April 29th

Seeking to Be “A Church to Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God”

This is the seventh in a series of reflections from Executive Minister Michael Pahl on our new MCM Vision & Mission Statement, approved at our 2026 Gathering.

Nearly 2700 years ago, a prophet from the sticks predicted the downfall of Jerusalem. This prophet saw the wealthy violently oppressing the poor, leaders engaged in bribery and corruption, justice perverted in the courts, and his fellow prophets calling for peace when it paid to do so and for war when the powerful demanded it. This disease of violence and injustice could only have one outcome: “Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins.”

Nearly 2000 years ago, another prophet from the sticks again predicted the downfall of Jerusalem. He, too, saw the wealthy oppressing the poor—and so he pronounced blessing on the poor and woe to the wealthy. He, too saw a city and its leaders fueled by greed and prone to violence—and so he overturned money tables in the temple and wept because the city had ignored his ways of peace. This disease of violence and injustice could also only have one outcome: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations.”

The two prophets were Micah and Jesus—the one, otherwise unknown, the other, our Lord and Saviour, the eternal prophetic Word made flesh. Not only were they both diagnosing a similar illness, giving a similar prognosis, they each gave a similar cure.

For the Prophet Micah, the cure was this: “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8). Pursue true justice, God’s way of justice, a justice that does not favour the rich above the poor and the powerful over the weak. Embrace mercy, a committed compassion toward all, and especially toward those most vulnerable to harm. Walk in humility before all, not in pride and arrogance over others; walk in humility with God, committing yourselves to God and living in God’s ways.

For our Lord Jesus, this was the cure: “Love God with everything you are, and love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt 22:37-40). Commit yourselves to God and living in God’s ways. And do this by living out a committed compassion toward all you encounter, especially the most vulnerable and even your enemies, and by striving for true justice—pursuing above all God’s reign and God’s justice. This is Jesus’ way of peace.

These ideas are behind the third poetic clause of the vision portion of our new Vision and Mission Statement as Mennonite Church Manitoba: we strive to be “A church to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”

We strive, in other words, to be a church where people can encounter God, committing themselves to God and God’s ways—walking humbly with God. We strive to be a church where people can engage with each other, and others beyond our walls, in committed compassion, especially for the most vulnerable to harm and including our enemies—loving mercy. And we strive to be a church where together we work for God’s justice to be evident among us and beyond us, where the poor and powerless are no longer oppressed by the wealthy and strong—doing justice.

Our day is no less plagued by the disease of violence and injustice. The wealth gap in Canada increases yearly—in 2025, the top 20 per cent held nearly two-thirds of Canada’s net worth, while the bottom 40 per cent held a mere three per cent. Hate crimes in Canada have increased in most recent years, with antisemitic incidents hitting record highs in 2025—many of these a response to the violence perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians. And these are only two examples of the disease of violence and injustice among us. Other examples are not hard to find.

We need, in these days as much as in any other, a church that is willing to walk in Jesus’ way of peace: loving God with all we are, pre-eminently by loving our neighbours as ourselves, and in this pursuing God’s reign and God’s justice in the world. We need, in other words, “A church to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”

May we, by God’s grace, become this church, living out the way of Jesus as the body of Christ in the world.