A simple definition of mercy is “not getting what we deserve” – and not handing out what, in our minds, others deserve. Finally, Micah reminds his audience to walk with God in humility. Scholar W.J. Dumbrell says “walk humbly” is more accurately rendered “be careful to live the way your God wants you to.” Today, the world is crying out for the justice of God even though we struggle to understand what that is. We need to repent of silence in the face of injustice, of judgment where mercy was called for and of pride where humility was hoped for. God tasks us,
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At the beginning of a new year, join Mennonite Brethren across Canada on a week of prayer, guided by daily reflections on Micah 6:1–8 from members of the board of faith and life.
P: (888) 669-6575 | (204) 669-6575
Willy Reimer, executive director
mennonitebrethren.ca
DAY ONE: Pay attention
Jon Isaak,
director of the Centre for MB Studies, Winnipeg
One reason I like to travel is to hear how others use language or pronounce their words. I’ll never forget the first time I heard the word “conTROversy” with the emphasis on the second syllable, and not on the first syllable as I was accustomed: “CONtroversy.” Hearing words pronounced slightly differently stops us short and makes us pay attention; it causes us to reflect on whether we really understand what the person is communicating by using the word in a particular way. In this year’s Micah 6 prayer guide text, we also find a “controversy,” at least that is the way some translations frame verse 2: “The Lord has a controversy with his people.” Whether you pronounce “controversy” with the emphasis on the first or second syllable, the prophet Micah sets out the Lord’s concern: namely, that the people have forgotten the saving acts of old and what it means to walk humbly with God. This is a serious contention that Micah is making on behalf of the Lord. Micah stands in solidarity with Amos, Hosea and Isaiah as a fierce champion of vital and life-giving worship worthy of the Lord, and of real social justice in interpersonal relationships, also worthy of the Lord.
WEEK OF PRAYER 2016
• As you begin this new year in prayer, let the Lord’s contention – the Lord’s controversy – empower you to choose the way of the Lord; that is, to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with God. • What might this mean for you today? Which relational challenges come to mind? What ethical or environmental business remains unfinished? With whom do you need a follow-up conversation? • Pray that you would respond to the challenges that are sure to come today with justice, kindness and humility. • Thank Jesus for his assurance to help you by his Spirit to be the Lord’s “hands and feet” in all you do today.
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
DAY TWO: Live the new reality
Paul J. Loewen,
conference minister, Alberta
I know someone who adopted a Lab/Rottweiler cross. The first owner had been both abusive and neglectful, creating a dog that was anxious and passive. With lots of love and training, Samson has become a wonderful pet. At times, the re-homed dog still acts out of the old ownership mindset, but with patience and firm support, even these episodes are short-lived. Dog and owner have become an inseparable pair. Being “owned” by someone can be fearsome or life-giving, depending on the owner. The ownership language used in Micah’s challenge to the people living in and around Jerusalem is marked with contrasts. Terms like “the nations” and “you peoples” are juxtaposed with ownership phrases like “my people” and “I redeemed you.” Yahweh is the good “owner of Israel,” the one who with firm support reminds the inhabitants of Jerusalem that he has “redeemed them from the house of slavery” and called them to live into their new reality, free from corruption and pretence. This is covenantal language; it says, you’ve been re-homed, “I’m committed to you forever.” I wonder: can you list three things that God has done for you, things that you could never have done on your own? Thank the Lord for his “ownership” commitment to you. As the new year begins, promise him that you will live within the cover of his grace going forward.
WEEK OF PRAYER 2016
• As you pray, thank the Lord for the reminders of how God initiates relationship with you and then invites you to live within his grace. • Ask God to forgive you for the times when you have mixed things up – trying to gain God’s grace by doing good things. • With the prophet Micah, ask the Lord to bring to mind all the things he has done for you, the community of faith and the world. • Respond to God, your life-giving owner, with a commitment to live justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him.
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
DAY THREE: Receive the rescue
Ed Willms,
executive director, Ontario
Years ago, while I driving in a new city, a police officer pulled me over for making a U-turn. I was dumbfounded. Are U-turns illegal here? With youthful zeal, I pleaded my case in court. Standing confidently before the judge, I was unprepared for what ensued. “Did you make a U-turn?” was the first and only question. As a muffled “Yes” came out of my mouth, his gavel fell and “guilty” echoed through the chamber. Guilty?! I was stunned and summarily fined. When I read Micah 6, memories of that U-turn moment flash through my mind. The Israelites are on trial. God is bringing a charge: “Stand up and plead your case.” As I enter into the prophet’s story, my hand instinctively covers my mouth; I too am guilty. Like the folks in Micah’s indictment, I have fostered a sense of entitlement over God’s redemptive activities. I have scorned or frustrated those he sent to lead me. And I have overlooked the amazing miracles he has worked in my life. If that were not enough, I also have a tendency to cover up my guilt. I work harder, sacrifice more and even neglect my children in the name of service. I stand condemned.
• As you pray, consider the case God puts before you. Does it ring true? I’d suggest you not try to defend yourself. Rather, reflect on how he has set you free. • Consider the leaders around you; offer prayers of protection and blessing over them. Consider the lifelong journey God has you on; what adjustments are needed? • Allow his amazing grace to wash over you. It’s not what we do, but what he is doing in us that brings life.
Thankfully, God is a step ahead with a rescue plan. He sent his son who modelled how to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. “Thanks be to God” (Romans 7:25).
WEEK OF PRAYER 2016
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
DAY FOUR: Choose right
Ingrid Reichard,
vice chair, Ontario
My son loves kicking a ball around in our front yard to the point that we are now certain we have a future soccer star in our midst. The ball often ends up on the street, which is fortunately a quiet culde-sac. My husband and I repeatedly ask our son not to run after the ball, but to stop and look first, and when all is safe, go and get the ball. We end our talk with the usual: “You know you are to look before you step out on the street.” “You know what is expected,” God says to Israel in Micah 6:8. “I’ve told you to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.” Like our son, we nod our head in agreement; yes, we know that. How is it that we don’t consistently do that? Knowing does not automatically translate into doing. The strength we need to truly change is beyond that of good intentions or willpower. It takes the power of God’s Spirit, transforming us at our core. Only as we invite the Holy Spirit to intervene in our inner selves, as we invite his change from within, will we experience a new propensity to choose God and his ways as our preferred – indeed, our natural – choice.
WEEK OF PRAYER 2016
• Ask the Lord to show you knowledge about him and his ways. What is standing in the way of complete surrender to God in each of these areas? • Ask God to help you understand your part in removing obstacles to transformation. Declare your intent to do your part and formulate a plan. • Ask for the grace necessary for true change to take place within you. • Pray that we would live into the fullness of the Spirit of Christ in our obedience and in our heart alignment, as those who know and do that which God has asked of us.
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
DAY FIVE: Obey the one who loves you
Ben Kramer,
provincial representative, Saskatchewan
For a dad of three boys, bedtimes are both the greatest and most agonizing time of any day. Every night, it’s the same routine for bedtime, and seemingly every night the same drama unfolds. After numerous reminders and warnings, ultimately dad has to show up in person and have a confrontation.
• As you pray through this passage, ask God to help you remember his faithfulness and what he has asked of you.
“What is it that I asked you to do?” To go upstairs and get ready for bed and brush teeth.
• Ask God to reveal your blind spots where you have forgotten to act as and be a person whose father is God.
“So why are you doing everything but that?” We were just having so much fun doing [insert any distraction here]. “How do you think I feel when you ignore what I’ve asked of you to just do what you feel like?” Sorry... “I don’t want your ‘sorry,’ I just want you to obey. When you ignore me, it makes me feel unimportant. Please listen to me so we can all enjoy life together instead of having this fight every night.” Okay... As I read through Micah 6:1–8, I am confronted by the feelings of God through the words of the text. “My people,...how have I burdened you?” (v.3) To love God with all I am, and to love my neighbour as myself, accepting and sharing the gospel in word and action. Sorry...
