Reflexion Connexion

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today
Sometimes
Our good intentions
Fall flat
Miss the mark
Fail
Sometimes our disappointments
Gather together
Pile up
Envelope us

Please Lord
As we face this
Let us find our shelter in you
Let us find our peace in you
Let us find our way in you

Instead of nurturing resentments, teach us to praise
Instead of complaining, teach us to ask
Instead of judging, teach us to be still
Instead of fear, teach us to love

Show us the path to be like you
To grow whole
To heal
Show us how this life is for loving
And let us know
And experience
Your great love
All along the way
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Hear this, you priests,
and listen, house of Israel,
and the house of the king, bend your ear,
for against you is the judgment.
For a trap you have been to Mizpah,
and an outspread net against Tabor,
and have dug a deep pit at Shittim,
but I am a chastisement for them all Hosea 5:1-2

Intro: We are returning to Hosea this morning

The prophet who had to experience in his own life, with his wife, what God had experienced with Israel
– a people who were unfaithful to him, not only by adultery,
• but prostituting themselves with other gods
• you may have guessed that I’m not comfortable with Hosea
◦ I’d rather be with Jesus in the New Testament, loving and rescuing sinners
◦ instead, Hosea delivers a barrage of condemnations
– Israel had a long history of turning their backs on Yahweh
• and he repeatedly called them to return to him
◦ when they didn’t return , he withdrew from them
◦ and there were consequences–enemy invasion and crop failure
• this time, they were reaching a point of no return
◦ I think it’s okay to say God was desperate to stop them, to reach them and motivate them to return
◦ so he used strong language and threats of calamity

Haven’t we done something similar raising our children
– are we cruel or unloving to tell them, “Don’t run into street. If you do you could be killed”?
• or, “Don’t play with matches, because if you do you could suffer severe burns or destroy our home”?
◦ is it cruel to make clear the potential consequences of wrong or dangerous actions?
• there are natural consequence for a society in moral decline
◦ what God does through his prophets, is to make those natural consequences personal
– God doesn’t have to cause the suffering
• it’s enough for him to withdraw his presence and let the chips fall where they may
◦ Israel needed God’s warnings, yet his prophets were hardly ever well received
The Israelites “are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;
who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’
and to the prophets,
‘Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
. . . let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel’” (Isa. 30:9-11)
• I’ve learned to be thankful for God’s “severe mercy”
◦ I am grateful when he pulls in the reins

5:1-2, God begins here by calling out Israel’s leaders

First, Hosea identifies three sets of people, then three places, and then adds his remarks on them
v. 1: priests – house of Israel – house of the king
– they are to hear – listen – and bend your ear
v. 2: a trap – an outspread net (for catching birds or wild game) – a deep pit
each snare is related to a place: Mizpah – Tabor – Shittim
– then a final statement, “but I am chastisement for them all”
• verse 1, average citizens were sandwiched between priests and rulers
◦ they were subject to clergy and king – religion and politics
◦ but that doesn’t make them innocent
• God frequently comes down hard on Israel’s leaders
“Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been wronged. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place” (Jer. 22:1-3)
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” . . . “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds” (Jer. 30:1-2)
“prophesy against the shepherds of Israel . . . and say to them . . . Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep” (Eze. 34:1-10)
◦ last year, reading through the Bible, I was amazed at how the messages of the prophets fit the time in which we live
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermillion.
Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar?
. . . But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence” (Jer. 22:13-17)
– God begins at the top of the social structure – those in charge get hit the hardest
• I cannot see how many North American preachers and politicians
◦ will avoid answering for what they have done,
◦ removing necessary provision for poor, infirm, and resident aliens while enriching themselves

God calls Israel out – he knows their betrayal
I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from Me.
For now you have whored, Ephraim,
Israel is defiled.
Their acts do not let them
turn back to their God.
For the spirit of whoring is within them,
and the LORD they do not know.
And Israel’s pride bore witness against him
and Israel and Ephraim stumbled in their crime,
Judah, too, has stumbled with them.
With their sheep and their cattle they go
to seek out the LORD.
But they do not find Him.
He slipped away from them.
The LORD they betrayed,
for alien sons they bore.
Now the new moon shall consume them,
together with their fields Hosea 5:3-7

Verse 4, God identifies a tragic condition that results from habitual sin
– and that is when indulgence becomes an addiction
• it’s no longer an enjoyable activity, but a necessity
◦ the New Testament word for addiction is slavery
“Their acts do not let them
turn back to their God”
• there is a pathetic moment in Jeremiah’s ministry
God told his people to stop wearing themselves out chasing after other gods;
“Keep your feet from going unshod
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
for I have loved foreigners,
and after them I will go” (Jer. 2:25)
– so, while God knows their betrayal, “the LORD they do not know”
• we’ve seen that knowing is a persistent reminder in Hosea’s prophecies
◦ and their ignorance of God’s will is their own fault
“My people is destroyed without knowledge,
for you—you rejected knowledge” (Hos. 4:6)
◦ I’m surprised at the biblical ignorance of so many Christians today
• people post Bible verses online without any idea of what they mean
◦ perhaps they’ve never read or understood the passage from which the quote is drawn
maybe they’ve just heard preachers use the quote, so they assume they understand it
◦ they assume they’re making a point, but in reality they’re missing the point

