A Place at the Table

Prayer of the Day

O God, you resist those who are proud and give grace to those who are humble. Give us the humility of your Son, that we may embody the generosity of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Jeremiah 2:4-13

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says the Lord: 
 What wrong did your ancestors find in me
  that they went far from me,
 and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?
 ⁶They did not say, “Where is the Lord
  who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
 who led us in the wilderness,
  in a land of deserts and pits,
 in a land of drought and deep darkness,
  in a land that no one passes through,
  where no one lives?”
 ⁷I brought you into a plentiful land
  to eat its fruits and its good things.
 But when you entered you defiled my land,
  and made my heritage an abomination.
 ⁸The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
  Those who handle the law did not know me;
 the rulers transgressed against me;
  the prophets prophesied by Baal,
  and went after things that do not profit.

 ⁹Therefore once more I accuse you,
 says the Lord,
  and I accuse your children’s children.
 ¹⁰Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
  send to Kedar and examine with care;
  see if there has ever been such a thing.
 ¹¹Has a nation changed its gods,
  even though they are no gods?
 But my people have changed their glory
  for something that does not profit.
 ¹²Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
  be shocked, be utterly desolate,
 says the Lord,
 ¹³for my people have committed two evils:
  they have forsaken me,
 the fountain of living water,
  and dug out cisterns for themselves,
 cracked cisterns
  that can hold no water.

Psalm 81:1, 10-16

 ¹Sing with joy to ^| God our strength
  and raise a loud shout to the ^| God of Jacob.
 ¹⁰“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the ^| land of Egypt.
  Open your mouth wide, and ^| I will fill it.
 ¹¹Yet my people did not ^| hear my voice,
  and Israel would ^| not obey me.
 ¹²So I gave them over to the stubbornness ^| of their hearts,
  to follow their ^| own devices. 
 ¹³Oh, that my people would lis- ^| ten to me,
  that Israel would walk ^| in my ways!
 ¹⁴I would quickly sub- ^| due their enemies
  and turn my hand a- ^| gainst their foes.
 ¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would ^| cringe in fear,
  and their punishment would ^| last forever.
 ¹⁶But I would feed you with the ^| finest wheat
  and satisfy you with honey ^| from the rock.” 

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

¹Let mutual love continue. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. ³Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. ⁴Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. ⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” ⁶So we can say with confidence, 
 “The Lord is my helper;
  I will not be afraid.
 What can anyone do to me?”
 ⁷Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ¹⁵Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. ¹⁶Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

¹On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
 ⁷When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; ⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. ¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
 ¹²He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

God wants to be in relationship with the chosen people, will all humanity, including us. The first three verses of Jeremiah Chapter Two present the metaphor of a marriage, a marriage from which the people walked away: “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” Do you remember the honeymoon? God seems to be asking. Have your ancestors told you the story of your fidelity and mine? It was wonderful. We loved each other and were faithful.

What went wrong? Well, what always goes wrong? God brought the people out of the land of Egypt into the Wilderness, then through the Wilderness into what scripture calls the land of milk and honey, and then gave them kings. But then the Israelites looked around at the other people and decided they might like to try worshiping the gods of their neighbors.

Why did they do that? Why do we turn away from God, worshiping other gods? We go after worthless things because their “worthlessness” is deferred. Their immediate payoff is so satisfying. Yes, God’s acts of deliverance were amazing. But the thrill of walking between the walls of the water in the Red Seas belonged to people long dead. Those are just stories to us now. We want our own vivid experience. 

For the Israelites, the heart of Jeremiah’s speech is idolatry. God comes at the subject in three different ways: the people have chased after worthless things (and become worthless themselves in the process). They have “changed gods’ (forsaking the one who made them what they are today). And they have tried to draw strength from worthless sources (cracked cisterns that cannot hold anything). 

I want to have you wonder with me about what we idolize. What are our cracked cisterns today? I actually think that unlike Jeremiah’s audience, we do remember our past, or multiple pasts, but we distort them. Sometimes we make idols of these pasts.

Although historians have yet to locate such an idyllic chapter in this nation’s history, their conclusions haven’t stopped large segments of the population from glorifying the past. Selective memory holds attractive appeal. Warm sentimentality, however oblivious to real experience, feels good. 

