worship and justice

Amos spoke of the evil in the surrounding nations and in Israel.

Then in the section we heard this morning, he tells the people of Israel that God has seen that they are:

-      dishonest witnesses

-      abusing the poor

-      cheating

-      taking bribes

-      building expensive homes

I wonder what Amos might say about our current times:

        Environmental degradation

        Violence

        Homelessness

Millions of asylum seekers around the world

“An unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.” [June 2017] [i]

        Inequality,

Sexual violence  

        And I am sure you could name more.

The final sentence of our reading this morning:

Let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry. (CEV)

Or you may be more familiar with

Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (NRSVA) [Amos 5:24]

Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (NRSVA) [Amos 5:24]

What are some of the obstacles to justice and righteousness.

-      Greed

-      Self-interest or self-importance

There may be others, but anything else I thought of fitted into one of those areas, greed and self-interest.

Justice and righteousness are gifts, not burdens. They are “primarily gifts from God which Israel can allow to flourish, can support, or can obstruct, indeed (Amos 5:7; 6:12) can overthrow.” ^[ii]

I wonder who are our modern day prophets?

Who are the people who speak against greed and corruption?

Who are the people who speak for the widows and orphans?

Who are the people who speak for the homeless and hungry?

Is it the churches, the people of God???

Some are.

Organisations like Love Makes a Way …a movement of Christians seeking an end to Australia’s inhumane asylum seeker policies through prayer and nonviolent love in action.[iii]

And Act for Peace, the international aid agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia, Act for Peace helps communities affected by poverty and conflict in more than 130 countries. “Our Vision: A peaceful world where all people share a safe, just and dignified life. “[iv]

But many of our prophets are not Christians.

………

The last section we heard read this morning, reminded me of another Scripture passage:

“What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels?

If I did not love others,

    I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

1 Corinthians 13: 1 

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

We can sing praise, we can pray, we can spend hours at the church each week; but what does it all mean if the way we live is not transformed?

Amos says:

I, the Lord, hate and despise

your religious celebrations

    and your times of worship.

I won’t accept your offerings

or animal sacrifices—

    not even your very best.

No more of your noisy songs!

I won’t listen

    when you play your harps.

But let justice and fairness

flow like a river

    that never runs dry.

Amos was telling the people of Israel that worship and sacrifices and songs, no matter how good, are not acceptable if our lives do not reflect the life God has given us. that doesn’t mean we should stop worshipping, just that worship on its own is not enough.

Amos saw people going to the temple, making their sacrifices and offerings and singing songs. 
“In their minds they had done this so God would be pleased with them.

But God was not pleased with them.”[v]

 “Where there is poverty, injustice or anything else that is not in keeping with God’s vision, God does not want you to “go to church” and then ignore the plight of the world. Rather, God’s desire is that we put worship in the right perspective – part of a life lived well.”[vi]

There are so many situations in the world that need changing, and each one of us can not address all of them. But that doesn’t mean we can turn a blind eye to injustice when we see it.

-      We cannot pretend domestic or family violence does not happen

-      We cannot go on using more and more of the earth’s resources without thinking about our long term impact

-      We cannot ignore the health and educational disadvantage of indigenous and rural communities

-      We cannot close our ears and hearts to people seeking asylum

-      We cannot look the other way when people are not paid a living wage, when commerce threatens our families, when dollar is considered the saviour of the world.

God wants more than worship. Also in chapter 5, Amos says:

‘If you really want to live,
you must stop doing wrong
    and start doing right.’
and
‘Choose good instead of evil!
    See that justice is done.’

Worship is important, but not the end of the story.

 “We have been united with Christ in baptism. Our lives are lived in union with him. We aren’t joined to Jesus just so we can attend church on Sunday. We are joined to Christ so that we can continue his work in all that we do.”[vii]

You may have heard this before:

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours;

no hands but yours;

no feet but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world.

Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good.

Yours are the hands with which He is to bless His people.”[viii]

Are you open to the transforming power of God?

Where are joining in the work of justice and fairness?

---

[i] http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html

[ii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3467

[iii] http://lovemakesaway.info/who-we-are/

[iv] https://www.actforpeace.org.au/Learn/Why-we-are-here

[v] http://zionelginil.org/it-starts-not-ends-with-worship/

[vi] http://zionelginil.org/it-starts-not-ends-with-worship/

[vii] http://zionelginil.org/it-starts-not-ends-with-worship/

[viii] https://www.catholicity.com/prayer/prayer-of-saint-teresa-of-avila.html

time out

We have been following the Old Testament, touching on a few stories. You will know other stories, hopefully you have been able to note where they come in the overall story.