There is a scene in verse 6 that is sad, and also, again, very much like today
– the people go off with their sacrificial animals to seek Yahweh,
• but they don’t find him – he’s “slipped away from them”
◦ I don’t think they realize, he’s not present to them
◦ since they’ve lost touch with God, don’t realize when he’s not there
“this people draw near with the mouth, and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me . . .” (Isa. 29:13)

When the church I planted in Dana Point went from hymns to contemporary songs of praise and worship, there was a backlash–and especially so when we rolled in the drums. But we began to meet God in a way we never had before experienced him in worship. Now every new church has a band and hundreds of praise songs. I can’t judge anyone else’s experience, but I’ve heard from new believers exposed to moving experience standing, lifting their hands, and singing along with a loud band, that the emotional energy is almost identical to a rock concert.
When we transitioned to music and intimate expressions of our longing for God and love for Jesus, we made learning the biblical concept and theology of worship a central focus. I don’t think any true believer is interested in worshiping “what you do not know” (John 4:22). At that time, I taught on worship as we came to it from one end of the Bible to the other.

◦ We can be very religious and assumed we have pleased God, and yet be far from him
◦ we need to be aware of the worship and service we offer is that which God chooses
• for instance, what we offer him in worship (i.e., “mercy and not sacrifice” Hos. 6:7)
◦ and the kind of fasting that he chooses (Isa. 58)

Notice that God has included the southern kingdom of Judah and brings his charge against them as he had the northern kingdom of Israel
– he will continue to include Judah in the remainder of the chapter

God has an announcement for Hosea to make
Sound the ram’s horn at Gibeah,
the trumpet at Ramah.
Shout out at Beth-Aven:
“After you, Benjamin!”
Ephraim shall be a desolation
on the day of stern rebuke.
Among the tribes of Israel
I have faithfully made it known.
The nobles of Judah have become
like those who remove boundaries.
Upon them I will pour
My wrath like water.
Exploited is Ephraim,
and crushed in justice,
For he undertook to go
after an empty thing Hosea 5:8-11

– like a town crier ringing a bell
– only here, a ram’s horn is blown along with a shout, but to the same effect
• Israel is doomed, and they have only themselves to blame,
• because, God has given them fair warning, “I have faithfully made it known”

God uses a cluster of metaphors to describe how he will destroy them
And I am like a moth to Ephraim
and like rot to the house of Judah.
When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his running sores,
Ephraim went off to Assyria
and sent out to King Jareb.
But he cannot cure you
and will not give you healing.
For I am like a lion to Ephraim
and like the king of beasts to the house of Judah.
I, I will maul the prey and go off,
bear it away and no one will save it.
I will go, return to My place,
until they sense their guilt and seek Me.
when in straits they shall search for Me Hosea 5:12-15

First, God is “like the moth” – moths that ruin clothing and crops
Second, he is “like rot” – perhaps an internal decaying bones
Third, “sickness” and “running sores” – a miserable illness
Fourth, God is “like a lion” – mauling his prey then dragging the carcass off to his lair
– and so the chapter ends with God abandoning Israel
• but it is not that he intends never to reunite with them
• he will wait until they feel the loss and then begin an authentic search for him

So the next message Hosea delivers is a call to exactly this–seek God
Come let us return to the LORD,
for He mauled but He will heal us,
He struck but He will bind up.
He will revive us after two days,
on the third day raise us up,
that we may live in his presence,
and that we may know, pursue knowing the LORD.
Like daybreak His emergence is sure,
and he will come to us like the rain,
like the latter rain He will shower the earth Hosea 6:1-3

I love this invitation!
– there would be punishing hardship, but there will also be healing
• I can imagine that Israel’s greatest pain was mental anguish over what they forfeited
◦ being abandoned generates psychological misery
• remember the message of the formulaic three that began chapter 5?
◦ Israel’s healing corresponds to their illness — from revival to restoration
Their previous problem: they didn’t know Yahweh; now the solution is for them to pursue knowing him
(cf. Php. 3:7-12)
Their previous problem: they had lost sight of Yahweh; now the solution is to live in his presence
– God’s cure works quickly–after just two days they would be up and walking around
• again God uses metaphors, but these are very different from than before
Like daybreak His emergence is sure,
and he will come to us like the rain,
like the latter rain He will shower the earth
◦ we see here Hosea’s absolute certainty of God’s restoration
• did the sun rise this morning? was the earth refreshed with rain today?
(“Yes” to both here in S. Orange County, CA)
◦ so certain is God’s return to his people

Conclusion: This chapter ends with God’s dilemma
What shall I do for you Ephraim,
What shall I do for you, Judah,
When your trust is like a morning cloud,
like early dew that melts away?
Therefore I hacked among you your prophets,
slain the with the utterances of My mouth,
and your sentence will come out like light.
For trust did I want and not sacrifice
and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
But they like humankind breached the covenant,
there they betrayed me.
Gilead is a town of criminals,
covered with tracks of blood.
And like gangs who lie in wait for a man
is the band of priests.
They murder on the road to Shechem.
Why, debauchery the perform!
In the house of Israel I have seen a horror.
There the whoring is Ephraim’s,
Israel is defiled.
Judah, too, He sets a harvest for you Hosea 6:4-11

God’s dilemma is that when Israel returns to him, he must ask “What am I going to do with you?”
Every time they had returned to God, it had always been short-lived
And it had been more religious than relational
What he wanted was
“mercy and not sacrifice
and knowledge of God more than burnt offering”
Anyway, whatever the problem, the solution is always the same:
“Come, let us return to the LORD”
Wherever we find ourselves, no matter how far from home
at any moment in our lives, we can choose to return to God
We are never stuck!

