Sermon for December 6, 2015

The reading

 

Isaiah 40:1-11 

Comfort, O comfort my people,  says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her

that she has served her term,  that her penalty is paid,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All people are grass,  their constancy is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades;

but the word of our God will stand forever.

 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings;

lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,

lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah,  “Here is your God!”

See, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him;

his reward is with him,  and his recompense before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

The message

 

Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God:  This is a promise that God will intervene in the world and bring comfort and relief. This is also work, it’s a job description for prophets and for all people of God. I am going to talk a little about both of these messages found in this scripture.

First, let’s look at the promise.  Before looking at what it means, we need to look at something very important.  Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God, does not refer to just one particular event.  We often get stuck trying to figure out how and when this prophesy was or will be fulfilled. God’s word is bigger and more powerful than that. As the scripture tells us the word of our God will stand forever. God’s promises can be fulfilled many times at different parts of history in different ways.  One example we have of something like this in our world today is the promises we make in marriage, For a young couple, these vows can often mean to help one another get through school, figure out what they want to do with their life, help each other find and forward careers, save resources and raise a family. For a middle aged couple these promises often mean enduring life passages together, comforting each other during the loss of parents and loved ones, facing regrets, and going through changes.   For an older couple, together for decades, those same vows can often mean to endure aging together, to care for a sick spouse, to sit with them in suffering, ensure they receive the best care and try to relieve their pain.  The promise Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God, can mean different things at different times too.  It is not fulfilled in one event, it is a word that lasts forever.    

To the first hearers of Comfort, O Comfort my people, to the community of Israel about 5 or 6 hundred years before Jesus birth, God’s promise of comfort meant the return to Jerusalem.  After yet another cycle where the people of Israel break the coveant and sin against God and each other, there is punishment. In the year 586, God does not intervene as the Babylonians arrive in Israel for war.  The Babylonians conquered Israel, destroy the great temple and sent the people into exile far away from the promised land.  During 70 years of exile, the Babylonians are defeated by the Persians. After that, the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great allows the people of Israel to return home and rebuild their temple, community and faith. (a story we will hear next week as we learn about the faith, political intelligence and work of Ezra and Nehemiah). Here the people saw the promise Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God fulfilled. 

For John the Baptist this promise that God would intervene in the world and bring comfort was not only fulfilled by the end of exile, it was also fulfilled through the birth of a child on Christmas, Jesus the long awaited Messiah. This promise was a central part of John’s ministry. When John’s word is challenged and his authority questioned, John identities himself with a verse from our reading, as the voice crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  For John, Christmas fulfills God’s promise of intervention and comfort, that night is where the glory of the Lord is revealed, when all people shall see it together.   All of the things that Jesus did during this ministry were all understood as part of God fulfilling this promise. Healing the sick and the very sick, welcoming the outsider, outcast and ignored into God’s kingdom,  restoring the possessed and anxious,  announcing God’s grace for all people and the forgiveness of all sins, demanding equality,  teaching the correction of faith as a gift that brings joy, announcing hope to the hopeless and direction to the lost, dying and rising again, all of these things were part of God’s intervention and gift of comfort. 

Jesus own ministry is strengthened by his understanding that this promise is good, nothing, not even death, will stop God’s word from being fulfilled. Jesus work, to fed his flock like a shepherd, to gather the lambs in his arms, carry them close and safe and bring them to grace is all done knowing God will let nothing stop this promise from being fulfilled.   

For us, the promise that God will intervene in the world and bring comfort and relief, is something we wait for to be complete, the end times, the promised return of Jesus to make all things new.  For us, this is an event, often surrounded by frightening images and great destruction. There are nasty and violent images from the book of revelation, Daniel and others that speak of terrible days. Judgment day is a big seller, a whole industry has sprung up around the end times, movies, books, tv shows, predictions, even churches built on the end of the world. The violence reminds us that evil does not go quietly, that sin is a tough enemy and will not leave the world gently. What it is really about is God keeping the promise, Comfort, O Comfort my people. The end times are not about God killing all our enemies and punishing the unfaithful, it is about the completion of this promise, the creation of some sort of world where there is real, God centered, comfort for all.  

