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?
If I were to challenge the most prominent "voices" in Christianity today I'm thinking that humility is the virtue we Christians are most lacking. This is noted by those outside our walls, and outside our love. We take the gift of our redemption, our belongingness in the body of Christ, our being claimed by Christ, and twist it to find ways to cheapen and devalue the "other", our brothers and sisters in God's family. We use our redemption as a way to push ourselves higher in the estimation of God, ourselves and others.
The call to humility is to lower our egos to the point that we can freely, generously serve with authentic compassion, rather than condescencion, pity, and arrogance. Humility is not just between ourselves and God. It is among ourselves. We need to authentically see our own worth, but also the worth of our neighbor, stranger, even our enemy. So many of Jesus' parables and life teachings were object lessons in humility. Perhaps we should consider reviving the practice of washing of feet. The deafening arrogance of our religious culture and political culture seems to be calling for it.
The call to humility is to lower our egos to the point that we can freely, generously serve with authentic compassion, rather than condescencion, pity, and arrogance. Humility is not just between ourselves and God. It is among ourselves. We need to authentically see our own worth, but also the worth of our neighbor, stranger, even our enemy. So many of Jesus' parables and life teachings were object lessons in humility. Perhaps we should consider reviving the practice of washing of feet. The deafening arrogance of our religious culture and political culture seems to be calling for it.
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