Pastor Peter Marty wrote, “One wonders what past era [people] might have in mind. Was it America’s legacy of enslaving African peoples, only to lynch numbers of them later? Was it the 18th century and its primitive medicine, or the 19th century and its marginal sanitation? Perhaps his cherished past exists somewhere in the past 100 years, when women still lacked the right to vote, laborers had frighteningly few rights, the needs of the disabled went largely ignored, Agent Orange wreaked havoc, and the waterboarding of terror suspects became acceptable to some top brass.

Nostalgia that ignores blemishes of the past makes for shabby history. The ancient Israelites, who longed for the fleshpots of Egypt despite being freshly liberated from the pharaoh, remind us that glorifying the past is not an exclusively modern or American phenomenon. Anyone from any epoch is capable of shelving complexity for the sake of remembering the good and forgetting the bad.”

The people hearing from God through the prophet Jeremiah seem to have forgotten that God was present leading them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land. And in that forgetting they defiled the land once they arrived there.

We are present in the text too. The prophet is speaking about the ancestors. He is speaking to their descendants. And their descendants, including us, are reading the prophet’s words. Many generations are wrapped up in God’s question, “What did I do wrong, that you, all of you, were unfaithful?” God is asking the question to all three of these groups.

God first inquires about the ancestors. The passage of time leaves God especially vulnerable to what might have gone wrong in the past. God could have failed during the time of the patriarchs, during the time of deliverance from Egypt or during Israel’s wilderness experience. God could have failed as the newly formed nation entered the land of promise or when leadership was turned over to a succession of judges, prophets, and kings.

Even if the fault lies with the divine, God is willing to examine all of the possibilities. But once the question is asked, the answer seems obvious. One scholar explains, “God’s question seems to be rhetorical, with the answer self-evident: God committed no wrong in the relationship.”

What does this look like today? In what ways have we been unfaithful to God? You know them. We have all confessed our sins earlier in the service, our communal sins but also our individual sins. We know our unfaithfulness. Another way to get at this is by asking, what would we love our community to look like? Instead of getting caught up in nostalgia about the past, instead of idolizing some picture painted of what was, inaccurate as it may be, we might ask, “how do we want to live the lives we have been given now—today?  

God, through Jeremiah, is calling the people to borrow God’s vision, oh my people, and this is what you will see…. “My vision of shalom, of a peaceable kingdom is this. It is my dream for you and for all creation.”

Is the dream over? No, it is not. We know this because at the end of the passage, God still calls the people, “my people.” And God describes Godself as a fountain of living water. Let’s dwell there for a minute. Living water rains, runs, flows, and swirls. It washes away impurity, transports nutrients, constitutes leaf and stem, blood and bone. Where water flows, life abounds. Where water stagnates, disease takes hold. Where there is no water, life cannot even begin. 

As today, the climate of much of Israel was defined by a rainy season (winter) and a dry season (summer). The summer brought sunshine and beautiful blue skies. But if one did not live near a natural, constant source of living water, such as a spring, water could be hard to come by, and was truly precious.

Israel’s Iron Age (1200-539 BCE) was a time of technological innovation. New technologies included terracing and iron plow-points. These facilitated agricultural intensification and geographical expansion. Another technology whose use made it possible for Israelites to settle and thrive in highland regions that had previously been inhospitable was the cistern, referenced in our Jeremiah text.

In Israel’s central highlands, settlers hewed bell-shaped cisterns from bedrock. These collected and stored water from the rainy winter for use during arid summer. They dug channels to direct rainwater into the cistern. 

In places where the bedrock was formed predominantly from chalk, the chalk formed a natural seal when wet, further minimizing water loss. In other places, cisterns could be sealed with a plaster compound. 

What was God’s critique and lament? “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

Today, when water flows from taps, it may be difficult to grasp the force of water as a metaphor. And yet, in this high desert it should be somewhat translatable. What if our canals were broken up one day, unable to transport water to crops? What if our reservoirs dried up for good? Those tools are all made by humans, in our control. But a fountain of living water that never stops flowing? That is the definition of hope and life.

Hope remains. God does not want simply to terminate the relationship but is willing to struggle, perhaps to fix blame but also perhaps to recover the relationship. In spite of their idolatry, despite their unfaithfulness as a people, God calls Israel “my people.” Even now, there is hope for the nation. This hope, rooted and grounded in the nature of the divine, will not fail. “In Jeremiah’s prophecies, Israel’s hope is as sure as its doom,” one scholar wrote. He continues, “Hope such as this is ever present, encouraging humanity, individually and collectively, to embrace God’s best, no matter what.” It may feel like the world is changing too much, too fast even during this one hour of worship. Fear not. We worship a God of living water who will never forsake us.

