Act Justly, Love Mercy: Remembering and Repairing

Worship begins with a land acknowledgement that names the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Huron-Wendat, and calls non-Indigenous people to honour ongoing relationships and make right with all relations. The church year enters Lent as a season of waiting and preparation for Easter, inviting intentional practices—prayer, fasting, reading, and communal conversation—to draw closer to God. The prophet Micah’s call anchors the gathering: remember divine deliverance, reject ritual for ritual’s sake, and reorient life toward justice, mercy, and humble walking with God. Remembering functions as resistance to historical amnesia; Micah summons a collective memory that grounds identity in liberation rather than nostalgia or performative devotion.

A pilgrimage to slave castles in Ghana becomes a vivid lens on the difference between ritual and righteousness. The dungeons held chained people in darkness and despair; a functioning church built above those spaces illustrates how worship can become detached from neighborly duty when ritual ignores human suffering. Micah’s pointed question—what does the Lord require?—yields a clear ethic: act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. Justice demands confronting systems that exploit and marginalize; mercy nurtures solidarity that restores community; humility recognizes God’s presence among the voiceless.

Repair requires both personal transformation and institutional reckoning. The legacy of four hundred years of enslavement and ongoing anti-Black racism calls for reparatory justice, apologies with concrete action, and sustained anti-racism work. The United Church of Canada’s commitments—exploring apologies and engaging with the UN Decade for People of African Descent—model one path of corporate responsibility. The season of Lent and the practices it fosters provide an appropriate time to move beyond guilt into concrete action: remembrance that resists forgetting, repentance that changes behavior, and repair that seeks restoration for those harmed.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Remember to resist historical amnesia Remembering functions as an act of resistance, not mere nostalgia. Remembering re-animates identity around liberation and exposes the social forces that profit from forgetting. Committing memory to communal life equips people to confront recurring patterns of oppression and to pursue generational repair. [26:03]
• 2. Worship that ignores injustice fails Worship must translate into right relations with neighbors, not merely correct ritual. When ritual becomes performative, it risks silencing the cries of the oppressed and sheltering complicity. True worship flows outward as justice, compassion, and accountability toward those suffering. [33:01]
• 3. Repair needs personal and institutional action Repair includes inward transformation and outward commitments like reparations, apologies, and anti-racism work. Personal repentance without systemic change leaves harm unaddressed; institutional vows without personal conversion remain hollow. Both kinds of action together create pathways toward restorative justice and communal healing. [39:19]
• 4. Lent as active preparation for Easter Lent calls for intentional practices—prayer, fasting, study, and communal conversation—that form hearts for resurrection life. Preparation means practicing solidarity and repairing relationships, not simply abstaining from comforts. Approaching Easter through these disciplines cultivates durable change rather than brief sentiment. [17:25]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [02:28] - Land Acknowledgement and Thanks
• [07:06] - Candle Lighting: Light and Remembrance
• [08:39] - Call to Worship and Silence
• [15:38] - Lent: Waiting and Preparation
• [26:03] - Micah: Remembering as Resistance
• [31:12] - Slave Castle Reflection: Ritual vs Justice
• [34:46] - Micah’s Demand: Justice, Mercy, Humility
• [39:19] - Repair: Apologies and Church Commitments
• [49:32] - Multilingual Prayer and Offerings
• [55:15] - Closing Prayer and Sending

Bible reading: Micah 6:1-8 (ESV)
Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
“O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, 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?

Observation questions

1. What does the Lord remind the people of in verses 4-5? What specific acts of deliverance and guidance are recounted?
2. In verses 6-7, what kinds of offerings and sacrifices do the people suggest bringing before God? How extravagant do their proposals become?
3. According to verse 8, what is the definitive answer to the people's question? What three things does the Lord require?

Interpretation questions

1. Why do you think the people immediately jumped to proposing extravagant religious rituals and sacrifices instead of considering their behavior? What does this reveal about their understanding of a right relationship with God?
2. The story of the church built directly atop the slave dungeons [32:34] illustrates a disconnect between ritual and righteousness. How does this historical example help explain the kind of worship God rejects through the prophet Micah?
3. The requirement to "walk humbly with your God" is placed alongside acting justly and loving mercy. How does humility before God connect to the practices of justice and kindness towards others?

Application questions

1. Remembering functions as resistance to historical amnesia which allows cycles of oppression to persist [26:58]. What are some specific stories from your own community's or nation's history that need to be remembered to resist injustice today? How can you participate in this act of remembering?
2. Worship must translate into right relations with neighbors, not merely correct ritual [33:01]. In your own life, where might there be a gap between your religious practices and your treatment of people who are suffering or marginalized? What is one practical step to help close that gap?
3. Repair includes inward transformation and outward commitments [36:56]. What does personal, inward transformation look like for you regarding racial justice? What is one outward, tangible action—like learning, advocating, or giving—you could take to contribute to repair?
4. The season of Lent calls for intentional practices that form hearts for resurrection life [17:25]. Instead of just giving up a comfort, what is one practice of solidarity or relationship-building you could take on during this season to prepare for Easter?
5. The people asked God what offering would be sufficient, and the answer was a changed life. When you feel distant from God, what is your default response? Do you try to "do more" religious activities, or do you focus on doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly?