1^st Sunday in September (Week 36) David’s Legacy (2 Kings 19:20-34 and Psalm 137; John 15:1-27; 2 Kings 17; 18-20; 25 and Psalm 137 and 2 Chronicles 36:15-23)

David would have been mightily perplexed looking down from heaven on the events that followed his death. After Solomon, things fell apart. His kingdom was divided into a northern half (capital city Samaria), and a southern half (capital city Jerusalem). The following years saw endless friction between kings and prophets: political expedience versus covenant obedience, elitist greed versus justice for the common person. God’s patience came to an end, although God’s promise of salvation endured.

First the Assyrians under Sennacherib conquered the northern kingdom; not too many years later the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar conquered the southern kingdom. The wartime custom of the age was to subdue enemies through enforced mass migration. Whole populations “swapped” lands. The Israelites of Samaria were deported north to Assyria … and lost to history. The Israelites of Judah were deported east to Babylon … but they had different destiny and would survive, return, and thrive again. This was the beginning of the great “exile” that would painfully reshape Israel forever.

David would have been bewildered. Had not God promised that his offspring would rule the Chosen People forever? Had God not promised to bless them, and in turn make them a blessing to all humankind? True, a remnant would return and rebuild Jerusalem … but that hardly seems the fulfillment of so great a promise. Where was it all going?

Team Meditation (John 15:1-27)

Those of us who know Jesus today would like to give hope to King David and exiled Israel if we could. We certainly can give hope to national leaders and all spiritual exiles today who are so alienated from “home” that they don’t even know where “home” is anymore. The hope of Christian faith is very different from the expectations of national leaders and displaced exiles, however, because it has little to do with victory in war and the reclaiming of territory.

“Space” is not sacred to the Gospel. There is no place, no country, and no piece of land that we can properly call our own. The world and all the territories encompassed belong to nobody or everybody, and this is why all “nationalisms” are contrary to God’s covenant. In the end, it all belongs to God and we are just sojourners and guests for the time being. This is why the kings and prophets were in conflict. It was not just about greed, or even justice. It was about pride … national pride, class pride, racial pride, religious pride … and God was against it all as another form of idolatry.

“Relationship” is what is sacred to the Gospel … and to be more specific, the covenant relationship between person or people and God. Jesus made this as personal and mystical as possible. He said that salvation would not come from armies, and would not be fulfilled by claiming land. It would only come from God through God’s Son, and would only be fulfilled by being in united with God through God’s Son. One wonders if King David … or any of the kings and queens of Israel … or any of the nationalistic leaders today … really understand this mystery. Our salvation is not a place, but an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Worship Theme (2 Kings 19:20-34 and Psalm 137)

The scriptures here belong to slightly different times. The passage from 2 Kings actually describes the conquest of the northern kingdom of Samaria, and the deportation of the population to Assyria. Unfortunately, these ‘lost tribes’ of Israel disappear from the historical record and left behind no songs of lamentation or joy. Nothing. Psalm 137 was sung around the campfires of exiled Judeans in Babylon a number of years later. Their song is not a happy one. Indeed, it suggests they were on the brink of despair.

Yet it is a song. It reveals that unlike their northern kingdom neighbors, the tribe of Judah did not disappear from history. They survived. And they would, in fact, return with Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem and renew their nation.

What is the meaning of lamentation? It is not just an expression of grief. It is a declaration of survival. It is a defiant statement that, no matter how bad things get, I still exist. I will endure. No matter how painful life becomes, there is life and there is hope. There are times when the only way to hope is to weep. You refuse to be swept away into oblivion. You refuse to become one of the “lost tribes of Israel”. You make your presence known to history, to the world, and to God in the only we left. You lament.

Psalm 137 is the legacy of Psalm 23. It may seem that they are as different as night and day, but in fact they are part of the same continuum of faith. Psalm 23 prepares you to sing Psalm 137; and Psalm 137 is the last sob of hope that can lead you, one day, to sing Psalm 23. Many church people do not know how to lament. They only know how to give up. When adversity comes, they leave the church, doubt their faith, and forget God’s covenant promise. We need to learn how to lament. Adversity will come. There is no doubt of that in this life. And there will be times when we feel far, far removed from our relationship with God. But do not give up on God, for God will never give up on you. Lament! Shed tears and rail at the heavens! Never give up.