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Intro: I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read 1 and 2 Timothy

Still, it was only a few years ago that two words snagged me
– here in this passage, Paul refers to the Hebrew Scriptures as “the sacred writings”
• I had always believed this regarding the Bible, but never in those precise words
• the effect they had was to motivate me to meditate on them
◦ eventually, I spent nine weeks sharing with you what I learned
– I’ve decided to tell you what these have done worked in my life since then
• what I hope, is to inspire your reading of the sacred writings
◦ and enhance your experience with God’s word in the new year

Through contemplative prayer, I have experienced remarkable relief from clinical depression

But one fragment of it still remains
– every morning I wake up in a dark mood
• as I get dressed, feed the cats, and prepare something to eat
◦ my thoughts are intensely gloomy – even desperate
◦ I want to escape–everything; especially responsibility
• then I take my protein drink to our room and sit in my chair
◦ I do some warm-up reading, then grab my Bible and open it
◦ the next moment is the most important

I’m going to pause my story here to provide a backstory

In Exodus, God lays out instructions for a daily offering
– the same offering is made both in the morning and evening
• once, when talking with Fr. Romuald about liturgical worship at the hermitage,
◦ I mentioned how I enjoyed lauds in the morning and vespers in the evening
◦ he then referred to them as “the cosmic hinges of the day”
day and night swing on those pivotal moments
• “morning” is neither day nor night–it is in between the two
◦ the same with evening – both of them are thresholds
◦ Israel was to pause in the thresholds and remember God
(Do you remember – God’s words written on their doorposts and gates?)
– but that isn’t all – God had further instructions:
• the daily morning and evening offerings were to be made
“at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there” (Deut. 29:42)
◦ the “entrance” was another threshold
• God designated thresholds as spaces for encounter – to meet with and speak to his people

So, now back to my story

With my Bible open on my lap, I am located in the threshold – the sacred liminal space
– I haven’t “entered” the scriptures yet, but I’m about to begin
• slowly inhaling, I silently say, “here” – and exhaling I say “now”
◦ if a thought lingers in my mind, I stop thinking it and look at it, then let it pass
◦ I am sitting in a state of awareness
▫ I scan my body to see if any part is calling attention to itself
▫ if so, I hold it in awareness
• my goal is to bring my awareness to God’s presence in the here and now of this moment
◦ I allow myself to hear God say,
“Here I will meet with you and speak to you” as of standing at the entrance to the sacred tent
(only, I am at the entrance to the “sacred writings”
◦ THIS ISTHE MOMENT IN MY MORNING WHEN MY MOOD BEGINS TO TURN
– cultural anthropologists have a term for what happens when a community, village, or subculture converts to Christianity
• typically, conversion includes upgrades in integrity, responsibility, and simplicity
◦ this results in cultural improvements in their standard of living
◦ they experience upward social mobility as well as spiritual development
• the term sociologists use for this improvement in physical well being is “redemptive lift”
◦ every morning I experience a “redemptive lift” in my mood as well as my spirit
◦ that’s because God speaks to me every morning

I wouldn’t say that what I receive is always profound
– or that it is worth sharing with anyone else
• but it is always what I need – my morning therapy
◦ and it always brings me out of the pit
• and, then again, many times, it is worth sharing with someone else
◦ it becomes spiritual counsel that I share with others
– the poet who wrote Psalm 73 experienced something like this
• he tells a story of having a really bad day
“. . . my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped
For I was envious ot the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Ps. 73:2-3)
◦ he goes on to describe an romanticized view of a sinful life
◦ through cheating and conniving the wicked enjoy good health and wealth (or so he assumed)
• he continues in the vein for more than half the psalm
◦ when he is finally overwhelmed with negativity,
◦ he winds down, and says, in effect,
“This was my outlook
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end” (v. 16)
• in God’s presence, his mind cleared and his vision improved
◦ by the end of his poem he is able to say,
“But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works” (v. 28)
• that is my daily routine in the morning: unhappy “until” I hear what the Lord has to say to me
◦ we might think of it as an “attitude adjustment”
◦ but it is much more – and it is God who does this for me

The entire Bible is our “sacred writings”

That doesn’t mean that everything in is of equal value to us
– at different times in our journey,
• some parts will speak to us with more relevance than others
◦ some parts may never win our interest at all
◦ but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing in all the sacred writings for us
• if you find yourself bored with a certain place in the Bible,
◦ don’t push yourself through it, as if you have some spiritual obligation to finish it
– and read a version of the Bible that you can understand
• the Message Bible is popular – and I still like The Good News Bible

But listen: I don’t want you to read Bible because that’s what Christians do
– if we consider all the centuries of Christian history,
• the majority of Christians never had a Bible and many could not read
◦ this is not the only way God speaks to us
◦ many people read meditations of godly men and women, that are drawn from the Scriptures
• but do ask advice from people who know the Bible well

