APRIL 2026

“God has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Holy require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Dear UCCMA members,

We are now in Eastertide, having made it through the deep labor of providing music through Lent and Holy Week, and headed for Pentecost. I hope all of you have gotten some rest following the intense season now behind us.

In my last column, I noted that embedding justice in our worship music is one way to take up our daily cross and promised to come back to that topic. I admit, it sounds like a strange topic. In what sense is building a focus on justice into our worship music a taking up of the cross?

In some congregations, it’s not, because the pastor and the congregants are already on board with a prophetic approach to Christianity that is in keeping with Jesus’s own focus on justice. But if you are in a congregation that is more conservative or more Evangelically oriented, justice may be a rare topic, whether from the pulpit or the pews. And if you’re in a church like that, you may be the most obvious person to encourage the pastor to program justice music, especially if you get any say in the music chosen for worship.

Think about it. The pastor of a red or red-leaning church may be disinclined to discuss justice issues for fear of alienating parishioners. The theological focus of an Evangelical congregation may be Jesus’s saving work and the need to proclaim the good news (often without any justice implications). Getting focused on justice can be hard. It can be awkward and can raise tensions and discomfort. It can sound like you have an agenda. And you do: Jesus’s agenda. Which is, I hope, why we are all here in the first place.

So, take a deep breath, pray, and talk to your pastor or your choir or your congregants. Explain why justice is central to Christianity. Share hymn or worship song ideas, starting with gentler pieces. And give thanks that you have been created for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).

All peace,
Amanda

Dr. Amanda Udis-Kessler 
amanda@amandaudiskessler.com