Worship Design (2 Kings 19:20-34 and Psalm 137)

There's a couple of ways to deal with grief.  We can embrace it, as we see in Psalm 137, or we can live in denial - which is a pretty North American way to deal with it.  If we pretend long enough, it'll go away.  Sort of like playing peek-a-boo with an infant.  If they can't see you, then you can't see me.  If I can't see the cause of grief, then it must not really exist.  Denial is a pretty powerful tool in the hands of North Americans - a destructive tool. 

Has anyone noticed the church is in disrepair on this continent?  Once upon a time church was pretty much the only game in town.  Church planting meant put up a building that advertised which brand sponsored the Sunday morning show, and brand-loyal Christians would literally flock together.  I recently heard a retired minister's lament that in his day the only way a pastor "failed" was if they were immoral.  "Show up and preach and the people would come."  Then he shook his head and lamented, "But not today." 

Where did all the believers go?  In a very real sense they've been captured and taken into exile.  And how has the church responded?  Mostly it hasn't.  Mostly we've been doing what we've been doing, only we've been doing it harder.  Oh sure, some have sounded the alarm and tried to "change" things, but seriously, if we just had a bigger sign, more dedicated people, or that one magic bullet....

Maybe it's time to sit down for a good hard cry.  Call it what it is and quit pretending it's all in our hands to fix.

Chicken Run offers a great scene that paints the picture of grief, denial, and lament rather well (time stamp 41:15 to 43:35).  The scene begins when the Tweedy's (the farmers) pour a barrel full of chicken feed into the trough.  The chicken yard goes berserk as they dive into the food, but Ginger, the heroine of the movie, puts a stop to the wanton feeding to warn them that they're only being fattened up so they can be made into pot pies.  Just as she does, Rocky, the pretender, stops her and takes her aside into a nearby chicken coop and chastises her for her honesty.  "In America when we want to motivate someone, we don't talk about death," he tells her.  They part company and Rocky makes his way around the coop only to view a chicken yard filled with lamenting chickens. 

The point of this worship service should be to take some time to reflect on the state of Christianity and the church in North America, to step away from the denial trap.  To bring it home you may want to use Tom Clegg's rather disturbing statistics and the study questions from chapter one and/or chapter two in his book Lost in America (ISBN 076442257X). 

Bill T-B

Small Group Discussion (2 Kings 17-20, 25 and Psalm 137 and 2 Chronicles 36:15-23)

Before the small group meets, each participant should have read and studied this week's Scripture passages.

The fall of Israel was preceded by a nation that practiced and embraced sin and debauchery.  God kept calling them back, but they would not hear.  And so God allowed Assyria to invade and deport the northern nation.  The southern kingdom fared little better.  King Hezekiah served the Lord with his whole heart, but he didn't quite trust God to take care of the nation.  So when Assyria besieged Jerusalem, rather than turning to God for protection, Hezekiah used his political savvy and offered a tribute that included all the silver from both the Temple and the palace, plus a good bit of gold stripped from the Temple's doors and doorposts.  But it was to no avail and Assyria demanded unequivocal surrender.  That's when Hezekiah turned to the Lord for deliverance.  And God came through.

Then Hezekiah became ill to the point of dying.  He called on the Lord for deliverance once again, and once again God came through.  But ... Hezekiah still didn't quite trust God, so he asked for - and got - a sign.  Finally, Babylon sent an envoy to Hezekiah and the king used his political savvy one last time, only this time he showed off the nation's wealth.  And one last time, God had a message for Hezekiah: the southern kingdom would fall to Babylon.  Hezekiah's pride, and perhaps his lack of an effective foreign policy, sealed the nation's fate.  And though God allowed Babylon to exile Judah, a remnant was spared for a new day to come.

Discuss the following questions in your small group time.

1. What sins caused Israel to be removed from the presence of God?  What did God do to try and reconcile with Israel?  What do you think it means to be removed from the presence of God?  How is this different from the warning to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:4-5?
2. The Assyrian king recognized the presence of God in occupied Israel and sent a single priest to evangelize the people there.  Do you think the priest succeeded in his task?  Why or why not?  What do you think he could have done to be more effective?  North America has recently been designated the third largest mission field in the world.  What could your congregation do to be a more effective missionary outpost?
3. The Assyrian army confronted the people of Jerusalem and taunted them mercilessly, even to the point of denigrating their faith in God.  How do you think the people in Jerusalem felt as their faith was derided?  Do you think similar taunts have been leveled at Christianity through a hostile culture and media?  How do you perceive the typical North American Christian feels about this?  How is our reaction different from those of Hezekiah's day?
4. The 137^th Psalm reflects the heartache of a people in exile.  Look carefully at the psalm and discuss the different emotions you see reflected in the words.  The end of the psalm is certainly not very pretty - you won't hear the last two verses preached very often.  What do the inclusion of these sentiments in Scripture tell you about those who wrote the song?  What does it say about God?

Bill T-B

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2^nd Sunday in September (Week 37) David’s Legacy (Psalm 91, 139; 2 Corinthians 4:1-18; Psalms 84, 91, 96, 100, 116, 121, 139)

This is the last week in which we reflect on the story line of David’s Legacy, and it is fitting that we should look at his songs rather than his deeds. In the end, the legacy of David is not what he did or hoped to accomplish, but rather the passion of his hope and the focus of his faithfulness. Whatever victories he achieved, and whatever mistakes he made, were all alike surrendered to the praise and mercy of God. His example is one of repeated surrender of self to a higher calling, a higher purpose, and a great God.

David was a great man, a greater king, but most of all a tremendous model for faithful people down through the ages. We can identify so easily with him, and therefore his vision so readily captures our imaginations. It is his poetry, song, and heart that endear him to us. Neither David nor his descendants could ever quite put there hope and faith into prose. His spirit called out to a higher spirit, and yearned to be fully with God. His legacy is that God will respond to that yearning, send David’s descendant to us as the Son of God, go be fully with His people.

Team Meditation (2 Corinthians 4:1-18)

We do not lose heart. We do not lose heart. We do not lose heart. That is the refrain that is David’s legacy to the exiled Israelites; and to all the faithful today who yearn for justice, peace, and the Kingdom of God. We endure many setbacks. At times things look incredibly bleak. Cities burn; towers collapse; wars rage; famine strikes. There are dangers to the left and to the right. There is every reason in the world to give up and despair. Yet we do not lose heart. We do not lose heart.

One of the most important realizations leaders can have is that they are, after all, just “earthen vessels”. They are ordinary, vulnerable, breakable human beings. Yet they carry a message of eternal hope and joy. They bear in their hearts a relationship to God. We know that even if we fail, fall short, or lose courage that God will not fail. There will be other witnesses, other messengers, and other visionaries. God’s purpose will not fail.

There really is a joy in suffering. The more we suffer, the closer we come to experiencing Jesus. The closer we come to Jesus, the more we share in His hope. For if we die with him, we shall also be raised with him.

Worship Theme (Psalm 91, 139)

Psalm 91:11-16  ¹¹ For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.  ¹² On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.  ¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.  ¹⁴ Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.  ¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him.  ¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

Who is David singing about? Is he telling his own story of faith? Or is he describing the hope of faithful generations that will follow him? Or is he anticipating the coming of Christ, his tragedy and final victory? The answer is all three. All three insights are mixed up with one another … intermingled … so that it is actually hard to tell where David stops reflecting about his own life and starts thinking about future faithful lives; and it is hard to tell when David stops speaking of the faithful in general and starts thinking about the Faithful One who will sacrifice himself for the world. It really is all connected … history, people, suffering, hope … it’s all one.

David sought refuge in the Lord and was rescued. That was his experience time and again. Jesus would seek the Lord, and be vindicated time and again. We can seek the Lord, and be rescued time and again. People today almost always associate God with Love, perhaps because their sense of loneliness and alienation has never been greater. The truth is, however, that we would do better (and capture the essence of the Old and the New Covenants more accurately) if we first and foremost associated God with Hope. There may well be times when we feel unloved, but there should never be a time when we feel hopeless. God’s last word is always one of hope.

Worship Design (Psalm 91, 139)

Hope isn’t one of our top sellers in the church.  If we were purchasers for a large corporation and we did our job well, we’d look to see what products were moving and ensure we had plenty of stock in hand of those items, and the stuff that wasn’t selling so well, we’d either drop from the inventory, put on a bottom shelf like a generic breakfast cereal, or make it a special-order item only.  If we had a lot of it in inventory, we’d run a sale to get rid of it.  In the church inventory, hope has been a special-order kind of commodity.  We order a dose of it in times of extreme tragedy, but it most often rings either shallow or hollow because it’s like a Band-Aid® on an arterial laceration.  If the church isn’t “pushing” hope on a day-to-day basis, then few will take it seriously when the going really gets tough.

If ever there was a movie about hope, it’s Tom Hanks in Cast Away.  I’m not even sure which particular clip I’d recommend, not only are there so many opportunities for launching discussions from scene after scene, but all the way to the heart-break ending, the need for hope is the dominant theme.  So, my first recommendation would be to screen the whole movie, read the scriptures, and move directly into discussion about David’s hope, Jesus’ hope, and our hope.  Moving the conversation to talk about the many in our culture who are in despair and the church’s response could be a helpful conversation. 

On the other hand, if you don’t have the ability to view the whole movie, any of the island clips, including his conversations with <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Wilson</place></city> (played by a soccer ball) will launch the conversation.

Bill T-B

Small Group Discussion (Psalms 84, 91, 96, 100, 116, 121, 139)

Before the small group meets, each participant should have read and studied this week's Scripture passages.

Once again, the small group discussion time will focus on a variety of psalms, their genres, and their messages.  The Psalms literally cover every human emotion from heartbreak to hope, from celebration to anger, betrayal to embrace.  In this selection, the predominant theme is joy in God’s provision.  Notice the repeated refrain of the psalmists’ desire to go to and to be in the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Temple</place></city> for worship.  And be particularly mindful of the joy expressed at the thoughts of God.

Discuss the following in your small group time 

1. Besides joy, what are the other emotions you see expressed in these Psalms?

2. For each emotion, including joy, what reasons do the psalmists give for their feelings?

3. Why do you think the psalmists’ want so badly to visit – and even live in – the <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Temple</city></place>?

4. Compare and discuss your desire to “go to church” with the psalmists’ desire to go to the <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Temple</city></place>.

5. What, if anything, would make you want to live in the church building?

Bill T-B

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3^rd Sunday in September (Week 38) Faithful Servants (Amos 5:18-24 and 7:7-9; Matthew 10:1-42; Amos 1, 5, and 7)

This week we begin the third great “story-line” of the Bible: the story of God’s “faithful servants”. These are the oft maligned and persecuted “prophets” who spoke out against the perversions of the original covenant between God and Israel, call the nation and its leaders to repentance, and predicted dire events or offered great hope to the people. David’s legacy was at best ambiguous. We know that David personally was a man of extremes … both good and evil … but a leader who ultimately surrendered everything to obedience to God. The leaders and nations that came after him were equally ambiguous, but unlike David less able to make the hard decisions for faithfulness. Thus, God called and sent the prophets.

Team Meditation (Matthew 10:1-42)

Jesus himself was a prophet. His words in Matthew 10 capture the real spirit of the Old Testament prophets … both uncomfortably challenging and incredibly hopeful at the same time. He called people to repentance, and he sent his disciples to do likewise. Jesus makes it clear that his disciples ought to be prophets as well, and like Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and many other ancient prophets, we receive this calling with very mixed emotions. Prophets get killed. They also are often rejected, maligned, and have unstable incomes and unpredictable career paths. Thus Jesus advises his disciples to be “wise as serpents, innocent as doves”.

It’s hard to be wise and innocent at the same time. Wisdom demands considerable experience with the world; innocence demands considerable aloofness from worldly ways. Yet this is the paradox of the prophetic life. The prophet must be able to fraternize with the powerful, understand the ambiguous choices of leadership, and even experience the temptations that beset other people. You cannot criticize others sharply if you have felt the pinch of wearing their shoes. On the other hand, the prophets must be able to distance themselves from the powerful, and be perfectly happy with little children. They must discern clearly between right and wrong, and demonstrate how to overcome the temptations of the world. They can go barefoot along the path of life without being bruised.