The other side of comfort, O Comfort my people says your God is the work we are called to do while we wait. Just because this promise points us to future times, does not mean we are okay doing nothing here and now. We have no shortage of need for God’s intervention now and nothing stops us from being the messengers and catalyst for that work. There are incredible separations between the rich and poor impacting everyone from the people who live across the street from us to unknown villages a world away. All of God’s people do not have a share in God’s creation. There is uncontrollable violence, abuse and anger, again on our street and a world away.  All of God’s people are not living in peace. God’s promise can also be seen as a job description. Like any good job description there are clear instructions about who you are working for (God and God’s people), what the job entails (sharing our faith and hope), what the expectations are (we respond to God’s gifts with action) and what skills are required (everyone and everything has a role and can work for good).     

This week, there was a lot of focus online over something that has been cleverly named “prayer shaming”. It started as a reaction to and attack on elected officials that went to social media posting “praying for the victims and families” in the aftermath of the shootings at the center for the disabled in California.  They are the same officials who spend their days voting against efforts to control who has access to guns, cutting funding to help treat mental illness, and avoiding any difficult conversations or necessary changes. The same thing tends to happen when people post “praying for those in need” around thanksgiving but do nothing at all to help. It seems like prayer is all some people think is necessary.

The work of sharing God’s word, Comfort, O comfort my people, means to do both.  We are a Praying people.  It matters.  Prayer reminds us of God’s promises, God’s presence in the world and God’s promise to walk with us as we work to make awful, unjust and impossible to solve problems better.  True prayer is accompanied by action though, to communicate with God should do nothing except drive us to help.  Prayer is one of the ways we let ourselves be changed by God’s word and strengthen ourselves for service. Of course, prayer is just one part of our relationship with God.  We are called to pray for the hungry and help them get something to eat.  We are called to pray for an end to violence and to do something for peace. We have God’s promise of Comfort, lets make sure we do something with it.    

Sermon for November 29, 2015

The reading

2 Kings 22:1-20, 23:1-3

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.  He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying,  “Go up to the high priest Hilkiah, and have him count the entire sum of the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people;  let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the Lord; let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house.  But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”

The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the Lord.”  Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.

So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her.  She declared to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read.  Because they have abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.  But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard,  because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.  Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.” They took the message back to the king.

Then the king directed that all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem should be gathered to him.  The king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him went all the people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.

 The message

Over the past few weeks, we have talked about the words, warnings and message of hope expressed to God’s people by the prophets like Hosea and Isaiah. Both people served as God’s messengers about 650 years before Jesus birth.   Hosea talked about this forgetting of the law, agreement and promises between God and people with the metaphor of an adulterous spouse who breaks the commitments made in marriage but is forgiven. Isaiah talked about the same situation as a vineyard, that is well cared for and sustained only to produce wild, worthless grapes. In this case, the vineyard is abandoned and left to be destroyed but there is the promise of a savior, a messiah who would restore the good and right relationship between God and people 

 In the centuries after God first spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and sent Moses to led the people out of slavery in Egypt, there were many moments of complaint, disobedience, failure to trust God and the abandonment of the covenant.  There is a cycle of disobedience, punishment , repentance and restoration that happens again and again. There were also moments of reform, restoration and faithfulness.  There were always leaders and people who never lost hope, who never forgot the covenant with God and called others back to faith.  

Today we hear the story of one of those moments and leaders.  King Josiah takes over the leadership of Israel at a bad time. There was war and conflict everywhere and the future was uncertain. Empires have grown and fallen.  The people of Israel have strayed into the worship of Baal and the other pagan gods of their neighbors. The covenant with the God of Israel is all but forgotten, God is seen as weak and less important than the empires of the world and their gods.   God’s work in their history, the stories of God’s accompaniment and intervention are dismissed as weird, irrelevant tales of their ancestors.  Things were so bad, the law, the commands of God at the center of their faith and relationship, were lost, not read or heard in years. 

King Josiah orders the repair, rebuilding and maintenance of God’s temple paid for with the taxes collected for that purpose. (the money was just sitting there, no one cared to use it).  During coordinating and overseeing these repairs, the high priest finds the scrolls of the law and gives them to the King’s assistant.  In a very Lutheran moment happening a long time before Luther, Josiah hears the law and it scares him. In hearing God’s law, the sin of the people is revealed and exposed.  Josiah turns to God for mercy, to try and avoid the promised consequences of disobedience.  

After hearing the law, Josiah is faced with the burdens of knowing how far the people have strayed from God and knowing the consequences of their sin.  His first stop is the prophetess Huldah, who is sought out to verify the scroll and help direct the King’s actions.  This is her only appearance in the scripture (she does appear in 2 Chronicles as well but it is the same story).  She is clearly a highly respected prophet since she is turned and entrusted with this great responsibility.  Her response is great for Josiah and the people around him but not so good for future generations.  First, in what some scholars say is the first authentication of scripture, Huldah verifies that the scroll is God’s word.

 

Huldah goes on to announce that because of his faithfulness, Josiah would not see the law fulfilled. Josiah would die in peace before the consequences of sin were felt by the people, before their destruction, suffering and defeat.There would not be a reprieve though, the real and promised consequences of sin would come to be at a later time. The temple in Jerusalem is destroyed in a crushing defeat by the Babylonians in 586, about 25 years after Josiah’s death. In this event the southern kingdom experiences the promised consequences of disobedience and failing to live up to their agreements with the Lord. (the Northern kingdom of Israel had already been defeated decades earlier).  This state of exile, suffering, defeat and oppression continues for centuries.  

Josiah tries to avoid this fate. After consulting with the prophet Huldah, Josiah orders all leaders and people to gather at the temple.  I imagine at that point the temple had become a bit of a historic or tourist site, where little worship happened and which people saw as part of history (sort of like we view the temples of ancient Greece today).  That morning though, it was once again a place of faith. Josiah reads the scroll of the law and then acts. He publicly promises to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. After this, all the people joined in the covenant. Israel was once again the people of God.

Following this reading of the Law and public affirmation of faith, we come a time called Josiah’s reforms.  He destroys all of the temples to baal and the other pagan gods, eliminates their priests and prophets, and ends their worship. We should keep in mind that neither Huldah (nor anyone else) says or suggests that this renewal of faith will stop the looming punishment prescribed in the law.  We will see that the damage was done.  When the Babylonians arrive, the Lord who led and protected the people of Israel does not intervene, there are no plagues, no parting of the sea, no improbable victories, God allows them to be defeated and the temple to be destroyed.   

In this event, we see the first part of the prophet’s message fulfilled. The people of Israel had strayed from God one too many times, their lack of faith and failure to remember and worship the Lord would not be overlooked again.  This time, that cycle of sin, punishment, repentance and restoration would take much longer than it did in the past, restoration was a long way off. The second part of the prophet’s message, that God would send a messiah, a savior remained unfulfilled for almost 600 years of oppression, conquest and life as a colony of one empire or another.  The people of Israel waited with hope, expectation and disappointment.  When Jesus does come, he raises no army, builds no empire, and appoints no king.  It is not the sort of restoration they expected. The use of punishment to drive people back to the Lord had failed to maintain a faithful community hundreds of times. People just kept going back to their sinful ways.  It would not be repeated again. Through Jesus, God was, in fact, not setting us free from the suffering of this world. Instead, God did something new, God was setting us free from that cycle of sin and consequence.  In baptism, when we say that we die to sin and rise to new life, When we say sin has no power over us, when Paul writes that we are saved by grace, not the law, when I can stand here and confidently announce, because of love, God forgives our sins, all of this is pointing to a great change in God’s interaction with the world.  Though Jesus death and resurrection, we are set free from the true consequences of sin and death. 

Next week, we our reading will come from the prophet Isaiah, who speaks words of hope to the hopeless. The following week, we will have the last of our Old Testament readings for this church year. We will look at the story of Ezra and Nehemiah.  They were two leaders of Israel who the Persian King Cyrus the Great gives permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple that the Babylonians destroyed, offering another glimpse of hope.  After that we will have the story of Christmas and start reading through the Gospel of Mark.   

Sermon for November 22

Isaiah 5:1-7,  11:1-5

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,  and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The message

Last week, we heard and talked about a chapter from the book of the prophet Hosea.  There, we saw many of the major themes shared by all of the Prophets of Israel.  Hosea wrote warnings that if the people of the Northern Kingdom continued to worship foreign gods, turn to neighboring empires for help  and ignore the  promises they made to their God,  they would be punished severely.  Hosea also offered words of hope, that God would never fully abandon the people and there would be restoration, eventually.  

This week, our reading comes from the prophet Isaiah, a much more familiar figure and book. Isaiah often comes up during the weeks before Christmas. Isaiah’s words and message were a significant part of the expectations for a Messiah who would heal the relationship of sin and separation that happened between God and people.  The words of Isaiah, “the people in darkness have seen a great light”, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,  the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord”, and  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”,  are central parts of our Christmas carols, cards, story and understanding

The prophet Isaish also plays a prominent role at Easter. The disciples along with the early Christians turned to Isaiah to help understand one tough, nagging question:  If Jesus was the long expected messiah, savior and restorer, could he suffer and die only to rise again.  For this, they turn to the words of the prophet Isaish, in particular a series of prophesies known as the servant songs, which talk about a suffering servant of the Lord who endures in faith and overcomes:  One example of these servant songs is Isaish 56:6: I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.

Isaiah prophesied to the Southern Kingdom around the same time that Hosea prophesied to the Northern Kingdom.  Most scholars believe that Isaiah’s book  was partially written by Isaiah himself. The later chapters, called second and third Isaiah probably came from other prophets following in his tradition for  around 200 years after Isaiah’s death.  The first 39 chapters are filled with words, warnings and promises of God’s judgment on sinful , disobedient and unfaithful people and nations. One of the most striking parts of Isaiah his predictions about the Babylonians. About 100 years before the Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom, before they were well known or an empire to be reckoned with, Isiash predicts they would play a role in the fall of the kingdom. .

Hosea’s prophesy uses the metaphor of an adulterous spouse. God is the faithful husband while Israel is a wife who cheats and violates scared promises.   The prophet Isaiah uses a very different metaphor about a vineyard to express the same idea of God’s care and humanity’s failure.  For Isaiah, God is the owner and caretaker of the vineyard.  God puts everything in place to allow the grapes to grow. Good land is selected, good vines are planted, the stems are protected and covered, the ground is kept free from weeds and thorns,  the space is hedged in and kept safe from animals (or people) who want to steal and eat the grapes.  This is the way that God cared for the people of Israel, leading them to victory, providing food, water, land and safety, giving them clear laws and instructions on how to follow them, as well as forgiving and allowing do overs.  

Under these conditions, the vines should thrive, producing good grapes and good wine.  Likewise the people of Israel should have grown in faith, remained loyal to the Lord and kept the commandments. The vineyard fails, the work is wasted.  Wild grapes grow.  Stuff that would have grown there with no care or work take over the vineyard.  The people of Israel also fail. Despite God’s intervention, care and instruction, the people of Israel disobey, turn to other gods and empires and forget what the Lord has done.  Like the vineyard, the people will be left without God’s intervention and they will be overrun by their enemies.

Like most of the Prophets,  Isaiah combines words of warning and predictions of doom with news of hope. In today’s reading that news of hope comes as a promise that  “A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots”.  Jesse is the father of King David, whose family line God promised the Messiah would come from.  This shoot, this descendant of David, would be unaffected by the desires, fears and failures that drew the people away from God.  This person will bring God’s grace, love and righteousness to the world.

I wanted to get away from the Isaiah reading for a few minutes to talk about something else. Today is Christ the King Sunday (which is not included in the new list of readings we have been using at worship). However, it remains a special day for me.  On Christ the King in November of 2009, I preached and led worship here at St Jacobus for the first time and the congregation voted to call me as the pastor of this church.  I officially started a few weeks later but I always considered this holiday as my first day.  That means today is the start of my 7^th year here at this church, school and community.  

As I thought about this reading today, this anniversary time and all the changes that have happened over these years,  I kept coming back to the questions “where is our vineyard?” and “how have we cared for it”.   Our Vineyard, this church is facing all different challenges in a changing community landscape. Many expected and unexpected things have happened in this place and the neighborhood that we are part of. Many of the people who were there for that first vote are no longer with us.  Some have passed away, going before us in faith to the place Jesus has promised.  Others have moved to new places or just feel more comfortable being part of other communities.  Everyone listed on the bulletin, our secretary, school administrator, musician, church council president, along with many of its members, have all changed.  On many Sundays, more than half the people at church were not here regularly when I started. 
 

Our vineyard is being cared for, we want to make sure this place stays here for many years to come. The roof over the offices and kitchen is new, there is a new floor in the playground, the floor tiles are new, there is an organ, in a few weeks the carpet will change and the playground equipment will be updated.   We have a food pantry program and a successful preschool that serves over 150 families in our community with faith and love. 

Our vineyard is in good shape. We are doing well from a financial standpoint and we have welcomed new energy, people and excitement.  Thanks to visionary leadership, trust, excellent partners and what people has always called a few leaps of faith, the ministry of sharing our space has thrived.  We have become a vineyard where many different churches and groups gather,  grow, work together and draw strength.  

Like the vineyard, we are covered by the support, care, and promises of God. Of course that means we are held accountable for what we receive, how we care for it, how we use our resources, and what we produce.  I expect to still be here next Christ the King Sunday. At that time, we will be on the verge of 2017, our 150^th anniversary year. As we walk together towards that milestone, we are invited to act boldly and faithfully to share God’s love and serve God’s people.  I look forward to this work together.

Sermon for November 15

The Reading

Hosea 11:1-9

 When Israel was a child, I loved him,

    and out of Egypt I called my son.

 The more I called them,

    the more they went from me;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals,

    and offering incense to idols.

 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

    I took them up in my arms;

    but they did not know that I healed them.

 I led them with cords of human kindness,

    with bands of love.

I was to them like those

    who lift infants to their cheeks.

    I bent down to them and fed them.

They shall return to the land of Egypt,

    and Assyria shall be their king,

    because they have refused to return to me.

 The sword rages in their cities,

    it consumes their oracle-priests,

    and devours because of their schemes.

 My people are bent on turning away from me.

    To the Most High they call,

    but he does not raise them up at all.

 How can I give you up, Ephraim?

    How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Admah?

    How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

    my compassion grows warm and tender.

 I will not execute my fierce anger;

    I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and no mortal,

    the Holy One in your midst,

    and I will not come in wrath.

The message

Over the past two weeks, Our Sunday readings have introduced us to the political and religious conflicts, fears and struggles that made up daily life in ancient Israel. As we continue to wait for and read towards Christmas, the thoughts, beliefs and actions of this group of people who first heard God’s promises become more and more relevant.  As we see the social and political psychologies and religious changes, we witness why the world needed Jesus.  The reading two weeks ago was about the division of the Kingdom of Israel, a separation between North and South, caused by a mix of poor decisions, arrogance, greed and unfaithful leadership.  Last week the reading was about the conflict between Elijah, the prophet of the God of Israel and the prophets of Baal, a very popular god of the neighboring people around Israel.  This is one of many examples in this time period where religious beliefs and systems fight with one another for the hearts, minds, support and allegiance of the people.  

In both of these stories, we get a peek into a community and world that is complicated and uncertain.  The people of Israel are constantly pushed and pulled in different directions.  On one side they have the promises of God, the covenant that if they keep the law, God will be their God and they will be his people. They also have the amazing history of God freeing them from slavery in Egypt, defeating the Egyptian empire though a series of plagues, walking them across the red sea as if on dry land, providing for them, leading them to great victories and punishing severely but forgiving their disobediences.  In each case of punishment and forgiveness, God has mercy on the people and welcomes them back to relationship, protection and care.  On the other side the people of Israel face the the temptations to made deals with the powers of the world, with the empires that surround them and to turn to other gods and deities who might provide more for them. 

As the years go on, the people of Israel forgot about or turn from God more and more often. They look to other gods, people and places for their safety and salvation.   They forget the covenant and what God has done for them. They lose faith.  A few moments ago, we heard the prophet Hosea poetically describes this time “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols”

Of course, Hosea was not alone. There was a series of voices that cried out against this way of life. These are the people who become known as the prophets. Their work was to publically expose the sins of the people, to remind them that they are turning to meaningless, powerless things and fake deities instead of God. The prophets warn people to repent and change or God’s unrestrained wrath will come.  The prophets start with their warnings about 100 years before that wrath arrives, before the fall of the two kingdoms of Israel and destruction of the temple. They continue to speak though those horrible years of suffering and in the aftermath of great defeats.  

There are 15 prophets who have left recorded books that are included in the Old Testament, There are the 12 minor prophets and 3 major prophets (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah). This distinction between minor and major is not a matter of importance, it is simply based on the length of their books.  All of the prophets have a few shared themes. They offer words of warning and doom, asking, begging, commanding and pleading with people to open their eyes and realize God will not be patient with their sins forever.  They offer an unwelcome message to the people. God is disappointed, truly and really disappointed. If the people of Israel continue to treat one another with abuse, violence and anger, if they continue to worship other gods, and seek their help from empires, they will fall. The people of Israel must repent and turn back to God or they will suffer.

There is also a message of hope and promise of restoration. No matter what happens, God will not forget the promises made, God will not abandon God’s people.  Part of this promise includes the expectation of a messiah who will come, restore and bring the people back to God. Hosea expresses this hope, again poetically:  the Lord said : My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

This morning, we heard some of the words of the prophet Hosea, one of the minor prophets.  In this selection, he covers all of those major themes shared by the prophets of Israel.  Hosea spoke and wrote for an incredible length of 60 years, covering the time about 750 years before Jesus birth. (He was the only prophet of this time period to write).  Hosea primarily warns against the idolatry and pagan worship that took over the hearts , minds and faith practices of the Northern Kingdom.  In a particularly personal metaphor, the prophet Hosea often talks about the people of Israel as a case of adultery. In this case, God is the husband and Israel is the unfaithful spouse. In Hosea’s own life, by God’s command, he marries the prostitute Gomer who cheats on him with another man and runs away, only to return and be forgiven.  Hosea uses this violation of the sacred promises of marriage to explain to the people how they are violating the sacred promises with God.

Today, our community, society and world is not so different from ancient Israel. We too face lots of different forces pushing and pulling for our time, resources, hearts and minds.  Our daily lives are filled with news, stories and experiences of religious, social and political conflicts, great and small. We fear things, we ignore things, we do not seriously ask “what does God think about all of the poverty in the world”, “what does God think about the way we treat the world entrusted to our care”, “how are we doing with the commandments “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind , with all your soul and your neighbor as yourself” or “how are we doing with Jesus instruction  “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. 

There is no easy answer to any of these questions. Personally, I don’t think we are doing so good.  Today, we have a lot of people who try to answer these questions for us, who try to take on the role of prophet.  It’s hard to tell who to listen to.  For me, it all comes down to asking does this person talking point us towards a compassionate, loving, caring and forgiving God who wants us to experience comfort and joy and who wants us to live better.  That’s what the prophets did.