Bring to the Bible whatever you have in the moment

I sometimes come to it with questions
– some are serious, as for others I’m simply curious
• then other times, questions come up as I’m reading
◦ then it is like having a conversation with God
• frequently, I come to a mystery that I cannot unlock
◦ perhaps a little bit of light may shine on a verse or perhaps a lot of light
◦ but I’m okay if some things remain a mystery
I trust God to take me as far as it is pleasing to him
If there’s anything I must know, he will reveal it
– when I open my Bible, God has his own intention for me
• that is more important than whatever I want to receive from it
◦ so I believe there are words he wants me to notice
◦ often it is something that confuses or upsets me – so I pay closer attention
• feelings also rise and fall as I read, which is at times pleasant, but not always
◦ our feelings are one of the ways we experience scripture

Conclusion: I want to leave you with a few thoughts regarding
how to listen for God’s voice

Keep in mind, the Bible is the candle and the Holy Spirit is the flame
– we need both to see by its light

First, when you read, don’t “preach” – at yourself or anyone else
Too many people read as if they’re supposed to come up with a sermon
(or an exhortation or rebuke)
We must be careful not to moralize everything we read

Second, ignore feelings of failure, blame, or condemnation
Those emotions do not build us up, or encourage, or strengthen us
If you realize you have done wrong, be grateful
You are receiving helpful correction and discipline
Your Father is showing you the right way to do things
He is not trying to discourage you!
He is pouring his love into you and drawing you closer to himself

Third, listen for his mercy, his support, his reassurance
God will affirm his love to you every day – if you listen

I’m not urging you to make any New Year’s resolution
I’m encouraging you to check your mail box every day
There may be a love letter in it waiting for you

Podcasts

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today
Gladness we have
Sometimes.
And we thank you for that.
Happiness we find
From time to time
In this world
When circumstances please us
When expectations are met
When plans work out
And our gratitude rises up
And bubbles over
When we are paying attention

But joy is your gift
Your fruit in our lives
Nourished in us
With your abiding presence.
Transforming us
No longer focused on
and rehearsing
our disappointments
Or fears
Or resentments
But fully alive
To your good great love
Celebrating
Your coming
Your coming again
And with you now
moment by moment
Emmanuel
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Luke 2:10

Intro: So here we are again, with the angels and the shepherds

I chose to read only these three verses, because the story is so well known
– but when we circle back to it every year at this time,
• we run the risk of treating it as if it only exists for this season
◦ like the tree, and the lights, and the nativity scene with its little figures
◦ the heavenly choir shows up every year for their Christmas cantata
• they announce the arrival of Jesus, and with him, joy and peace
◦ the theme for the third Sunday of Advent is joy
– who am I to talk about returning to this theme only one day a year?
• how often do my Sunday morning talks return to joy?
◦ we weren’t hearing much joy in Hosea!
• if anyone needs to be reminded of joy all year round, I’m that guy

For my own sake, I decided to explore JOY

What I first realized, is that I don’t have a category for it
– to say joy is a feeling or an emotion seemed too shallow
• C. S. Lewis wrote an entire book on this subject entitled, Surprised By Joy
◦ “surprised,” because joy came to him without warning and from unexpected sources
• he describes three extraordinary experiences of joy and then writes,
“I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again.”
– someone who knows more joy and happiness than I, could probably give a better explanation of the difference between the two
• but it seems that joy occurs naturally and happiness occurs artificially
◦ for instance, laughing at a joke is somewhat artificial (or contrived), because the joke was meant to evoke laughter
• I think also there’s a difference between the laugher of happiness and the laughter of joy (Psa. 126:1-2)
◦ we don’t have do anything to produce joy (Lewis said, “Joy is never in our power”)
◦ it’s more like we have to remove obstacles to let joy in
(obstacles like fear, self-consciousness, and ambitions–for money, power, popularity)

What I finally decided regard Joy is that it is a rare, “sublime” experience
– sublime is what we could call a “threshold experience”
• “subliminal” refers to activity that occurs below the threshold of consciousness
◦ sublime moments bring us all the way to the threshold,
◦ as high as it is possible to go in this life
• sublime is an unexplainable overwhelming sense of awe, wonder, bliss
– joy is sublime – it’s is a state beyond words or concepts

What sort of experiences bring us to sublime states of joy?

I can think of five:

1. Relationships – other people are a source of joy
   • observing infants or toddlers, intimacy with a lover, the closeness of a friend or pet,
   • even a place or moment that brings back the experience of a memory
   • we also share our joy with others – Jesus’ parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep
     “when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me . . . .’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance’” (Lk. 15:5-7)
2. Beauty – in nature (a single tree in the forest, a single flower in garden or field)
   • in the arts (painting, poetry, music)
   • for some people, philosophy and the sciences (there are not just a few mystics among physicists)
3. Grandeur – the sky stretching out into the universe
   • mountains, oceans, deserts (as we see in Arizona Highways magazines)
4. Completeness or wholeness – a full stomach, enough warmth
   • a finished project, and the realization that nothing else is needed
5. Communion with God – belonging to him, being filled with his spirit
   • any time we have a strong sense of God’s nearness
     “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn. 15:11)
     “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Pet. 1:8)
     “You make known to me the path of life;
     in your presence there is fullness of joy . . .” (Ps. 16:11)