Church leaders are called to be prophets, among other things. At first there is a certain glory and prestige in it, but it isn’t long before you feel the pain and discouragement. This is why Jesus sent his disciples out in twos and threes … so that they could encourage and support one another.

Worship Theme (Amos 5:18-24 and 7:7-9)

Despite all the changing technologies of history, the plumb line is still one of the most basic tools for construction. It remains a powerful metaphor. Imagine a huge plumb line suspended from the ceiling of your church sanctuary. It is a thick cable, with a heavy weight at the end. No matter where you sit in the sanctuary, the vertical line of that suspended cable will immediately reveal the slightest warp, wobble, or imperfection in the room and its furniture. And imagine that this is only a sign indicating how God, even at this moment of worship, is measuring the spiritual life of the congregation and the lives of every member. Is your life “true”? Does it parallel the life of Jesus? Does it suspend in the daily living of your week in such a way that people can simply look at you, and discern how the rest of the world might be crooked, slanted, and sinful?

It’s hard to imagine that God might demand the same perfection in our spiritual lives as a contractor might demand in the vertical lines of a building. Yet it is just as important. If the line of a wall is out even by a few degrees, the structure will ultimately collapse in wind or earthquake; if the line of your life is out even by a fraction, misaligned with God’s purpose, then the structure of your life may collapse under stress and crisis.

A contractor would not be satisfied with a wall being “sort of true”, “close to 90 degrees”, or “approximately vertical”. God is not satisfied with a life being “sort of faithful”, “close to upright”, or “approximately perfect”. All the interior decoration in the world will not make a building any safer if it is “out of plumb”; and all the liturgies, sacrificial gifts, and correct theologies in the world will not make a life any more faithful if the person is “out of plumb”. Such a standard of perfection seems impossible to achieve. Is there anyone who has done it, can do it, or ever will do it? Yes … there is One.

Worship Design (Amos 5:18-24 and 7:7-9)

Sometimes we try too hard to make things just right, but most of the time the church exhibits the regularly cited attitude of it’s good enough for government work.  There’s a tendency to put our best foot somewhere else besides in our faith.  Some in our congregation are in business where second-best is the same as first-loser.  They do their best and they expect their employees to give their all as well.  But often in the church, the faith gets the left-overs.  The Sunday school lesson is hastily prepared a half-hour before class.  The pianist performs without practice.  And our leaders often acquiesce to substandard behaviors.  We’ll decree that you have to attend choir practice to sing in the choir on Sunday, but if our talented soprano or lead tenor can’t make it on Wednesday night, we’ll, rules are made to be broken.

But that’s just the point.  God’s given us rules that are inviolable.  Justice.  Mercy.  Applying our faith to the day-to-day.  God isn’t willing to put up with our good-enough.  The door gets shut on “sort ofs.”  The bumper sticker “Christians Aren’t Perfect ... Just Forgiven” may be good orthodoxy, but it’s bad orthopraxis.  We’re going to have to do better as Christians if we’re going to turn around train wreck we call church.

To get the point across, spend a few minutes chuckling through an old clip from the 1986 film Gung Ho.  In the movie, Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) tries to move heaven and earth to get a shot at keeping the only industry in town alive from being shut down forever by trying to lure a Japanese car company to buy and run their factory.  He succeeds, but the good-enough attitude of the union with the team attitude of the Japanese clashes.  Consider using one of two clips.

The first clip to consider is on the first work day under Japanese management.  Run the clip where the employees participate in mandatory daily calisthenics.  The clip is both hilarious and tragic.  The other clip is towards the end when Hunt is trying to prove that the union can produce the number of cars needed to keep the factory from closing,  In this clip, Mr. Sakamoto (Sô Yamamura) is inspecting and counting the number of cars produced with his son Saito (Sab Shimono).  As Mr. Sakamoto approaches the last car, he lifts the hood and inside instead of an engine is one of the auto workers.  Hunt tries to make light of it, but it’s clear that their efforts weren’t good enough.

Making do seems to be a North American trait.  But God isn’t interested in fly-by-night, seat-of-the-pants, perfunctory religion.  It’s walk the talk or ...

