January 23, 2023

Warning:  I am going to nitpick.

I know. That’s not in the job description of a (very) part-time (retiree) interim associate pastor.  

We are reading The Story as a parish. It has been great to see participation levels remain steady. Three more chapters until we wrap up the Old Testament portion and head to more familiar New Testament territory. We have been cruising through the prophets, whom God sent to call God’s people back to God, evidenced by loving God and living like they did.

Here it comes, the nitpick. Cast in a story line primarily of ancestry, kings, kingdoms, real estate and temples, the Prophets call to love God by doing justice and mercy could easily be missed. It was mentioned, obliquely. Amos and Hosea got paragraphs without mention of their condemnation of gluttonous living and mistreatment of the poor. Micah’s call (6:8) to “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” was easily missed.  Jeremiah’s lamentful weeping includes the suffering of the poor, the cheating of the wealthy, the forgetting of widows and orphans.

So, let me give you this teaser for coming chapters. Jesus' contemporaries speculated that whatever else he was, he was a prophet (Mark 8:27–28; Luke 7:16). Jesus welcomed, included, healed, forgave, fed, loved, washed feet. He also provoked, angered, condemned. He anointed no kings, not even himself. His last dying act tore the temple curtain from top to bottom ending scapegoat sacrificing forever. In short, especially in rising from the dead with mercy and peace, Jesus called us back to loving God, which is evidenced in living like we do.  

I give thanks for the prophetic and compassionate ministries of this congregation. Our monthly local mission gatherings. Our global partnerships. Our care for refugees. Our yearning for racial reconciliation and justice. The food and hygiene items carried into our building, then shared with others. Thank you, all of you, for hearing the voice of the prophets, for loving God and loving our neighbors.  

Pastor Jim

P.S. A note on The Story reading schedule: next week we are discussing chapters 18 & 19, combining two chapters into one week's discussion.