Fellowship – Snacks or a Meal (10 minutes with snacks; longer, obviously, if there is a meal).
Gathering Time (5-10 minutes). In pairs or groups of three, have participants answer, “How do you determine what is good?”
Group Dialogue (Approximately 30 minutes). Read Micah 6:1-8.
Imagine that Micah offers an analogy of a court proceeding. Who is the plaintiff and who is the defendant? [The Lord is the plaintiff, bringing a case against Israel, the defendant (Micah 6:1-2).]
What question does God ask Israel? [“O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!” (Micah 6:3).]
- How does Israel answer God’s question?[No answer is recorded in this passage.]
- What does this question indicate about the state of the relationship between Israel and the Lord?
- How might a contemporary Christian answer God’s question?
How does God testify? [The Lord selected events from the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery—beginning with the sending of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam as deliverers. God gives an example of protecting Israel from a plot against them and mentions Shittim and Gilgal to represent their crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. (Micah 6:5)]
- If God testified about saving acts in your life, what would God say? If you are willing to do so, share one saving act of God with your small group.
What does Israel consider a good way to do penance for their sins and transgressions? [Exaggerated worship rituals and, in the case of child sacrifice, a forbidden one. (Micah 6:6-7).]
What does God say is good? [To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).]
The Preaching Notes for February 1 say: “God has told you what is good. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God. A trilogy of living in this world. Three actions, three poles around which life revolves. The divergent behaviors that send us scattering around the world, around the community, around the room in the nursing home, trying to do justice.”
- What good will you do this week? For whom?
Prayer (10 minutes). Share prayer requests and respond appropriately.
Sending Forth (2 minutes). End with the following prayer, a similar prayer, or the Lord’s Prayer: God of justice, thank you for every saving act you have done in our lives. Please let us go forth spreading goodness by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with you. Amen.
Rev. Sherry Bryant-Johnson, a United Methodist deacon, served extension ministries in the Mississippi Annual Conference for nearly three decades. Now retired, she teaches “Abiding in Christ Together: Creating Gospel-Centric Retreats” as well as Lay Servant Ministries courses online at www.BeaDisciple.com. An author and a spiritual director, she is an editor and essayist for the anthology, Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (Morehouse, 2014).
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