In the service of Holy Baptism we ask God, “Pour out your Holy Spirit, the power of your living Word, that those who are washed in the waters of baptism may be given new life” and later, “sustain this person with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever.” Not just the day of baptism, not just this week, or month, or year. We ask, and God promises, to stay with us forever. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession

Trusting in God’s extraordinary love, let us come near to the Holy One in prayer.

A brief silence.

For the church and its leaders, we pray. Uphold all deacons, pastors, and bishops who serve and teach your people (national, synodical, and local leaders may be named). Awaken in your church a spirit of invitation that reaches ever outward. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

For the well-being of creation and its inhabitants, we pray. Stir in us reverent awe for the beauty of the natural world, for oceans and lakes, rivers and streams, forests and deserts (local places may be named). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

For the nations and peoples of the world, we pray. Sustain the efforts of those who pursue justice and equity for all. Defend and accompany all immigrants and refugees and all who are persecuted for their ethnic origin or religious beliefs. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

For all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit, we pray. Be present with those who live in isolation or fear, especially those who are incarcerated or detained. Comfort all who are sick or grieving (especially). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

For this congregation and its ministries, we pray. Prepare children, teachers, and youth ministry directors for a new year of learning. Embolden our witness to invite others to the table. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

For all the saints who confessed God’s name (especially Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and Moses the Black), we give thanks. May we cling to the promise of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Receive the prayers of your children, merciful God, and hold us forever in your steadfast love; through Jesus Christ, our holy Wisdom.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

O God, judge eternal, you love justice and hate oppression, and you call us to share your zeal for truth. Give us courage to take our stand with all victims of bloodshed and greed, and, following your servants and prophets, to look to the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Isaiah 5:1-7

 ¹Let me sing for my beloved
  my love-song concerning his vineyard:
 My beloved had a vineyard
  on a very fertile hill.
 ²He 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.

 ³And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
  and people of Judah,
 judge between me
  and my vineyard.
 ⁴What 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?

 ⁵And 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.
 ⁶I 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.

 ⁷For 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!

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

 ¹Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph ^| like a flock;
  shine forth, you that are enthroned up- ^| on the cherubim.
 ²In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, ^| and Manasseh,
  stir up your strength and ^| come to help us.
 ⁸You have brought a vine ^| out of Egypt;
  you cast out the nations and ^| planted it.
 ⁹You cleared the ^| ground for it;
  it took root and ^| filled the land.
 ¹⁰The mountains were covered ^| by its shadow
  and the towering cedar trees ^| by its boughs.
 ¹¹You stretched out its tendrils ^| to the sea
  and its branches ^| to the river. 
 ¹²Why have you broken ^| down its wall,
  so that all who pass by pluck ^| off its grapes?
 ¹³The wild boar of the forest has ^| ravaged it,
  and the beasts of the field have ^| grazed upon it.
 ¹⁴Turn now, O ^| God of hosts,
  look ^| down from heaven;
 ¹⁵behold and ^| tend this vine;
  preserve what your right ^| hand has planted. 
 ¹⁶They burn it with ^| fire like rubbish;
  at the rebuke of your countenance ^| let them perish.
 ¹⁷Let your hand be upon the one at ^| your right hand,
  the one you have made so strong ^| for yourself.
 ¹⁸And so will we never turn a- ^| way from you;
  give us life, that we may call up- ^| on your name.
 ¹⁹Restore us, O Lord^| God of hosts;
  let your face shine upon us, and we ^| shall be saved.

Hebrews 11:29–12:2

²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
 ³²And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented—³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
 ³⁹Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

 ^12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12:49-56

[Jesus said:] ⁴⁹“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ⁵²From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³they will be divided: 
 father against son
  and son against father,
 mother against daughter
  and daughter against mother,
 mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
  and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
 ⁵⁴He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Our passage from Isaiah labels itself a love song, and it surely begins that way: “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.” 

But then this love song, which is really a sort of parable, similar to the story about sheep that the prophet Nathan tells to convict king David, and similar to the many parables Jesus told, the love song or parable makes a sharp turn. We read, “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?” 

It turns out that Israel and Judah are the vineyard and God is the vine grower. With this parable, God is declaring judgement, yet it is judgement born of love. In a very clear way, the love song continues even as God through the prophet Isaiah describes the destruction which will come. 

Like the people of Israel and Judah we have been taught often about God’s love and grace—how God chose, cleared, dug, planted, and safeguarded us. “Lucky us,” one scholar wrote, “We are infinitely loved and assured. We are therefore relieved of heavy obligations, duties, and requirements—and are immune to certain ultimate devastations. In no time, we are lounging in the easiest of all the world’s religions, leaning back into the entitlements of grace and an arrogance of heritage. Love was looking for something else.” He concludes that, “God’s love, it turns out, comes with expectations after all.” Three times we read it: God “expected.” 

A vineyard, as those of us so close to the Snake River Wine Country know, is not full of decorative flowers. A vineyard is for farming. The vintner needs and expects fruit, not just any fruit, but fruit that refreshes, feeds, pleases the palates, gladdens the heart, and can be the center of communal celebrations. 

For four lines the vineyard owner speaks, but now it is over. God has gone silent, and the prophet Isaiah must disclose what occurred. What did the people do that was so bad? It comes in the final verse, “He expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry.” The passage descends from the beautiful to the horrible. 

We, reading the text so many years later, do well to take some time and dwell on the two words that weigh so heavy in the text: justice and righteousness. As I have said before from this pulpit, we need to take care when the Bible speaks of justice because it is at once a concept so central to the entire Bible and yet so far from our contemporary understandings of the word. 

There is also no one word in the Bible which easily translates into justice in English. There are three words. The word used in our Isaiah passage today is mishpat, a word which lays claim to the fundamental wholeness of the world, and to what God does when that wholeness is ripped apart, torn by neglect or violence or any violation of right relationship. We might speak here of “rectifying” justice or “restorative” justice. 

Righteousness, in our country today, typically signifies individual morality. The Hebrew word usually designates the fulfillment of one’s obligations to others. The everyday phrase “do right by somebody” captures this sense of the word. 

And so, we can conclude that the members of the vineyard did not do right by anybody. Nor did they seek wholeness and right relationships with one another, their neighbors, or God. 

So then what? Is there any hope to come from this horrible ending of a beautiful vineyard now destroyed? In fact there is hope. However, it will not be found in these seven verses, but through the imagery of the vineyard carried forward in scripture. 

The theme of a “new song” of the vineyard is first sounded in Isaiah Chapter 27. God announces God’s own intent to keep the vineyard night and day against all enemies, “I have no wrath. If it gives me thorns and briers, I will march to battle against it. I will burn it up. Or else let it cling to me for protection, let it make peace with me…In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots, and fill the whole world with fruit.”

John’s gospel, Chapter 15 develops a Christ-centered interpretation of the vineyard. It explores the source of Israel’s true fruit. It lies in complete dependence of the branches on the vine. God, the Father, is thus glorified by the righteous fruit that the followers of Jesus Christ produce. And what undergirds every adaptation of the vineyard metaphor, the dominant witness encompassing it all, is that God is making all things new.

Listen to the words again of our Psalm, which is always a response to our first reading, “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.”

In the musical adaptation of the famed book The Secret Garden, my second favorite song is simply, “Wick.” Orphan Mary Lennox has gone to live with her grumpy uncle in England after her parents died of cholera in India. At her uncle’s estate, Mary discovers a secret abandoned garden and makes friends with Dicken, who teacher her about gardening through the song:

“When a thing is wick, it has a life about it.

Maybe not a life like you and me.

But somewhere there’s a secret streak of green inside it.

Now, come and let me show you what I mean.

When a thing is wick, it has a light around it.

Maybe not a light that you can see.

But hiding down below a spark’s asleep inside it,

Waiting for the right time to be seen.”

Mary and Dicken move around the garden, doing their work. At the end of the song, Mary finally joins in the singing, 

“When a thing is wick,

And someone cares about it,

And comes to work each day, like you and me,

Will it grow?” she asks. And Dicken assures her, “It will.”

Will the followers of Jesus Christ living in 2022 pursue justice and righteousness? Will we tend the vineyard? The end of the parable is left open. Will we seek wholeness, care for the neglected, lift up those God shows preferential treatment for again and again—the widow, the orphan, the foreigner and whoever they might be today? Will we do right by our neighbors? The invitation is open. I trust that there is plenty of wick in the vineyard of the reign of God. 

What’s more, we trust and follow a God who is always making things new, including on this day, when we gather around a meal of bread and wine. Together we feast on the fruit of the vine, Christ’s love poured out for us, his body given for us. We are nourished in faith and love as we hear the promises of mercy of new life. We cannot help but respond to such love with fruit of justice and righteousness.

May the psalmist’s words become our prayer, 

“¹⁸And so will we never turn away from you;
  give us life, that we may call upon your name.
 ¹⁹Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
  let your face shine upon us.” Amen.

Prayers of Intercession

Trusting in God’s extraordinary love, let us come near to the Holy One in prayer.

Arise, O God, and sustain your church. We pray for all who dedicate their lives to serving your people. Renew our commitment to our siblings in faith around the globe, and bless the work of our ecumenical and interfaith partners (especially). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Arise, O God, and sustain your creation. We pray for all places affected by natural disasters (especially). Transform the devastation of floods and fires into fertile ground for new life and growth. Fill heaven and earth with your life-giving Spirit. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Arise, O God, and sustain the nations. We pray for all elected officials. Kindle in them a desire to administer your justice. Strengthen their resolve to defend those who are vulnerable and to stand publicly against all forms of oppression. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Arise, O God, and sustain those who are oppressed. We pray for people harmed by racist discrimination, ableist discrimination, and all people discriminated against based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Rescue us from all systems that degrade our fellow human beings. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Arise, O God, and sustain this assembly. We pray for this community, celebrating with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep (concerns may be named). In our joy and in our tears, be near us. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, we remember the saints (especially Maximilian Kolbe and Kaj Munk) who have gone before us. May we run with perseverance the race set before us until we find our rest in you. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Receive the prayers of your children, merciful God, and hold us forever in your steadfast love; through Jesus Christ, our holy Wisdom.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church. Open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may be ready to receive you wherever you appear, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

¹The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

 ¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,
  you rulers of Sodom!
 Listen to the teaching of our God,
  you people of Gomorrah!
 ¹¹What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
  says the Lord;
 I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
  and the fat of fed beasts;
 I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
  or of lambs, or of goats.

 ¹²When you come to appear before me,
  who asked this from your hand?
  Trample my courts no more;
 ¹³bringing offerings is futile;
  incense is an abomination to me.
 New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
  I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
 ¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed festivals
  my soul hates;
 they have become a burden to me,
  I am weary of bearing them.
 ¹⁵When you stretch out your hands,
  I will hide my eyes from you;
 even though you make many prayers,
  I will not listen;
  your hands are full of blood.
 ¹⁶Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
  remove the evil of your doings
  from before my eyes;
 cease to do evil,
  ¹⁷learn to do good;
 seek justice,
  rescue the oppressed,
 defend the orphan,
  plead for the widow.

 ¹⁸Come now, let us argue it out,
  says the Lord:
 though your sins are like scarlet,
  they shall be like snow;
 though they are red like crimson,
  they shall become like wool.
 ¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,
  you shall eat the good of the land;
 ²⁰but if you refuse and rebel,
  you shall be devoured by the sword;
  for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23

 ¹The mighty one, God the ^| Lord, has spoken;
  calling the earth from the rising of the sun ^| to its setting.
 ²Out of Zion, perfect ^| in its beauty,
  God shines ^| forth in glory.
 ³Our God will come and will ^| not keep silence;
  with a consuming flame before, and round about a ^| raging storm.
 ⁴God calls the heavens and the earth ^| from above
  to witness the judgment ^| of the people. 
 ⁵“Gather before me my ^| loyal followers,
  those who have made a covenant with me and sealed ^| it with sacrifice.”
 ⁶The heavens declare the rightness ^| of God’s cause,
  for it is God ^| who is judge.
 ⁷“Listen, my people, and I will speak: Israel, I will bear wit- ^| ness against you;
  for I am ^| God, your God.
 ⁸I do not accuse you because ^| of your sacrifices;
  your burnt offerings are al- ^| ways before me. 
 ²²Consider this well, you ^| who forget God,
  lest I tear you apart and there be none to de- ^| liver you.
 ²³Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving ^| honors me;
  I will show the salvation of God to those who go ^| the right way.”

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

¹Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ²Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. ³By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
 ⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
 ¹³All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

[Jesus said:] ³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
 ³⁵“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
 ³⁹“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

I made a trip to Boise with a friend this week, shortly after I began preparing this sermon in earnest. She asked how I was doing and I blurted out, “I’m preaching on Isaiah chapter 1 and it’s a chance to name all the things wrong with Christianity right now.” 

Reading through these verses reminded me of one of many conversations I had in July at Luther Heights with Jen, the camp nurse for the week. Jen is from American Falls and is a staff alum, but she now lives and works in Reno. In one conversation she told me how frustrated her high school daughter gets with the kids from her huge church youth group. “They have these long Bible studies and then get to school and none of it carries over.” 

My dad always said the school playground just took on different iterations throughout life. A high schooler sees the inconsistencies between the youth group Bible Study and school. Adults who leave church see similar, sometimes deeper and more troubling, inconsistencies. People leaving the church often cite the hypocrisies of Christians as a chief reason for leaving. The sentiment goes, “What they profess on Sunday morning in worship seems to have no impact on their lives—how they spend their time, how they treat their family, who they vote for, what they do with their money.”

Writer and theologian Brian McLaren’s most recent book addresses all of this. The book is titled Do I Stay Christian? A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned. I’m leading a small group online discussion on the book starting mid-August and 11 people, some in the church, some on the fringes, are signed up so far.

Isaiah does in fact have much to say about inconsistencies, hypocrisy, better and worse worship practices. Despite the harsh words in chapter one, this passage also gives me deep hope for people of faith because of what it reveals about the God we worship.

First, I think it is very important to point out that unlike other scripture passages that speak of individual faith and practice, we need to hear these words addressed to an entire community. It would be easier to preach this text in the American South where they say ya’ll regularly. Hear the “you” as a “you all.” 

The second acknowledgement is that we are reading a critique of worship while we are in the middle of a worship service—a bit strange. Pastors and church musicians often become the greatest critics of other people’s worship services. Couldn’t the musicians have prepared more? Why are we singing this hymn, which is too high for anyone here? The preacher seems to be phoning it in today—no real preparation. Who baked this communion bread, and this wine is too sweet.

None of those complaints make it into our reading from Isaiah today. First and foremost, Isaiah wants worship with integrity. Isaiah uses the strongest language possible, addressing the hearers as “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah.” These cities are long gone. But Isaiah refers to them to call out the worst in the people he is speaking to. The two cities had become a byword for wickedness in the extreme and divine annihilation, but perhaps not for the reasons our Western ears and minds might assume.

The particular wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah is a matter of their greed and injustice. When a prophet uses the word injustice, he’s not talking about punishing the deserving. Justice and injustice refer to fairness and equity, chiefly economic equity.

The fullest account of the “sin” of the Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament is in the book of Ezekiel: “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. The two cities became bywords for injustice and so Isaiah implies that the southern kingdom of Judah, especially the leaders and people of Jerusalem, now mirrors their condition. 

Isaiah calls his listeners and all of us to carry out acts of worship in ways that reflect integrity. On a first reading, Isaiah seems to say that God rejects the entire worship system. He says that God disregards and dismisses every type of worship act in which the people engage, ranging from sacrifice to prayer. 

But the keys to Isaiah’s meaning are embedded in his words. First, the prophet quotes God as saying, “I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity” (verse 13). Second, he says that God declares, “Your hands are full of blood” (verse 15). So, it is not worship per se that God rejects. It is worship carried out with no regard for ethics. Acts of worship, even if performed correctly and abundantly, cannot compensate for the mistreatment of people, especially of the weak and oppressed. 

Isaiah next calls us to practice justice. Isaiah has told his audience that their hands are full of blood (verse 15). On one hand, this may recall the many sacrifices that the people have been offering and that God has rejected (see verse 11). The people’s hands are indeed filled with the blood of sacrificed animals. But that is not the point that the prophet is making. The people’s hands are full of blood in the sense that they have been mistreating people. They have not been practicing sound ethics in their dealings with the oppressed and vulnerable.

