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He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the\xa0Lord\xa0require of you? To act justly\xa0and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Lately, I have been mulling over this verse.\xa0 What does it mean to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God? \xa0Just before Canada Day there were more graves discovered near a residential school in B.C. \xa0It may seem easier to pray and allow others who are \u201cmore invested\u201d do their part in perpetrating justice and preventing further injustice.\xa0 But prayer alone, although this is much needed and one tenant of faith that God calls us to at this time, will not dampen the grief, nor remove the trauma of residential school survivors and their families.\xa0 Pastor Michael offered three suggestions on Wednesday from an article on how to move forward from where we are.\xa0 Truth telling, right teaching and action taking.

Today, I want to look at the biblical foundation and discipline of justice. The root of biblical justice starts in Genesis 1 when humans are set apart from every other creature as the image of God.\xa0 God\u2019s representatives that rule the world.\xa0 All people were created equal before God and have the right to be treated in equity, dignity, and fairness. But Adam and Eve rebelled against God, causing sin to enter the world.\xa0 People started to take advantage of one another.\xa0 In the biblical story this happens on a personal level, in families, in communities and entire people groups that perpetrate injustice, especially towards those who are vulnerable.

The root of the biblical word for justice has to do with doing good and correcting oppression.\xa0 The Hebrew word for justice is mishpat. It can refer to retributive justice, such as we find in our judicial system, and in many examples throughout the Bible. And yes, we can pray for retributive justice for those in the wrong. \xa0Often in the Bible mishpat refers to restorative justice.\xa0 That means taking the extra step to seek out and help those who are being and have been treated inequitably or unjustly.\xa0 It also means taking steps to advocate for vulnerable populations and individuals and to prevent injustice.\xa0 And it means too, seeing each individual as a person with a story to tell and a worth of great importance.

And justice is often found paired with the word righteousness which refers to right relationships between people.\xa0 That is, treating others as God\u2019s image bearers, worthy of dignity and respect.\xa0 Biblical righteousness is a form of social justice in which the givers benefit from giving as much as or even more than the recipients.\xa0 What do we have to learn from indigenous individuals who have a story to tell? \xa0Biblical justice involves both a lifting up into a place of honour and a restoration for those in the place of injustice.\xa0

The community I live in, the Crown Point community, has the highest population of indigenous people in Hamilton.\xa0 There are several Band houses on my street and one of my children\u2019s best friends is indigenous as well. \xa0These individuals are further removed from this tragedy that has occurred, but their grief is no less real for the community for which they represent.

I think that we can see how loving mercy and walking in humility with God are intimately linked with acts of justice.\xa0 The word \u201cmercy\u201d comes from a Latin word which means \u201cprice paid.\u201d Jesus paid the price for all of the legacy of injustice of humankind one to another, coming to earth, forgiving us and dying for us all.\xa0 Jesus, a gift from God to us.\xa0 Now God declares us righteous not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us.\xa0 When we seek righteousness and justice for others we are humbling ourselves before the vulnerable among us and showing mercy to fellow image-bearers of Christ, those in the indigenous communities, in the incredible hope that one day, all things will be made new.

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