Bill T-B

Small Group Discussion (Amos 1, 5, and 7)

Before the small group meets, each participant should have read and studied this week's Scripture passages.

Amos was a shepherd, not a prophet nor the son of a prophet; however, God will choose whom God will use.  Amos prophesied in a time of rising international tension, and only a few years before the fall of <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region> to the Assyrians. His words were harsh and hard to hear.  God was fed up with the nation’s divided loyalties.  God had had enough of their half-hearted faithfulness.  “Put your faith where your mouth is,” is the theme of the book and the warning to all 

1. Amos isn’t the only person used by God who seems underqualified for the job.  Moses, David, Elisha, and Peter all would probably miss our hiring list for professional clergy.  What qualifications do you think God was looking for in Amos?

2. What were the sins of <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region> that so angered God?  Is our nation guilty of none, some, or most of these?  What do you think God might have in store for us?

3. What did God have against the religious practices and services?  Is the church guilty of none, some, or most of these?

4. What practices in you life and in the life of the church might have difficulty measuring up against the plum line?  What are you going to do about it?

Bill T-B

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4^th Sunday in September (Week 39) Faithful Servants (Hosea 11 and 14; Luke 17:1-6 and 18:9-17; Hosea 1, 4, 6, 8, 14)

The call to repentance is one of the most constant refrains of the Bible. The possibility of repentance depends on two things: acknowledgement of sin and hope for grace. The former precedes the latter. Grace cannot really be experienced unless sin is truly recognized.

Contemporary people, for example, do not generally recognize sin. At first it was reduced to mere guilt and was assuaged by modern psychology; then it was reduced to moral failure and was avoided by self-affirmation; finally it became just a “hang-up from our childhood” and was set aside as immature. Each step along the way, people distanced themselves further, and further, and further from God. And that is sin. It is measured by distance from God.

Pre-20^th century evangelists used to talk about being “convicted of sin”. This was not just a legal metaphor, but a sense of “conviction” or “absolute certainty” that one was so far removed from God, distant from God, alienated from God, that one was surely lost. Out of the conviction of sin comes the yearning for grace. This is no casual forgiveness. It is a yearning to return, to be close, to be embraced again by God … as an adult remembers being embraced by a loving parent when only a small child. The path to repentance, and from repentance to grace, and from grace to mission is difficult. Do we have the courage to do it? Do we have the discipline to do it? Do we have the ultimate capability of doing it? Do we need help?

Team Meditation

Luke 18:13-14  ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, `God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Jesus compares sin with pride or “self exaltation”. The prouder we are, the more sinful we are, and since no one is more self-centered than a new born baby, we are literally sinners from the moment we are born. Our primal instinct is not to sacrifice, but to survive. It is not to give our lives for others, but to save our skins ahead of others. And from the primal instinct we develop all the other selfish lifestyles of greed, lust, envy, anger, covetousness, and sloth. Further and further we go from God.

In Jesus’ day, the tax collector was the worst person on earth. No only was he a collaborator and traitor, but he used extortion, blackmail, torture, and murder to extort money from rich and poor to pay the burdensome tribute to their conquerors. And along the way, the tax collector kept much of the money himself. Yet even he can be “convicted” of his sin … yearn for grace … and be accepted by God.

Our hypocrisy as leaders of the church is that deep in our heart we do not believe we are nearly as bad as the tax collector. Unable to see our own sin, we cannot experience the totality of God’s grace. And if we have neither recognized the depth of sin, nor experienced the power of grace, how can we preach hope to all the other tax collectors out there?

Worship Theme

Hosea makes the covenant a “family matter”. He makes it personal. It’s not just about loyalty to a great ruler anymore, but about duty to one’s own father. It’s not just about living according to certain rules and principles anymore, but about loving your parent with your whole heart. Hosea transforms the covenant … and the breaking and reforming of the covenant … into an issue of intimacy.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him …” says God through the voice of Hosea. Hosea’s own marriage and family life was a shambles, and he knew all to well what lost love felt like. God has lost his son. This was the love-child that he had birthed long ago in the travail of the Exodus, and raised to adulthood in the time of David. This same child had left home, and was wasting his life as a prodigal. This has gone way beyond teenaged rebellion. This son is an adult who is intentionally and deliberately abusing his own parent, trampling on his own birthright, and disgracing his own heritage.