Is it possible that in the “pursuit of happiness,”
– what we’re really hoping for is to experience joy?
• maybe we settle for less; for pleasure or happiness,
◦ because we can manufacture those experiences
◦ and they’re close by and provide instant gratification
▫ no working or waiting is required, and certainly no maturity is necessary
• we may choose to flood our brains with a surplus of neurochemicals
◦ and for a brief duration we get the thrill, the buzz, the hit
◦ but we don’t reach the sublime, nor do we relish the memory
– joy leaves a pleasant aroma

I have come across joy over the years of reading the Scriptures

So I’ll share with you a few impressions I felt regarding joy

From the prophet Habakkuk:
“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. 3:17-18)
My meditation: Wow! Not, “I will still trust you,” but “I will rejoice in You.” Terrible things will happen; unexpected things like financial setbacks, illnesses, or the death of someone we love. I am learning that I can trust God regardless of what happens, but to rejoice in him, no matter what? That is a new level of trust.
And yet—regardless of what is given to us or taken from us, there is always the joy that comes from living in God, the joy of his very being, joy from revelations received, and the joy of his love and faithfulness.

From Psalm 89 — the first half is about God’s goodness and faithfulness, but then:
“How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?” (Ps. 89:47-48)
My meditation: First, a history of God watching over Israel, but now, sad echoes of the previous psalm. The temporal limits of one’s own life crashes into the eternity of God’s promise as it unfolds through the long expanse of time. I doubt that we are given an answer to our question, “How long?” Or maybe we’re only reassured, “Don’t worry, this current state will not last forever.”
We want relief now. The fulfillment of promises now. The restoration of all that is good now. But sometimes to survive without losing hope, and perhaps by hanging on to a song of joy in our hearts, we have to fix our eyes on the future, the eternal, and on our God who holds all of space and time in his hands. We may not see it in our lifetime, but it will come—and we’ll be there

From the Book of Job:
“[Where were you . . .]
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7)
My meditation: There is a primeval joy of creation that, as I perceive it, began when God said, “Let there be light” and was diffused into and through all that exists. This is the original joy. The divine joy that vibrated in all things because all things were “good.”
God alone has this memory of the first canticle, the first vocalization of the infant universe; not a cry but a shout of joy.

From the Gospel of John:
“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” And, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (Jn. 16:16;22)
My meditation: I wonder how much of my “sadness,” my depression, stems from not seeing Jesus now. I can imagine the joy I would have if he were to reveal himself to me—in this world. I know that the kingdom of God is “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Ro. 14:17), but that has been elusive for me—I accept the blame for that. Still, an invisible, intangible, and often entirely silent Spirit is not the same as having, in the flesh, the Word that became flesh. I know, I know, “more blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed,” but oftentimes I would be pleased to settle for the lesser blessing. (Please forgive me, Lord Jesus, for saying this. I am blind and foolish, and I really, really miss You. I have a great deal of the sorrow, and very little of the joy.)
Having a bad day? You don’t have to “shout for joy” when faced with setbacks and hardships (there are other prayers for those problems). But you can always “shout for joy In the LORD.” Or at least, whisper for joy, or even weep with joy. Whatever your current state, it will not last forever.

Conclusion: Here’s the best I have to offer you: Choose joy!

Nurture the joys that come to you – take a moment with them, quietly give thanks for them
The more you celebrate joy, the more joy you will discover
As for my last word on joy, and this is personal, and it applies to you:
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 Jn. 4)

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today
In a world of sadness and strife
It is sometimes hard to imagine
A universe of peace and goodwill

Caught up in our fears and struggles
We fight to get what’s coming to us
but you came to break that way of living
So today we ask for peace
In our own hearts
So we might bring peace to others
No longer rehearsing our resentments
No longer nourishing bitterness and fears
But being peace
And bringing peace
And living peace
Becoming peacemakers
With our kindness
And gentleness
And patience
And sacrifice
As needed
When needed
Because of you
And the peace
The wholeness
The shalom
You have brought to us.
Amen

Morning Talk: Esther Dewitt

The Liturgical Calendar
The Liturgical Calendar is a sequence of seasons, that organizes the year around the life of Jesus.
Liturgical seasons Invite us to take our place in the great drama of the Gospel
To take the time to experience God’s love and redemption through Spiritual rhythms and traditions
shared across generations and cultures and faith communities.
Practicing the liturgical calendar allows a lot of room for variety of expression,
and differences between church traditions,
but its beauty is to help Christians of diverse backgrounds participate–collectively and individually
in observances, prayers and Scriptures that focus on the life and message of Jesus Christ.
Advent is the first of the seasons; it is the beginning of Church Calendar year.
It’s interesting to me that the beginning of the liturgical year comes as the end of our calendar year,
and that its traditions and vibe are so different than the Western New Year.
The beginning of January looks forward and is filled with resolutions, plans, goals and energy.
It’s new exercise routines and new diets, at least for a few weeks.
It screams – Don’t look back, yesterday is done, stay future focused for success.

