From Why Me? to Why Not?
Why not me?

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of (t)his servant. 

Everyone in our scripture passages this week starts out small and helpless. The downtrodden Israelites in Micah, the persecuted hearers of Hebrews, Mary and Elizabeth in Luke, second-class women in a male society. Even Jesus’s story begins with him as a newborn. We can’t fully absorb the power of the promise of Micah 5: 4-5 until we acknowledge our own smallness. The Israelite leaders, to their peril, had ignored God’s call for justice. The fabric of their society unraveled around them. I, too, am made small by my unjustified sense of entitlement. I wrestle daily with my place of privilege. But then I often feel helpless, one of the “little clans” in Micah, to change the face of injustice.  In reply to my querulous “what can I do?” comes Micah’s promise of help and comfort: turn to “…the one of peace.” I do not face this task of change alone, neither changing my own attitudes nor bringing change to the world around me. May I be as strong as Mary, as caring as Micah’s shepherd, as clear in my faithful following of Jesus that I can sometimes say, “Why not me?”

Re-read your favorite passage from this week.

Prayer:  “Lead me, Lord. Lead me in your righteousness.
                Make your way plain before my face.” 
                Amen.

  (From Psalm 5:8, United Methodist Hymnal #473)