So far, we have been looking mainly at history.

[slide 1]

We started at the creation story in Genesis One, the Patriarchs, the time in Egypt, Moses, Exodus, skipped over Judges, then the call of the boy Samuel, anointing of David, and the building of the Temple by Solomon.

God had warned the people of Israel what would happen if they had a King. After just 3 kings, Saul, David and Solomon, the kingdom divides.

[ slide 2]

This morning we meet Elijah, but first a bit more background.

Solomon had many wives, mostly foreign women, this was part of a plan to maintain peace in the neighbourhood, and it did. But it also meant the influence of foreign gods.

1 Kings 11: 3 - 6

Seven hundred of his wives were daughters of kings, but he also married three hundred other women.

As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn’t like his father David, who had worshiped only the Lord God.  Solomon also worshiped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon.  Solomon’s father had obeyed the Lord with all his heart, but Solomon disobeyed and did what the Lord hated.

The worship of the Lord was what had held the twelve tribes of Israel together, but the Monarchy was not able to maintain that bond, especially when the Monarchy no longer was true to the Lord.

[ slide 3]

Back in Exodus, when the people arrived in the promised land, each tribe settled in an area.

[ slide 4]

The twelve tribes spilt into two Kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom, Israel and the Southern Kingdom, Judah.

Today’s readings take place in the Northern Kingdom.

Elijah is a prophet, over the next few weeks we will hear more from the prophets. Prophets in the Bible are not fortune tellers, or predictors of the future. Prophets are people who speak the message of God.

Elijah is concerned at the way the King and Queen, and others, are not following the Lord, many are following Baal. Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal, to see which god is greatest, The Lord or Baal.

Our first reading this morning was about that contest, The Lord won, and Elijah and the crowd killed the prophets of Baal.

This happened at Mt Carmel.

[slide 5]

When Queen Jezebel heard what had happened, she threatened the life of Elijah and he ran away. He ran from Mt Carmel, to Beersheba, left his servant there, and walked another day into the desert. He falls asleep, an angel rouses him with food and water, he falls asleep, again an angel rouses him with food and water. Then Elijah travels for forty days, which means a long time.

[slide 6]

Elijah ends up on the mountain of the Lord, Mt Horeb, also known as Mt Sinai.  This is the Mountain where Moses received the Law, and the people made the golden calf. And now, Elijah has travelled to this mountain, to meet God. Twice the Lord asks Elijah

 “Why are you here, Elijah?”

Elijah replied, “I’ve been very passionate for the Lord God of heavenly forces because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars, and they have murdered your prophets with the sword. I’m the only one left, and now they want to take my life too!”

The Lord tells Elijah to stand at the entrance of the cave,

Then the earthquake, wind and fire, and God speaks not in the noisy or extravagant, but in sheer stillness, or a still small voice, depending on translation.

Elijah was running away, fearful for his life, and wondering if it would be better to just die.

I wonder when you have felt like Elijah, wanting to run away, wishing God would take your life, because living has become too difficult or painful.

I wonder when you have felt like running away and starting all over again somewhere else. I know women whose partners are violent who choose to run and hide, because that feels safer than their partner finding out where they are.

People are targeted in various places because of their religion, ethnicity or family connections, some choose to run away, to look for a safe place to live and raise a family.

Some people resort to drugs, legal and illegal, to escape their pain and fear;

And some people need a break, time out.

And often some time out helps. Some space to breathe without wondering what else will happen next.

Some time to rest and be nourished by food and drink and sleep.

On the mountain, Elijah stops running, from Jezebel, and from being a prophet. On the mountain, Elijah stops and meets with God, is reminded of God’s presence, God’s call on his life and God sends Elijah back with work to do.

Elijah’s journey goes from running away from Jezebel in fear of his life; and becomes a time to meet with God, to be nurtured, and to have his call affirmed.

Here this morning, we take time out;

Time out from busyness

Time out from the words that tell us we are failures

Time out from the background noise of radio and TV and iPods and traffic

Time out to be

Time out to reconnect with the source of life

Tie out to remember the story of life, and how your story intertwines with the God story.