Advent is different

It isn’t linear in time.
Advent looks back in wonder, looks forward in anticipation
and opens us up to experience Christ in our present moment.
Advent means the arrival, or the coming. Advent is sort of the prelude to the ministry of Jesus.
It’s a bridge, a liminal in-between space. It prepares us for the coming of Christ.
As Tish Harrison Warren describes it “Advent collapses time. The past, the present and future join together in a single season of waiting for Immanuel, God With Us.”
Advent invites us beyond our time-bound experience and into the fuller history of the people of God.
In Advent we join the story with the Ancient Jews as they wait and long for the Messiah prophesied.
We reflect not only on the incarnation, on His birth,
but on how Jesus continues to work in the world today, and we look forward to His return.
As the early church crafted the season of Advent, knowing that Christmas has its own season – coming quickly – Advents sets the birth of Jesus into a historical and prophetic context.
Throughout the four weeks of the season, not just on the four Sundays,
believers are invited to reflect on the story–from the prophesies of the Messiah to John the Baptist
announcing the start of the public ministry of Jesus.

Today begins the second week of Advent
The theme of the second week is Peace.
It doesn’t leave the theme of the first week Hope behind; it builds on it.
Some of you have a lot more experience and history with liturgical practice.
For some of us they are new or foreign.
This Sunday I would like to incorporate a few of the traditions.
Many faith communities incorporate a collective prayer–called a Collect–to gather the intentions of the community into a single prayer.
I’ve chosen one from the Contemporary Collects.
Please join me in this reading Collect out loud together.

Second Sunday of Advent
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to
preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:
Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins,
that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

The practice of Advent doesn’t fit very well with my own church cultural training and experiences.
My biblical upbringing was verse-by-verse and chapter by chapter. Advent jumps back and forth.
Forgive me if it feels a little disjointed to you as well – but it has a purpose.
It sets the stage – paints a backdrop for reflecting on the life of Jesus.
Advent denies us permission to be New Testament only Christians as it draws us into a larger context.

The first reading of the second week of Advent is one of the great Messianic prophies of Scripture, from Isaiah 11 verses 1-10
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

This prophecy is beautiful, poetic, and bewildering.
It’s a prophesy, not just of the first coming of Christ, but of the second coming of Christ as well.
It’s bewildering to me now, probably more than any other time in my walk with the Lord.
It paints a picture of a peace we don’t yet see or experience.
Where justice is practiced, the needy and poor cared for.
It promises a future we have very little context for at our current point in time.
The liturgical seasons are relatively New to me – my Christian upbringing is a combination of what Sara Bessey calls a “Happy Clappy” Evangelical practice with a fundamentalist legalistic approach to the Christian life.
From my family of origin, my church culture and my Baptist college I was formed to place a heavy emphasis on theology and doctrine, and on correct interpretations and practices.
Understanding, interpretation, getting things right has always been very important to me.
I’m a product of the information age, the digital age.
I generally don’t know what to do with things I can’t wrap my head around.
One of the great gifts that the practice of Advent offers is the space to reflect, to wonder, to be confused, and not have that shake us.
I need that space as I prepare myself to enter into the Christmas season.
In Luke 2 :4-14 We read an account of the birth of Jesus
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

As I mentioned before: The theme of the second week of Advent is Peace.
Historians place the time of the birth of Jesus as during the time of Pax Romana. The Peace of Rome.
But it surely didn’t feel like peace for everyone.
Joseph and Mary have to travel to Bethlehem to register for taxes.
Herod is a murderous leader looking to kill anyone who threatens his power.
The religious leaders have added so many rules and regulations to the lives of the people of God that they are burdened.
There are poor and marginalized people whose suffering is acknowledged in the pages of the Gospel.

It’s not the peace we expect

When the Angels are declaring Peace on Earth, we can find ourselves wondering with the shepherds, and all who heard the story “What peace”? What does that mean. What does “Peace on Earth to those Whom God is Pleased” mean?
Isaiah refers to the coming Messiah as the Prince of Peace. The arrival of Jesus is the arrival of Peace. Through Jesus we can be reconciled to God, and at peace with Him.
And Jesus calls us to be Peacemakers, here on earth, in our time and our communities, through our acts of love and forgiveness, justice and mercy, we can be a part of Peace on Earth.
But it can be confusing.
Conflict in the world still exists.
Conflict between Believers exists.
Right now, it feels, based on my own work and experience, that conflict is thriving.
About twenty years ago I was the host of a Christian radio show. I loved the job for a lot of reasons, but one was that I got to do some really fun interviews.
Personally, I was in a lot of turmoil towards the end of that season and did not know I was approaching the end of it.
I was really struggling – beginning what now is often called “deconstruction.”
The certainty and structure that I had always taken for granted and had been very comfortable with, was crumbling.
One of the last few interviews I recorded was with Chuck.
In that interview he said two things that have stuck with me through the years, and which have been touchstones that I come back to over and over again in the last two decades.
He said, “God is not limited by our interpretation of Scripture.”
It was profound for me at the time, and it is still profound to me.
It is profound as I contemplate the birth of Jesus, and the prophesies from Isaiah 11.
The parents of John the Baptist, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Joseph and Mary would have been very familiar with these prophesies, and they must have been confused by their own experiences.
From the Scriptures it is clear that Mary often did not know how to process what she was hearing and experiencing.
They are honest that she wondered, pondered, marveled, was troubled, and treasured what she saw and heard.
The Message Bible phrases it that Mary held these things dearly and deeply within herself.
I can identify with Mary in Luke 1, when she is troubled and wonders at the words of Gabriel when she hears she will be the mother of the fulfillment of the prophecy.
I can identify with Mary when in Luke 2, she ponders the experience and words of the shepherds.
I can identify with her and Joseph when they marvel at the blessing and prophecy spoken by Simeon over the new baby they were presenting to the Lord.
And again, I can identify with her, twelve years later, when she treasures Jesus’ undoubtedly confusing words in her heart.

