This is the first in a series of presidential editorials that I intend to do as president of the Ministerial Alliance of North Amityville and Vicinity. So let me begin with a heart felt thank you to the members of the alliance that have honored me with the task of providing leadership to this organization. Like so many of you I find myself busy with any number of assignments and there are times when my plate feels like a platter as it relates to my schedule. But for me, the opportunity to serve this organization is much more than just something else to do. MANA has been apart of my life since I was a teenager. I vividly remember the day my father, Dr. Andy C. “Daddy” Lewter came home and told my mother that something had to be done because he was tired of losing the lives of the young people in our community to the ravages of drugs and violence that had taken hold of North Amityville. I remember too each year in January when he would visit local churches and politicians urging them to attend the annual Martin Luther King worship service to keep the memory of the dreamer alive. So for me, the opportunity to serve as the president of the organization that my father founded over forty years ago is both a treat and an honor.

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But what is it friends that we are called to do in this quest to serve each other and our community. I am convinced that we do not need just another opportunity to take pictures and award ourselves with laurels and notoriety. The agenda set before us, I believe, is captured in the words of scripture, more specifically, Micah 6:8

“He hath shown thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

According to the prophetic of Micah, from the pages of the Old Testament, there is a three part expectation that God has of us all. The first of the three is “do justly (justice)”. I would note here that the expectation is not to merely think about justice or even to talk about justice. Notice the text says that we are “do justice”, which is an action phrase. Justice is not something that we just talk about but it is something that God requires us to do. When we see all of the items of injustice that surrounds us, whether it is aggressive land grabs in Europe, an ignoring of climate change, the disproportionate distribution of wealth in this country or the abuse of rights upon the citizenry of our country, the Bible clearly suggests that there is something that we ought to do about it. If my leadership of MANA means anything then I would conclude that it encompass us taking opportunities to perform acts of justice in the places where we live.

Secondly, Micah 6:8 advises us to “love mercy”. The Hebrew word here that is coupled with mercy is the word love. Not the romantic type of love that characterizes our relationships of affection, but the word ‘love” here is meant to suggest passion and enthusiasm. To love mercy means not to place it on a shelf or set it aside for somebody else to perform. No it means to affirm it in such a way that it becomes apart of who and what we are. Mercy is the act of doing to others what you would want them to do for you if you were in their shoes or situation. How many times have we passed people on the street asking for help because we assume that they are pretending or do not need the help they are asking for? But I have found myself digging into my pocket and sharing a dollar or two with people on the streets or stationed at street corners, not because of them but because of what I would want people to do for me if I found myself in a similiar situation.

Finally the text argues that we should “walk humbly before our God”. The image that immediately comes to mind is that if you are walking then you are obviously on your way somewhere. When the text says that we should take this journey walking humbly before our God I am reminded that the text is telling us that there is no journey that we are taking where we are not being accompanied by God. To walk humbly before him means that He is there. All of us friends have items in our lives that we are proud of and accomplishments we can point to. But the key here is that we maintain some since of humility and avoid arrogance and condescension. It is when we remember who we are in the presence of that we can check our own ego and not allow our perception of ourselves to get in the way of who we are in comparison to the God that made us. I would remind us that we are at our best when we are serving. Therefore to walk humbly before our God is an invitation to remain in touch with who we are in light of who God is.

Again friends, I am honored to serve as your president and with all that is within me I shall seek to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our God.

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