We share together, remembering we are not alone, God is with us, but we are also a community of faith, a community that cares and prays together, that sings and learns together, that shares bread and juice, and life and love.

As saints we meet around the table, not because we are perfect, but because the Lord, our God, invites us.

Part of our response is to accept the invitation to bread and juice.

Another part of our response is to let the peace of God guide us, that we may be saints who let the light of God shine in our lives, that others may see beauty, hope and love.

Building the Temple

The people of Israel wanted a King, like the other nations around them. Up to this time, the people were led by Moses, and the judges, leaders appointed by God. After the years in the wilderness, as they settled into the land, the people wanted to be a nation like the other nations around them.

No longer a nomadic people, now they are settling down and they want what other settled people had, and part of that is having a King.

Back in 1 Samuel, the people asked Samuel for a king. Samuel talked with God about it, and then said to the people of Israel:

1 Samuel 8: 10 - 20

Samuel told the people who were asking for a king what the Lord had said:

If you have a king, this is how he will treat you. He will force your sons to join his army. Some of them will ride in his chariots, some will serve in the cavalry, and others will run ahead of his own chariot. Some of them will be officers in charge of a thousand soldiers, and others will be in charge of fifty. Still others will have to farm the king’s land and harvest his crops, or make weapons and parts for his chariots. Your daughters will have to make perfume or do his cooking and baking.

The king will take your best fields, as well as your vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his own officials. He will also take a tenth of your grain and grapes and give it to his officers and officials.

The king will take your slaves and your best young men and your donkeys and make them do his work. He will also take a tenth of your sheep and goats. You will become the king’s slaves, and you will finally cry out for the Lord to save you from the king you wanted. But the Lord won’t answer your prayers.

The people would not listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want to be like other nations. We want a king to rule us and lead us in battle.”

Saul is the first King of Israel, and David the second King. David is known as a great king, but he had his share of problems. David killed Goliath, he was known as a great warrior, but he also killed Uriah, husband of Bathsheba, after taking Bathsheba as his own. David had eight wives and at least 20 sons.[i]

While it would be expected that the eldest son would follow his father as King, this was not the case. While some of his older sons prepared themselves to lead Israel, David indicated that Solomon, a son of David and Bathsheba, is the one who will be King. [1 Kings 1:28]

David had wanted to build a temple, but God said that David’s son would build the temple.

Following the Biblical dating, the temple was built in the mid-900’s BCE. It’s called both the First Temple and Solomon’s Temple, and this original building was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.[ii]

The sacred chest, also known as the ark of the covenant, held the 2 stone tablets of the ten commandments. This chest had moved with the people, been to battle, and housed in a tent. But now, Solomon would build a temple, a place fit for God, and place for keeping the sacred chest.

Of course, Solomon did not build the temple on his own.

[1 Kings 5: 13 – 18]

Solomon ordered thirty thousand people from all over Israel to cut logs for the temple, and he put Adoniram in charge of these workers. Solomon divided them into three groups of ten thousand. Each group worked one month in Lebanon and had two months off at home.

He also had eighty thousand workers to cut stone in the hill country of Israel, seventy thousand workers to carry the stones, and over three thousand assistants to keep track of the work and to supervise the workers. He ordered the workers to cut and shape large blocks of good stone for the foundation of the temple.

Solomon’s and Hiram’s men worked with men from the city of Gebal, and together they got the stones and logs ready for the temple.

I wonder how the people felt about being conscripted into this work?

Did it remind them of their time as slaves in Egypt?

Did they remember the words of Samuel to their ancestors about the way the King would take their sons to work for the king?

Even though Solomon has built a Temple, he acknowledges that we cannot confine God to a building.

While this might be an interesting story, I wonder what it tells us today:

·    In a world where religion is not the centre of society

·    Where many of us sense God more easily in places other than this building.

This is part of the story of the presence of God with people throughout history.

For the people of Israel, the sacred chest with the stone tablets was very important; what things are important to this church as we worship God together?

When I asked on Friday evening what special things were in the church, lots of great answers; including

the Bible,

communion table,

baptismal font,

the cloth on the communion table,

the cross,

the banners,

the lectern,

pulpit

piano

organ

and the wall where the images from the data projector show up.

They didn’t know all the proper names, but they did notice lots about what is in the worship space.

The Temple was a place for worshipping God, and that is why buildings like this one were built – to worship God.

If I asked how we worship God, what would you include?

The children offered:

prayer

Bible reading

Singing

Saying thank you to God

Caring for people

Being kind

Eating together and

Drinking together

The Sacred Chest was moved into the Temple during the festival of shelters, this was a festival that reminded the people of the time they lived in shelters in the wilderness.

Solomon led the people in praise and prayer.

Praise the Lord, the one who brought the people out of Egypt,

Who freed us from slavery

Who led us through the wilderness

And bought us to a new land as promised.

Lord, our God, there is no other God like you,

You always keep your promises

You forgive our sins

You are loyal to us

teach us the way to live

Please listen to us when we cry out for help

For rain during a drought

For courage when surrounded by enemies.

And again, Solomon spoke to the crowd:

Praise the Lord! God was with our ancestors, and will never abandon us.

We will now have some time for reflection

---

[i] The number of sons mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible is 19. In addition, two further unnamed sons are recorded as having been born in Jerusalem, one, probably both, having died in infancy. One of these was the first child born of David's adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_David

[ii] https://revgalblogpals.org/2013/10/21/narrative-lectionary-gods-dream-house-1-kings-51-5-81-13/

Abram, Moses, Samuel, David and you

This week it is a smaller step along our timeline.  Last week we met Samuel as a child, hearing the voice of the Lord for the first time.

This week he is anointing David to be king.

David isn’t the first king of Israel. The people of Israel asked for King, so they would be like the other nations. Samuel’s sons had not followed the ways of his father, just as Eli’s sons had not followed in his ways, there was again no one to lead the people, so again they ask for a king:

One day the nation’s leaders came to Samuel at Ramah ⁵ and said, “You are an old man. You set a good example for your sons, but they haven’t followed it. Now we want a king to be our leader, just like all the other nations. Choose one for us!” [1 Samuel 8:4-5 CEV]

Then Samuel tells the people the problems they will get with a King:

He will force your sons to join his army

Your daughters will have to make perfume or do his cooking and baking.

The king will take your best fields, and vineyards, and olive orchards

You will become the king’s slaves

The people would not listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want to be like other nations. We want a king to rule us and lead us in battle.”

[1 Samuel 8: 19-20]

Saul is chosen to be King, he wins some battles, but he is also disobedient to God, and God regrets making Saul the King.  

Then we get to the passage we heard read this morning, Samuel anoints David to be king. However, it is not until after the death of Saul that David is made King.  

I told you last Sunday, I would be talking about Call this week.  With the Synod report, there wasn’t much time to think about the call of Samuel, then this morning we have the anointing of David.

But right back in Genesis 12, there is the call of Abram, who is later renamed Abraham.

[Genesis 12: 1-5] The Lord said to Abram:

Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you…...

Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had gotten while in Haran.

Then we come to Moses, out looking after his father-in-law’s sheep and goats, when he sees a bush that was burning, but not consumed by the fire.

[Exodus3:4] When the Lord saw Moses coming near the bush, he called him by name, and Moses answered, “Here I am.”

And God said:  I have seen how my people are suffering as slaves in Egypt, and I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they are being mistreated. I feel sorry for them, and I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians.

… Now go to the king! I am sending you to lead my people out of his country.

But Moses said, “Who am I to go to the king and lead your people out of Egypt?”

God replied, “I will be with you. And you will know that I am the one who sent you, when you worship me on this mountain after you have led my people out of Egypt.”

And last week we heard a passage from 1 Samuel 3, the boy Samuel being given a message for Eli.

God spoke to each of these people, Abraham, Moses, Samuel and David, in different ways; and the tasks they were given to do were also quite different.

There are different ways of hearing a call from God: sometimes like Abraham and Moses, there will be a clear voice and a clear task.

Sometimes like Samuel, it will be a series of conversations with God that lead to a variety of tasks.

Sometimes like David, another person will bring God’s message to you.

Where is God calling you to be active? Are you willing to stop and listen for the voice of God?

Some quotes:

“Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need.”  ― Frederick Buechner[i]

"Work is not primarily a thing one does to live but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God."—Dorothy Sayers[ii]

Work is not primarily a thing one does to live

but the thing one lives to do.

My dad worked at the steelworks to earn money, that is what he did to live; but what he lived to do was music and poetry and people who liked music and poetry.

What do you live to do?

