July, 2014
Who is Micah? This is a common question that I often address whenever I go out to speak on behalf of the children of Haiti.
I believe Micah is a prophet for our time. Micah lived and ministered around 700 B.C. He was a Judean from Moresheth in the SW Palestine. He preached the word of God to the common people of Judah. He lived in a time when those in leadership position used their position of power to oppress the weak instead of caring for their needs. The common folk found it hard to make ends meet and experienced hardships. The wealthy exploited the peasants and villagers. The land was full of false prophets who claimed to speak in God’s name, but they had their own agenda. Micah was a champion for social justice. Micah allowed God to use him as a conduit to preach love and compassion to the poor and the oppressed. He was willing to cry out to God on behalf of the weak in that society. He was also willing to publicly denounce the injustice he saw in the land while announcing the good news of deliverance for all believers. The verse that always captured my attention is Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” For Micah, there was no reason why any of God’s children should not be living as God intended – it only required those in leadership positions to adhere to this simple command: to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God.
For me, the ministry we are engaging in Mirebalais is our response to Micah’s challenge to do justice. We respond through our ministry to those Haitian children living in deplorable conditions. I strongly believe that no child of God should go to bed hungry. No child of God should lack the most basic necessities: food, clean drinking water, shelter, education and health care. And no child of God should die because that child is too poor to stay alive. There are enough resources in the world to prevent any child from dying for lack of food, water or basic medicine.
I firmly believe Micah is a prophet for our time. I encourage you to read the book of the prophet Micah in the Old Testament and meditate on his words.
I give God thanks for those who have shared their resources, time and talents with the poor of the world. I am deeply grateful to you and your community of faith for your continued commitment to the Haiti Micah Project. We are making a difference!
Faithfully,
The Rev. Joseph M. Constant
