News, information, messages from Bishop Rob, and more about the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire.
Micah 6 Commission: A Year of Building Relationships for Local Justice
When the Most Reverend Michael Curry, 27th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, travelled to Portsmouth, New Hampshire last February to speak along with Bishop Rob at the Black Heritage Trail of NH’s celebrated “Tea Talk,” it was a perfect example of the power of the Micah 6 initiative and how it brings people and organizations together in the name of social justice. The event was held in a synagogue, was open to all, and drew a large audience who were thirsty for wisdom and encouragement. The Bishops didn’t disappoint. Their vastly different experiences growing up, their bond of friendship, and their shared faith made for interesting conversation, storytelling and ways to further racial justice. The crowd was mesmerized. This is one example of how the Micah 6 Commission – just one year into its existence – is shaping how the Episcopal Church of NH is taking action with partner organizations.
Now just one year since its formation in April 2025, the Micah 6 Commission is making strides. The Commission was formed as a way to streamline and empower parishes to take action against racism, economic inequity, and environmental degradation. The work is guided by the principles of Micah 6:8, which emphasizes the importance of doing justice, being kind, and walking humbly with God.
“Micah 6 is a guiding call for how we live our faith and baptismal covenant,” says Commission Chair Derek Scalia. “Our world is hurting, and people are yearning for points of light and relief. Through this work, we seek to embody the call to do justice.”
Created to combine our local efforts around reconciliation, earth care, educational equity, and reparations, Micah 6 has found a sibling in the Global Missions Committee, which focuses on international social justice work, while Micah 6 focuses on New Hampshire organizations already doing critical justice work.Rather than creating new programs, Micah 6 focuses on building relationships with these current initiatives. These partnerships reflect shared learning, mutual respect, and a commitment to long-term impact. Among its early collaborations:
Supporting Black Heritage Trail of NH “Tea Talks,” fostering dialogue on race and history
Partnering with the NH Fair Funding Project to advocate for equitable education
Advancing environmental stewardship through the New England Episcopal Path to Creation Justice initiative
John Rowntree, parish treasurer at Good Shepherd Church in Nashua, urges Episcopalians to consider joining churches in Claremont, Keene and Londonderry that are currently participating in the New England Episcopal Path to Creation Justice , a program which provides support and tools to parishes committed to addressing the climate crisis. Rowntree says the Micah 6 Commission contributed a three-year grant to support them. Says Rowntree, “We have done multiple projects to reduce our 148-year-old church’s carbon footprint, including insulation, improving our historic church windows, changing lightbulbs and implementing 35 solar panels. It feels really good to make a difference and helps us be strong financial stewards because we have reduced our energy costs.”
The Commission is made up of 12 members in addition to Bishop Rob. The Commission meets monthly and has held two major planning sessions over the last year.
It has also helped distribute $85,000 in Coit House funds, administered through the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, to support a wide range of community organizations – from childcare centers and summer camps to youth programs and family services.
At its core, the Micah 6 Commission is grounded in the belief that justice work begins in relationships.
“We are not here to solve every problem,” Commission leaders note. “We are here to listen, to accompany, and to support the work already unfolding in our communities.”
This relational approach is already strengthening parish life across the Diocese. By sharing stories, connecting congregations to opportunities, and deepening engagement, the Commission is helping Episcopalians live out their call to justice in tangible ways.
As the Commission enters its second year, it is building a more intentional structure to sustain and grow this work: strengthening communication, aligning resources, and supporting parishioners in integrating justice, mercy, and humility into every aspect of ministry.
Ultimately, the Micah 6 Commission is an invitation: to listen more deeply, to partner more intentionally, and to participate more fully in the work of healing and justice across New Hampshire. Commission members believe that justice takes root most fully when nurtured in parish communities that pray, learn, and serve together. They are committed to ensuring that the wisdom gained becomes a resource for congregations seeking to deepen their own ministries of justice. These faithful committee members believe that sharing stories and opportunities strengthens parish life and inspires local action rooted in the Gospel.
To share your stories of social justice work at your church or to find out more about Micah 6 please email Derek Scalia at dnascalia@gmail.com.
Top - Micah 6 Committee members at a planning meeting; bottom left - solar panels on the roof of the Good Shepherd complex in Nashua; bottom right - Tea Talk with Most Rev. Michael Curry, in Portsmouth.
Bishop Rob's Reflection on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11
September 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of a day that cannot be forgotten in American history. That horrible day has become unlike any other day in our shared history. The neat lines that demarcate days on the calendar dissolve, and the meaning of 9/11 now spill into an era that I believe we are still wrestling to understand fully.
September 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of a day that cannot be forgotten in American history.
That horrible day has become unlike any other day in our shared history. The neat lines that demarcate days on the calendar dissolve, and the meaning of 9/11 now spill into an era that I believe we are still wrestling to understand fully. It was a day of senseless violence committed against citizens in this nation who were simply going about their business and lives, working, running errands, visiting loved ones, growing families, and enjoying the freedom that comes from believing they were safe.
It was also a day of countless acts of courage, compassion, and self-less giving for the sake of others. Hundreds of women and men, first responders, police officers, paramedics, and fire-fighters, threw themselves into harm’s way to save lives — only to have their own lives snuffed out by collapsing towers, falling debris, and then later the inhalation of air filled with toxins.
For a brief period afterward, we experienced a kind of solidarity that we have not since known. We had the empathy and support from peoples around the globe. It seemed that they felt that the deadly assaults were as assaults on the hopes of all humanity. But clearly that center of compassionate solidarity did not hold for long.
It’s hard not to notice how, since 9/11, our outward concern for our neighbors seems to have eroded. Our respect for institutions that sought to guide us, as flawed as they are, has collapsed in many places. We are less kind, more toxic, more callous toward people whose views or backgrounds differ from us. I wonder if the root of this unkindness is fear, fear that we are vulnerable to other acts of violence, fear of defenselessness, fear of weakness, fear of how being in an authentic relationship with those unlike us might change us.
At the heart of our Christian faith is the cross, the place where God chose to be weak in order to unmask the futility of the violent. On the Cross, Jesus Christ chose, quite literally, to open his sacred heart to the evil of this world so that when he rose from the dead, he would make weak all the powers and principalities of this world, those of empire, and even of religious self-righteousness who seek to condemn the children of God. God chose to be tread upon, freely deciding to set aside any privilege, power, worldly claim to use force so that human kind itself, in Jesus Christ, could instead rise out of the tomb. Once risen, Jesus then breathes peace, not revenge, on those who denied and abandoned him at his most needed hour.
For Christians it’s the Cross of Jesus that is an anchor of hope for turbulent times. The 13th century Franciscan theologian Bonaventure, writing in a time racked by political unrest and religious violence, said that the Cross is the medicine of the world. By that he meant to invite us to look not to the counterfeit and corrosive power of human violence, revenge, and hatred for our purpose and identity in this life, but to the life-giving presence of God, gloriously shown by Christ’s self-offering on the cross, for our strength, hope and inspiration in our dealings with one another — even as we seek justice for the victims of cruelty and brutality.
On this 20th anniversary of that horrible day, a day that has tragically become an era, I believe it is in the humility of Jesus that we will ever have hope of freeing this world from the fears that result in cruelty. With God’s help and God’s graces may we seek to bring healing to this beautiful and hurting world.
Faithfully yours,
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld