This morning Robin led the service and Fraser preached. We welcomed Abigail to play the piano.
This Week
Tuesday 10am – Prayer Group in the Garden Room
Thursday 10am – Said Holy Communion followed by coffee in Friendship House.
Thursday 3pm – Advent Course, All Saints, all invited, not too late to join in.
Readings for next Sunday – Third Sunday of Advent – Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28
Today’s readings – Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40:1-11 2 Peter 3:8-15 Mark 1:1-8
Fraser spoke about prophets in the Old Testament and also John the Baptist, how each was different in the way they responded to God’s call. He invited us to consider how we can speak out and be prophetic today.
In the Second Sunday in Advent, we are invited to think of the message of the prophets. Often overlooked in the rest of the Christian year. Often thought of as very harsh in their judgements or negative in their thinking. ‘You are being a proper Jeremiah.’
Prophets may have had to be very brave in confronting the leaders of their day. We think of Nathan confronting King David. ‘You are that man.’ (2Samuel 12:1-10) The prophets upheld the sanctity of the law and looked at the authorities and the behaviour of people in society to compare that behaviour and prevailing attitudes with what Moses and others had proclaimed as God’s will for how we should behave , exemplified in Psalm 82
‘How long will you judge unjustly,
And show favour to the wicked?
Save the weak and the orphan;
Defend the humble and needy;
Rescue the weak and the poor;
Deliver them from the power of the wicked.
These two attributes largely define the activities and concerns of the prophets: courage to speak out and concern for the poor and needy. They came from different, varied backgrounds. Amos was an agricultural labourer from a tiny village a few miles from Jerusalem, he may have traded in wool and would have seen what society was like as he went about his business; Jeremiah was comfortably brought up, from a family of priests ; Ezekiel from a priestly family, recognized as authorized to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem. He experienced the exile but was fairly comfortable whilst there.
The prophets were aware of a call from God. Isaiah was at prayer in the Temple when he had a vision and received his call (Isaiah 6:1-8). He was terrified. A burning coal was placed on his tongue. ‘Send me.’
Amos simply said; ‘The Lord took me from tending the flock, and said to me ’Go prophesy to my people.’ (Amos 7:14)
Ezekiel said that the Spirit lifted him up and took him away. It took him seven days to recover from the shock. {Ezekiel 3:12)
With the call the prophets had to be brave and proclaim what they observed. Amos famously said that :’They sell the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes.’ He pointed out that traders were being dishonest making the scales misread the weight of what was being purchased, and then questioned the value of the cash they had been paid. Later he claimed that God judged rulers as builders used a plumbline by which to check the straightness of a wall. He got no thanks, being told to go away and prophecy somewhere else. Jeremiah was treated even worse after he had denounced the religious leaders of his day of hypocracy. ‘The temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord!’ They cried, despite ignoring the principles of fair treatment for all and the teaching they had been taught in their religion (Jeremiah Ch 7) For his pains, Jeremiah was thrown into a cesspit and had his writings torn up and consigned to the fire. Faced with these hardships, Jeremiah prayed, first simply declaring what had happened then listened. In themselves his prayer conversations with God would make a devotional study for us .
They had to deal with constant backsliding by the people and their leaders, and constantly they urged their hearers to remember all God had done for them in the past. All was not doom and gloom however, as Ezekiel had a vision of a valley of dry bones, representing the society of his day. ‘Can these bones live?’ he asked. God asked him to breath on the bones and they started to come together and live. From this God asked Ezekiel to assure the people that they would again be a lively community in their own land.(Ezekiel ch 37), No longer would they be hard hearted in their dealings, because God would give them a new heart. (Ezekiel 36:24 ff) Jeremiah prophesied that there would come a time when there would no longer be a need to constantly remind people of God’s law, no longer would they need to post a summary on their doorposts because the Law would be automatically in their hearts. Far from constant chiding and punishment, there would be a new prospect of rebuilding a nation living according to God’s will.
Hosea drew on his own experience to prophecy a wonderful vision. His wife had been lost, and he searched for her. He found her in a degrading position, reduced to living as a commodity to be sold for the use of men. He loved her and wanted her back . If he as a human could love like that, how much more God must love His creation.
We see the culmination of this understanding in the writings of Isaiah as we read this morning. Deservedly some of the most loved and most powerful words in Scripture. (‘For all people’, Isaiah Ch 40)
In the previous chapter the prophet had foreseen the punishment of the people by having their leaders exiled in Babylon. Chapter 40 must have been the start of a new set of writings either by Isaiah in old age, or by a different writer.
Comfort, comfort my people says your God
This is one of the most reassuring and powerful passages in our Bible. Made famous in Handel’s music. Read it again this week.
What can we learn for ourselves from the experience and writings of the prophets?
They were a group as diverse or more so than we are, so their communion with God is speaking to us and encouraging us.
If we see injustice or need in our troubled world, we should respond to it ,even to our own cost. If need be, we should have the courage to speak out and advocate action, or publicise the situation. Remember Isaiah.’,Not me,I can’t do this.’
Remember that the prophets received their calls in different ways, so we receive promtings in diverse and sometimes unspectacular ways as well. Think of Amos. The passage we read from Isaiah today was written during the exile,but as the book continues, we see the prophet recognizing that the end of the exile was to be accomplished by Cyrus, a powerful foreign leader acting as God’s agent in restoring the people to their own land. Ultimately God’s love and care for His creation would manifest itself in Good News and salvation for all people.
Treasure the Scriptures, works of men of God living life in the real world of their day, and an inspiration still. Treasure the message of Isaiah we read today as we look to the celebration of the coming of the Messiah this Christmas.