minor prophets: micah

almost forgot to mention micah, my past sunday's sermon topic. i just gave the usual overview of the times, culture, author, and book, and ended with a more in-depth look at my favorite verse- 6:8. "he has shown you, o man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God." (cate trans) i remember that verse from elementary school.. we used to sing it in sunday school. it's one of those few very vivid memories.. the two ladies sitting in front with their guitarres leading this song. i don't think i knew it was a Bible verse until i already knew it by heart. good times. if you do anything with kids, please teach them some more scripture songs!

and i guess it wouldn't be a sermon from me if it didn't have some wacky unexpected edge in it.. i read aloud from a douglas adam's book. if you know who he is, you are probably hitting yourself in the face right now wondering how i could preach using him... one of his lesser known books is a glossary of city names and their meanings. i have the german translation, so i can't really give an example.. but they are not too be taken seriously. i am guessing the us version would be something like "los angeles.. a city where even angels get lost." (thats from me, not adams) the thing is, those are the kind of word-plays micah used to first get the attention of his audience. if you take a look at chapter 1, the cities he listed off and the things he says over them are very related in meaning. i chose cities for my sermon that people in my audience come from. it was fun, and it got their attention- i think micah had it going on rhetorically.

at the end i gave homework: to memorize micah 6:8, and to spend time this week practicing and realizing the commands given in it.