---

[i] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/496215-vocation-is-the-place-where-our-deep-gladness-meets-the

[ii] http://www.rjgrune.com/blog/18-quotes-on-vocation

trusting God for today

Timeline:

[showing the Patriarchs, time in Egypt and time in exodus] 

Abraham, the father of Isaac; Isaac the father of Jacob; Jacob the father of Joseph.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, who were envious of him. Joseph was his father’s favourite.

Joseph works his way up to a position of influence in Egypt.

When there was a famine in Israel, his brothers went to ask for grain, and the family is reunited. The people of Israel were in Egypt for about 370 years.[i]

Exodus 1: 6-10

After Joseph, his brothers, and everyone else in that generation had died, ⁷ the people of Israel became so numerous that the whole region of Goshen was full of them.

⁸ Many years later a new king came to power. He did not know what Joseph had done for Egypt, ⁹ and he told the Egyptians:

There are too many of those Israelites in our country, and they are becoming more powerful than we are. ¹⁰ If we don’t outsmart them, their families will keep growing larger. And if our country goes to war, they could easily fight on the side of our enemies and escape from Egypt.

The people of Israel continued to increase in number, the Pharaoh tried making them work harder, and asked the midwives to kill all male babies; but they continued to increase in numbers.

Exodus 2:23-25

²³ After the death of the king of Egypt, the Israelites still complained because they were forced to be slaves. They cried out for help, ²⁴ and God heard their loud cries. He did not forget the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ²⁵ and because he knew what was happening to his people, he felt sorry for them.

Then Moses is called to lead the people out of Egypt. And there are various plagues to convince Pharaoh to let the people leave Egypt. Plagues that only effected the Egyptians, and not the people of Israel.

[map 1]

Finally, the people leave, and here is a map that shows the wandering in the wilderness.

[map 2] Here is the google maps version, Moses and the people could have made it to Jerusalem in 30 days, walking just 5 hours each day.

But the people took much longer than 30 days.

And here we are, less than 2 months into the journey, and the people are complaining.  

Remember when you have been on a car trip with children:

·         Are we there yet,

·         I’m bored,

·         She’s taking up my space,

·         He keeps looking at me,

·         I’m hungry,

·         Are we nearly there yet?

And on, and on…

The people are hungry

There is not a lot in the desert, and no McDonalds to stop at.

They remember that in Egypt there was food, forgetting how hard life was.

Every so often something will come up on Facebook about the good old days:

when fireworks were readily available
you could smoke anywhere
pools were not fenced
you could drive after a night out drinking
and seat belts were not compulsory

and then we remember why things changed.

And in the church, I hear about the good old days:

When churches and Sunday schools were full
people spent all day at church
there was enough money
there were plenty of Ministers
people dressed properly for church

if only we could go back …

if only we could go back …

to Egypt
to our youth
to no Sunday trading and no Sunday sport

if only we could go back …

The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for many generations, and now they are no longer slaves, they need to learn how to live as free people.

There are a few points I want us to think about this morning

1.   God is present, all the time, despite how bad things look, God is present.

2.   Things look worse when we leave God out of our thinking.

3.   The people needed to depend on God for their food each day. It was manna – which means what is that – each morning, and quail each evening. Not a varied or inspiring diet, but food.

4.   they were not to hoard; no collecting more than you need. There was enough for everyone, for one day.

5.   Except, one day a week, the Sabbath, then you did not collect food. You could collect twice as much the previous day. Still enough for everyone. [ii]

In what ways do we need to trust God?

Where do we need to not look back, but trust God for today and tomorrow and the day after?

One message from this passage is that:

God listens,
God responds,
God provides,
God can be trusted [iii]

It is very tempting to look for the good old days.

quote: nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days [Doug Larson][iv]

the good old days in Egypt may have had food, but also slavery and hardship.

We can be like the people of Israel

enslaved by a system that looks at output,
that values status
that provides enough entertainment that we don’t revolt;
that we don’t notice the ways in which we are disempowered.

Or we can be the people of God:

Trusting that God will provide what we need
that there is enough for everyone
that we can take some rest
that we are loved by the God who is always present.

Can you think of a time when you were aware of the presence and power of God, what from that can you take hold of into the future?

---

[i] Lion Handbook to the Bible

[ii] ‎Kevin Jones‎ to Narrative Lectionary Facebook page 7^th October 2017

[iii] Spill the Beans

[iv] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/douglarson106726.html