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"And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
-Micah 6:8b, NRSV
This week I am preparing the words I will share in the service this Friday at 2:30 p.m. to remember Jack Shea, who died recently. In talking about Jack's life with his family last week, they mentioned the Bible verse above as one which described the type of person Jack was - someone who tried to do justice, who showed kindness, and was humble while doing these things. Justice, kindness, and humility are great qualities for any person who seeks to live life God's way.
In preparing for Jack's service, I came across this story about kindness:
Huston Smith, the great scholar, tells of a time when he was teaching at MIT. Aldous Huxley, author of
A Brave New World and other books, was a visiting scholar and Smith volunteered to be his social secretary and to drive him all over New England to his many speaking engagements. On the way to one of those engagements, Smith remembers what Huxley said to him. He said, "You know, Huston, it's rather embarrassing to have spent one's entire lifetime pondering the human condition and to come toward its close and find that I really don't have anything more profound to pass on by way of advice than, 'Try to be a little kinder.'" (from
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/20/97, cited in
Context, 11/1197, Leadership, Vol. 19, no. 3.)
What does God want us to do each moment of our lives? Maybe we could all just "be a little kinder." That advice is more profound than we might think, and it could go a long to making things better in our world.
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