It does not take much imagination to recall instances distant or nearer to our own time when the church has done all the right things in worship but has disregarded the oppressed and vulnerable. The Crusades, the Inquisition, Protestant-Catholic conflicts, condoning the slave trade and slavery of Africans in this country, facilitating church boarding schools where indigenous children were stripped of their families, languages, spiritualities, and heritage. And after the church took part in moving civil rights forward in this country for so many people, other parts of the church led the backlash, slowly trying to strip away gains made. I’ll admit to moments where it all becomes a little overwhelming to me and I simply want to walk away from it all.

But then I listen in as Isaiah summons the people to wash the blood of injustice from their hands. The prophet names general ways in which the people can do this. They can “cease to do evil” (verse 16), which has the sense of something that can be done immediately. They can also “learn to do good” (verse 17), which has the sense of something that takes place over a longer period of time. God, through the prophet, does not seem to be finished with this people yet. God has not given up hope for transformation.

The prophet names more specific ways that the people can “seek justice”—they can “rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (verse 17).¹ In so doing, they will turn away from the sin of Sodom (verse 10), which the prophecy of Ezekiel defines as having “pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease” while failing to “aid the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).

As we listen in so many years later, Isaiah invites us also to turn away from unethical dealings and to turn toward justice. He now invites his audience and us to accept the good that can come if they repent. The verb translated “let us argue it out” in NRSV is rendered elsewhere as “let us settle the matter” (NIV) and “let’s settle this” (CEB). 

Those alternate translations seem to better capture the sense, since what needs to happen is not up for debate or negotiation. The prophet calls the people to agree with and accept God’s evaluation of their situation, and to change in light of it. The imagery of sins that “are like scarlet” and that are “red like crimson” could reflect the previous statement that the people’s “hands are full of blood” (verse 15). Their sins becoming “like snow” and “like wool” (verse 18) could be the result of the people’s washing themselves (verse 16). 

Even though Judah has been devastated and Jerusalem has been left isolated, the people’s repentance can lead to their experiencing the blessings of the land that God intends them to have. Failure to repent, on the other hand, will lead to further judgment. 

One pastor wrote this past week about how it is inherent to Christianity to place trust in the notion of change. He goes on “When we pray for the heart of Vladimir Putin to soften, when we long for a person from whom we’re estranged to get back in touch, when we work to transform humanity’s relationship to our planet, we’re putting all our eggs in the basket of change. There will always be some kinds of science and some kinds of religion that maintain nothing ever changes. But change is in the character of crea­tion, and sometimes situations and people can change for the better. Conversion is the name for the way a person’s heart and soul and actions can change for good when they encounter the embrace of God’s ever-loving arms.”

What is true for individual conversion and trust in the notion of change must also be true for an entire community of Christians. It is why I stay with this community of faith; I trust that the Holy Spirit is transforming us still, Trinity Lutheran, the ELCA—our church body, the holy catholic (small c, meaning universal) church. God is not done with the church yet. Repentance in the Old Testament meant to turn around. In the Gospels and most of the New Testament it means to have a new perspective. With the Spirits help, we are capable of both—turning back to God and the mandate to care for the vulnerable and oppressed and to experience the world with new perspectives. That should give us hope for present and future.

Prayers of Intercession

The prayers are prepared locally for each occasion. The following examples may be adapted or used as appropriate.

Trusting in God’s extraordinary love, let us come near to the Holy One in prayer.

A brief silence.

Let your lovingkindness be upon your church. Fill all who proclaim the gospel with your Spirit. Equip your flock to speak your word of promise and hope in the midst of fear and uncertainty. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Let your lovingkindness be upon your creation. Dwell among us and sustain our earthly home. In places of famine, provide nourishment. In places of plenty, fashion us to be good stewards of your bounty. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Let your lovingkindness be upon your world. Be our helper and our shield in places torn by strife and violence (especially). Raise up courageous leaders to govern with compassion and justice. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Let your lovingkindness be upon your children. Look upon all who wait for your steadfast love. Console those who grieve and embrace those who cry out to you (especially). Help us to trust your promise and not be afraid. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Let your lovingkindness be upon this community. Fashion our hearts to strive for the way of peace. Strengthen the outreach ministries of this congregation (specific ministries may be named) and all who care for those in need. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

With thanksgiving we remember all who have died in faith and now rest in you. As they placed their hope in you, so strengthen us to trust in your promise of new life. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Receive the prayers of your children, merciful God, and hold us forever in your steadfast love; through Jesus Christ, our holy Wisdom.

Amen.