Many of the Ancient Rabbi’s interpreted the prophecies to be promising a very different kind of Messiah than Jesus.
For around four centuries they had come up with interpretations.
But that did not place a limitation on God, and the way He intended to fulfill His promises.
God is also not limited by my understanding of the Scriptures or what He is doing.
While I do think there is a lot of value in gaining understanding, in what 2 Tim. 2:15 calls “rightly dividing the Word of Truth,” I need the humility to know that I will not get it all correct.
I want the humility to wonder, to ponder, to marvel, to sometimes be troubled and sometimes be amazed; and to form the habit of holding the things of God dearly and deeply within myself, even when there are things I don’t get – even when circumstances around me don’t make sense.
Advent takes the time and makes the space to sit with the paradoxes of our faith.
As Kathleen Norris expresses the “Advent Season breaks into our lives with images of light and dark, first and last things, watchfulness and longing, origin and destiny.”

I started the calendar year 2025 troubled

It felt like a heavy season.
For the most part, in general, me and mine were doing okay – all things considered.
But a lot of people were struggling.
People we know, and people we don’t know were going through difficult times, and from what we could see on the horizon, the storm was growing.
I personally don’t usually have a Bible verse of the year.
(That feels like a confession.)
It has not been my normal experience that God would give me a verse or word for the year as a theme.
I know lots of people who do, but It’s just not been my own experience.
But last January I found myself crying out to the Lord, asking what I can I do in the middle of all that is going on.
At different times in my life, I have found myself in positions where I felt like my work, my ministry, could make a difference, on at least a moderate scale, that gave me a sense of purpose when the world seemed chaotic.
This year, I didn’t have that.
I found myself in the book of Micah, the picture it paints is not good.
Everything is a mess; politically and culturally it’s bad.
The leaders and the prophets have completely lost the plot.
It’s bad.
And then, tucked in chapter 6, verse 8, the people are reminded that God has already told them what He wants them to do.

“He has shown you – O People- what is good,
and what the Lord requires of you.
To Act Justly, and to love Mercy,
and walk humbly with your God.

It became my guiding verse for the year.
As I have been confronted by a very challenging year, on a lot of fronts, when I am trying to figure out how to walk forward, what to do – I am reminded
“He has shown you – O People- what is good,
and what the Lord requires of you.
To Act Justly, and to love Mercy,
and walk humbly with your God.
It’s a verse I’ve marinated in. I even made a playlist of different versions of this verse in songs.
I needed it.
Our world is messed up – and the world we step into in Advent, the part of the story where we begin the liturgical year, just prior to the birth of a Savior, that world is messed up.
The world being messed up is one of the through-lines of the story.
It’s why we need a Messiah, a Savior.

As we reflect on what the world was like at the birth of Jesus and in the years leading up to the start of His ministry we don’t see a world that feels like it is at peace as far as the people of God are concerned.
King Herod is a dangerous and violent leader.
Pontious Pilate is the governor of Judea.
History records that as a ruler he provoked and persecuted his subjects, especially the Jews and Samaritans.
John the Baptist spends his ministry time calling people away from their sins.
It wasn’t an easy time to be alive, or to follow to God.
But in this part of the story, the prelude to the ministry of Jesus, we see some examples of people who are not swallowed by the chaos and messiness around them, who choose to live as God has shown them.
In Luke 1:5 -7 when we meet John the Baptist’s parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth we are told they live together honorably before God.
The International Children’s Bible translation says “Zechariah and Elizabeth truly did what God said was good.”
what is good
In Matthew 1:19, when we first meet Joseph, we are told he is a just man, and a man of mercy.
do justly, love mercy
Our introduction to Mary in Luke chapter 1 gives us the picture of a young woman willing to do what God asks her.
walk humbly with your God
We see glimpses of faithfulness in a culture where that isn’t easy.
We see a desire, by at least some, that matches ours, to live well.
In Luke 3, as John the Baptist preaches, calling people to reject hypocrisy, and to produce good fruit in their lives, people ask the same question, I often find myself asking:
Then what should we do?
His answer:
Share with those in need,
Be honest,
Don’t take advantage of people
This feels to me like a paraphrase, an echo of Micah 6:8 – act justly, show mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
In these stories we see examples of people aligning themselves with God’s story, and we see some practical ways that we can do that.

