True Worship Demands Justice for All: A Micah 6:8 Reckoning

Rev. Bobby Musengwa

Transitional General Presbyter

The Old Testament passage for this Sunday is Micah 6:1-8.

Looking closely at this passage, you will notice that it is about worship, and the fruit that proceeds from our worship.

Every Sunday, congregations across Mission Presbytery gather to worship, singing beautiful hymns of God's love and declaring devotion to our Lord, Jesus Christ. This is wonderful.

Madison Square and other members of Mission Presbytery joined other Christians to bear witness at Dilley Detention Center, Texas

I have witnessed great things happening in our congregations: many of you - faithful pastors, ruling elders, deacons, committed lay leaders, and devoted parishioners - have already answered God's call to love and advocate for the most vulnerable in our midst, especially the immigrants.

Your kindness, your courage, your willingness to stand with the vulnerable reflect the heart of Jesus Christ and align well with our identity as a Matthew 25 Presbytery.

Yet I also recognize that many more of us have not yet fully answered this call.

The prophet Micah demands we honestly examine where we stand, especially given the commitments we have made as part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Matthew 25 initiative.

Micah 6 opens up as a courtroom drama, with God laying charges against God’s people, and calling upon all creation to come and adjudicate the case.

In Micah 6:8, God poses a piercing question: "What does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?

What God requires is justice, kindness, and humility lived out in the world.

And as a Matthew 25 Presbytery, we have already committed ourselves to this vision.

Currently, the justice issue facing our nation is the immigration crisis. The immigration crisis is not a political issue - it is a theological one, and it is central to who we have pledged to be.

To those of you already walking this difficult road, thank you. Your witness strengthens us all and embodies the Matthew 25 calling.

We must acknowledge the disconnect that exists in some of our congregations between our Sunday proclamation and weekday action.

We sing about God's love for all people while some remain silent about policies that separate children from parents.

We pray for mercy while overlooking inhumane conditions.

We proclaim that all are made in God's image while accepting dehumanizing rhetoric.

Yet we also see congregations living out Matthew 25 with extraordinary faithfulness.

We see churches opening their doors as sanctuaries, providing legal aid, standing vigil with families facing deportation.

We see pastors preaching boldly about justice. We see lay leaders forming immigrant advocacy networks.

This is the church at its finest - living out our faith with courage and conviction.

When Jesus told us that caring for the stranger, the hungry, the imprisoned was caring for him, he was calling us to exactly this work.

As a Matthew 25 Presbytery, we are answering that call.

To those faithful servants already engaged in this work, we lift you up and celebrate your witness.

To those still discerning how to respond, we invite you to join this sacred work.

Justice is not supplemental to our faith; it is the fruit of worship. It is the heart of our Matthew 25 commitment.

Mission Presbytery, as a Matthew 25 Presbytery, we have publicly committed to confronting systemic racism, addressing systemic poverty, and building congregational vitality through faithful action.

Immigration justice is interwoven with all three of these commitments. We commend those among us who have already embraced this calling with grace and persistence.

Your witness gives us hope and demonstrates what Matthew 25 discipleship looks like in practice.

Yet we are called to expand this circle of compassion and action across our entire presbytery.

We must preach prophetically about immigration justice from our pulpits, treating it not as a divisive political topic but as a biblical mandate and a Matthew 25 priority.

We must partner with organizations serving immigrants and serve with immigrant-led communities.

We must welcome those with immigration experience into leadership roles, allowing our congregations to be transformed by their presence and wisdom.

We must confess where we have failed through silence or indifference, then commit to genuine transformation.

For those already walking this path, we ask you to mentor others and help us understand what Matthew 25 faithfulness looks like.

For those just beginning, we welcome you with open arms. For those still uncertain, we invite you to witness the redemptive power of justice work.

The question before Mission Presbytery is both simple and demanding: Will our faith be reflected in how we treat the immigrant?

We have committed ourselves to this answer through our Matthew 25 identity.

God requires justice. God requires kindness. God requires humility.

To those who have answered this call, you embody these virtues and live out our Matthew 25 promises.

To the rest of us, your example calls us forward.

The Matthew 25 initiative is not a program we sponsor from a distance - it is who we are called to be as a people.

Until our worship translates into action for the vulnerable, we are not fully living out our faith or honoring our Matthew 25 commitment.

The time to choose justice is now.

The vulnerable are waiting.

And Christ is waiting, present in the immigrant in our midst.

Let us walk together, faithful to our calling, toward the beloved community God envisions for all