• Confess the times you have realized your sins, and merely said sorry instead of humbly coming to God and asking for his forgiveness and reconciliation. • Finally, ask God to help you simply to act justly, be merciful and follow him in humility.
“I don’t want your sacrifices of calves, rams, olive oil or your firstborn child. I just want you to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with me.” Okay...
WEEK OF PRAYER 2016
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
DAY SIX: Experience grace
Brian Cooper,
chair/provincial representative, British Columbia
“Justice” is an overused term. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear someone calling for justice for a person or a cause – often for him – or herself. Sometimes the Christian appeal to the justice of God in defence of certain freedoms seems to contradict the grace we claim to show others. In Micah 6, Yahweh’s accusation against Israel is implicitly a call for justice: Israel has committed a grave injustice against God. Israel has dishonoured God, not simply in direct disobedience, but also in the unfair treatment of others. This offence is especially grievous in light of the grace that God has shown his people. Each of us has experienced God’s grace in many ways; I recall the care shown our family after the loss of a child, the unexpected gift that made it possible to purchase our home. God has been truly good to me and my family. And yet I pervert God’s justice and grace with my selfishness toward others. What is noteworthy in Micah 6 is that the remedy for Israel’s sin is not simply justice. Ultimately, Yahweh desires not many sacrifices, but that his people respond to his mercy by reflecting his justice and grace. Making restitution would destroy Israel, so God makes another way possible.
• As you pray today, reflect on the amazing ways that God has shown grace and mercy to you in your life. • Confess how you may have succumbed to the lure of pursuing remedial justice through simply seeking forgiveness without also living your true calling, bearing witness to the grace and mercy of the Lord. • Reflect on the injunction in Micah 6:8; how can you reflect God’s call to justice, mercy and humility for others today?
Similarly, God makes a way for me. Despite my sin, through God’s mercy and grace, I can be part of God’s justice – not just for me, but for others.
WEEK OF PRAYER 2016
Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
All photos courtesy of MB Mission
DAY SEVEN: Put kindness in the front seat My adolescent years were spent as a missionary kid in southern France. Almost every summer, my father would load us into the family Volkswagen van to make the three-day trip to Finland, my mother’s homeland. We would travel there to enjoy a family vacation at the lake. To get there, we travelled over majestic Swiss Alps, past verdant German countryside and across choppy seas on the ferry between Sweden and Finland. Such a journey is one that I would love to repeat as an adult – but as kids we were not quite so appreciative. On the long journey home, we would make life unbearable for each other with our teasing, hair pulling and bad behaviour. My dad would finally intervene by saying: “You know kids, you have been privileged to see half of Europe and is this how you show your gratitude? Can you please behave for just a few more hours?” Bad behaviour toward our brothers and sisters is not just for kids! Micah 6:1 enjoins us to hear God’s complaint about his children’s bad behaviour: greed, dishonest business practices, abuse of vulnerable people, contempt for people who are poor, betrayal of confidences. God is like a father forcefully challenging his children to smarten up!
WEEK OF WEEK PRAYER OF PRAYER 2016 2016
Keith Poysti,
conference minister, Manitoba
• Pray for self-awareness today. What is God’s complaint about how you have treated other people? Who have you sinned against by dishonest or unjust actions? Acknowledge your transgressions against others to God in prayer. • Pray to remember. Remember the many ways God has shown grace to you, beginning with salvation in Jesus Christ. Ask God to bring to mind his tender mercies towards you. • Pray for help to do good better. Pray for God to show you specific ways you can treat sisters and brothers with greater justice, kindness, and humility— regarding others as better than yourself. Ask God to show you a person to whom you need to show kindness.
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