| Brueggemann
challenges Micah 6 Bonner Partners to an "urgent need
and uphill battle"
Micah 6
refers to a prophetic text in Hebrew and Christian Scripture.
It also refers to an urgent need and uphill battle among Bonner
colleges and partner congregations to seek justice and mercy
in their communities and in their own lives.
The Bonner
Foundation sponsored the second Fall Workshop for Micah 6
Bonner Partners, October 13-15, 2002, hosted by Columbia Theological
Seminary in Decatur, GA. A year earlier, Micah 6 coordinators
met in Washington, DC with the Church of Savior and Servant
Leadership School, focusing on the inward journey of spiritual
discernment and the outward journey of service among the poor
and disenfranchised.
This fall,
Micah 6 Bonner teams met with Dr. Walter Brueggemann to study
the Micah text and biblical foundations of justice and mercy,
and with Prof. Lee Carroll to explore models of action-reflection.
|
"As
a Bonner Scholar, I was pushed and challenged to think
deeply about my service and its purpose in life.
Through this questioning of actions, I began a spiritual
exploration… an ongoing process that has allowed
me to grow in faith and as a result grow as a servant.
I soon realized that service was not just something
I happened to do; service was something I was called
to do." |
Amanda Janeen
Abrams (Rhodes ’03) led a Micah 6 team to organize
a new urban scouting program for young girls in downtown
Memphis.
|
Brueggemann challenged the group with
Micah's warnings of corrupt and unjust social systems that continue
to shape our lives, contrasted with the prophetic challenge
for socio/economic justice, radical love, and compassionate
community. In a personal note, Brueggemann encouraged the Micah
6 teams to move ahead into the difficult territory of justice,
mercy and humble walking, commenting that “the
work in which you and your cohorts are engaged is an important
one, for to nurture the younger generation into the realities
of our society is an urgent need and an uphill battle.”
The Bonner Foundation currently supports nine Micah 6 Partnerships
between colleges and congregations, which seek to do justice,
love kindness and walk humbly with God. |