What would you do with a son like that? Most of us would hang in there for awhile … forgive for a time. We might allow ourselves to be manipulated and abused for a few years … but for centuries? In the end, we give up on that child. We would stop trying. We would stop crying.

Not God. God never ceases to weep for his wayward children. God never stops trying to save them. In the end, God would send his one true and perfect child as a sacrifice to bring back as many adopted sons and daughters that he could. Even in God’s anger, he never let’s go. He is always there, ready to embrace the prodigal. He is always pursuing you, always calling to you, always ready to forgive your sincere repentance. We may give up on God. God never gives up on us.

Worship Design (Hosea 11 and 14)

Those in the North American church are generally pretty confident that God is on our side, God is ever present, and that God is overall proud to call us “his.”  <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region> thought the same thing.  They were the “chosen” ones and they knew it.  Like spoiled brats they flaunted their heir-ness, their chosen-ness. 

Enter <place w:st="on">Assyria</place> and the great punishment. 

Through it all, though, God continued to call, to plead, yea, to roar like a lion calling his cubs.  But <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region> refused to hear.  But God never gave up waiting for the chosen ones to repent so God could reconcile and restore.

Remember the animated movie Finding Nemo?  Nemo, a young clown fish, rebelled against his father’s boundaries and was subsequently captured by a tropical fish hunter.  You may want to use the clip that shows Nemo’s rebellion as we swims beyond the bounds, showing off to his friends.  He too felt pretty good about himself; he was in no danger – until suddenly he turned around and it was pretty well all over.

Take some time to brainstorm ways in which <place w:st="on">North America</place>, and particularly the North American church, may be rebelling against God.  Inherent consumerism?  Embracing our own tradition over God’s commandments?  Not loving one-another as Jesus loved us?

North American Christians often believe that they will be spared God’s wrath because they are God’s children.  <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Israel</country-region></place> thought the same thing – and look where it got them. 

As Tom reminds us, God may become angry.  God may discipline us.  God might even turn away from us, but even with arms crossed and back turned.  But God doesn’t give up.  God continues to call us to return, even when we’ve put ourselves into captivity by our disobedience.

In Finding Nemo, when Marlin, Nemo’s father, learns of his son’s fate, he gives chase.  In the initial clip when he discovers his son has been captured he immediately begins his rescue attempt.  He swims after his son calling his name, chasing the ship that holds his son.  Even when it is out of sight, he keeps on his course, determined.

God doesn’t give up.  Even when we’ve given ourselves into rebellion and God metes out painful discipline, turning away from us with crossed arms, the Lord’s ears remain attuned to our voice lest we repent.  Then with open arms, God turns and welcomes us back.  We are God’s children and the one thing we can count on is that God will not disown us.

Bill T-B

Small Group Discussion (Hosea 1, 4, 6, 8, 14)

Before the small group meets, each participant should have read and studied this week's Scripture passages.

The story of Hosea is the story of longsuffering and humility.  God calls Hosea to marry a known, practicing prostitute.  He “rescues” her from her profession and tries to make “family.”  But even with the addition of children, the lure of her former life was apparently too much for her.  Gomer did not want to be rescued and she returns to her old ways.

The story of Hosea and Gomer is the story of God and <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region> – and of God and us.  Just because God sent Jesus to rescue us doesn’t mean we wanted to be rescued. 

Discuss the following questions in your small group time 

1. Besides as an allegorical demonstration to <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region>, why do you think God would have Hosea, a righteous man, marry Gomer?  How do you think Hosea felt?  Gomer?  Their children?

2. What metaphors does God use to represent <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Israel</country-region></place> in this prophesy?   To represent God? 

3. What sins does God “hold against” <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Israel</place></country-region>?  What is the threatened consequence of their sin?  What would forestall the punishment?

4. Where is your line in the sand?  What would your children have to do before you’d disown them?  Would you be willing to take them back if they repented?  Would you attempt to “rescue” them even if they didn’t repent?

5. Have you ever felt disowned by God?  What did/would it take for you to be reconciled to God?

Bill T-B