Micah 6,8

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen

Dear congregation,

I have chosen a very short sermon text for today. A word from the prophet Micah.

He has shown you, o mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6,8

Dear congregation,

What is good?

The question sounds so simple. Sometimes I find it very difficult to answer.

Our world is so complex and entangled. Ethical questions are ambivalent. Those who offer simple answers usually belong to groups that divide the world into good and evil, black and white, right and wrong. 

What is good?

It remains a question. Because obviously not everything is good.

What is good?

Today I'll start with a tongue-in-cheek answer: it is good, in the sense of wonderful, is that I'm being inducted as your pastor. I would like to thank you for that already. Thank you for the kind and fantastic preparations for this celebration.

But apart from the fact that I am happy about this day, what is actually good about the fact that we are a church? Good in the sense of what the prophet Micah is saying, what we are dealing with in this sermon.

And that brings us back to today's sermon text, back to the prophet Micah:

We are told what is good.

If we look around us, doubt can arise. We see a great deal that is bad in this world. Not just bad, but actually evil.

So much evil happens in the world, even though we humans are told what is good.

Micah deals with this painful contradiction. And not only Micah. These are questions that concern almost everyone.

On the one hand, a festively laid table and on the other, not even a crumb falling from the table for the have-nots.

But remarkably, most people realise the contradiction. Only a few people remain indifferent to the blatant contradictions of good and evil.

Micah does not resolve the contradiction. He sheds light on one aspect: he focuses on the relationship between God and man.

Here is a short story: God and a man are sitting together on a bench in a park. The man talks to God about how bad the world is, how many wars there are, how much strife in small things. Finally, the man asks the final question: God, why do you allow this? God replies: How strange, that's exactly what I was about to ask you!

In the Book of Micah, the encounter between God and man does not take place on a comfortable park bench, but in a courtroom. God and man meet there and ask how things can get better in the world. The mountains are witnesses and the hills are listening.

Everyone agrees that it would be good if people could live freely, develop their gifts and have what they need to live.

How is that supposed to work? As on the park bench, it becomes clear with Micha: everyone expects someone else to make the world a better place. But God has told man how it can be good.People generally find the commandments acceptable, but annoying when it comes to personal decisions.

On the other hand, there is the pious person who is prepared to do everything possible for God.

Even to make sacrifices, especially senseless sacrifices. But in return, he expects God to do his part and put the world in order.

Is that good?

No, it is exhausting and unsatisfactory and, above all, not effective. God has doubts. Man has doubts. The need remains.

Where does Micah see a way out? In the healing encounter between God and man. In turning to each other instead of rejecting each other. God and man on a bench, in a courtroom, in a boat. It is worth looking at this scene in the Bible once again, to think about it. God and man are united by a longing for good things. God and man, hoping for peace, striving for justice, working to save the world.

But in doing so, they become strangers to each other.

And the impression arises for both God and man: we are not doing enough. It is not enough.

Mountains and hills as representatives of creation can testify to this.

For Micah, the way out of this dilemma is an encounter between God and man. A relationship in which different roles are taken on.

Man is told what is good - by God.

And he has to be told again and again. People forget so quickly. And not just after sixty.

Micah emphasizes this difference between God and man. God is good. God looks at the world and it becomes clear: Behold, it was very good.

But man reaches the limit of his goodness. He reaches his limit of patience. The limit of what is possible. Man is man, capable of good and evil. Man is man, capable of terrible cruelty.

Man must be told who he is. The Bible tells us this: God speaks to his people and lets them know who they are: Images. Children of God. Companions. Allies.

It is said and it must be said again and again. God recognizes this in this scene. God allows himself to be involved, reveals himself over again. God reveals himself in the midst of a world in which evil is sometimes overpowering. God sees his people, who he trusts to distinguish good from evil and yet he realizes: it is not that simple with people.

Micah describes a God whose task is not to remove evil from the world, but to remind people of his

goodness.

God speaks to his people. And God speaks words that comfort and liberate.

That is why it is good that we are celebrating an induction today. I am personally very pleased that it is mine. But that is not what matters. What matters is that the word of God remains alive and is spoken. For me, that is one of the most beautiful and important tasks. To find out what has been said and is being said to us humans. It is said to you, man, what is good: keep God's word, practise love and go with God.

We will wrestle with ethical questions. Suffer in difficult situations. Not being able to cope with injustice. Fight where we can, because we have been told who we are.

That is why we are celebrating today: because God still speaks. Because God comforts and encourages his people. Because God entrusts his people with the world and trusts them to do good in it.

Let us be a church that knows what it has been told and trusts that God will call it again and again.

The mountains will marvel, and the hills will breathe a sigh of relief. Creation will rejoice. Yes, man, you have been told what is good!

The peace of God, which is higher than our understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ

Jesus. Amen