This is a part of the gift of the season of Advent

We aren’t asked to fit the story of Jesus in to our lives, we are invited to fit our lives into His story.
We can acknowledge that the world we live in is troubled and that hope and peace can be difficult to experience.
We don’t have to manufacture peace on earth, we look for the ways it has come through Jesus, we look forward to the ways He will bring peace when He returns and we can look for ways we can be a part of His work now.
So back in the radio interview I did with Chuck, twenty years ago, the second thing he said was “I want my life and legacy and ministry to be marked by Mercy, that is the impact I want to have on people’s lives.”
It struck me because there wasn’t a lot of talk about being merciful, engaging in acts of mercy in the church community I was a part of.
We talked a lot about God’s Grace, and we talked about God’s Mercy on us, but very rarely was there an emphasis on being known for mercy.
Mercy is showing kindness and compassion to others.
It’s extending forgiveness when we aren’t obligated to.
It requires a heart of generosity towards others.
Showing mercy in our personal lives is a way we walk out our faith, we follow through on what God has told us to do, it’s a way that we participate in God’s work here on earth.
Advent doesn’t require us to be Scrooges, or anti- Western Christmas tradition.
We can still enjoy our Christmas cookies, Christmas music and decorations without being in conflict with Advent.
There is room for celebrations with family and friends, even as there is room for contemplation.
Through it all, there is the opportunity to participate, to as much as in our power, bring peace and mercy to those around us.
I appreciate that Advent teaches us to look back, lean forward, and to be present but does not require us to have it all figured out.
There is mystery, and wonder.
In Advent we are starting the year organizing our life around Jesus.
Advent invites into a story we know, to look at it from different angles and different perspectives.
It begins the liturgical year preparing us for Christmas, Epiphany, lent, Easter, and Pentecost.

I’d like to end this morning with an Advent Prayer by Henri Nouwen
Would you join me in reading it out loud together?
Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparation for Christmas.

We who have so much to do
seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.

We who are anxious over many things
look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways long for
the complete joy of your Kingdom.

We whose hearts are heavy
seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people,
walking in darkness yet seeking the light.

To you we say
“Come, Lord Jesus.”
Amen.

This morning, I would like to leave you with a blessing from the book of Numbers:
(6:24-26)
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you.
May He be gracious to you,
Show you His favor, and give you His Peace
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
Amen

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come, Lord, join us here today
For those who are weary we ask for hope
For those disappointed we ask for hope
For those discouraged, beaten down, struggling, and drowning we ask for hope
For those who are afraid
For those who worry
For those who cry out we ask for hope
For the broken hearted and the tenderhearted
For our grieving family
For our aching ones who feel alone
For our sick
For our dying
For our whole community
Pain and sorrows unspoken
We ask for hope

We ask to be reassured of your care
Of your knowledge
Of your gentleness
Of your consideration
Of your touch
We ask that you meet us
In your good, great love
That your coming not be in vain
That our yearning for your return not be folly
And that our trust in you
Emmanuel
God with us
That our trust in you will be satisfied
And our hope fulfilled
And our hearts made whole
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Psalms 42

Intro: Thanksgiving is now behind us, so we have a green light

We can, legitimately, start preparing for Christmas
– pull out boxes of ornaments, wreaths, and other decorations
• this is the time when we think our smart neighbors,
◦ were the ones who left their lights up all year
• getting ready can be a meaningful time of fond memories;
◦ so long as we’re not competing for the “Griswold Trophy”
– as Christians, we have a long history of preparing for Christmas
• in fact, 4th century believers took Christmas very seriously
◦ they observed it with six weeks of fasting and prayer
◦ Christmas day was a time for new believers to be baptized
• it was about two hundred years later that Christmas turned to celebration
◦ the four weeks leading up to Christmas became Advent, which incorporates two events:
1. rejoicing in the long-awaited arrival of Jesus our Messiah born in Bethlehem
2. seriously preparing ourselves for his return
◦ Christmas marks the “in between” time; when we meet Jesus in the here and now

Today is the first Sunday of Advent – and the theme is HOPE

There are many beautiful and inspiring verses regarding hope in the Scriptures
– but my favorite is found here
• I cannot be sure that you will enjoy this psalm as much as I
◦ when a person has lived with depression as long as I have,
◦ you naturally connect with confessions of despair
• then, when you find what helped someone else,
◦ it becomes a promise of hope for yourself
◦ at the very least, you cheer for them and their successful escape from darkness
– the poet apparently found that he could best express his experience with liquid metaphors
• he begins panting for God as a deer pants for flowing streams
• staying with that theme, his soul is thirsty
• until now, his salty tears have been all he consumed day and night
• what he does in his poetic prayer is he pours out his soul
• the poet seems to have an ambivalent relation to water in verse 7
◦ the waterfall’s depths calls to his soul’s depth
◦ but near the ocean, its breakers and waves roll over him
– water was both a necessity to life and a danger if one did not know how to navigate the ocean

As we listen to the psalm, notice if it speaks to you and if so, how
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?^[b]
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
    have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹ I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God. (ESV)

The major concern of the poet, in his words, is “my soul”
– he begins and ends with the condition of his soul
• the soul is our inner self – the person you perceive yourself to be
◦ our entire mental or psychological self
it is all your needs and wants
all your dreams and disappointments
all your joys and sorrows
◦ sometimes our souls rejoice, sometimes they grieve
often times our souls thirst and other times they’re cast down
• the soul can become agitated, anxious, and upset
◦ and when it does, the psalmists may talk to their soul
◦ for instance:
“Return to your rest, O my soul;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you” (Psa. 116:7)
– our poet has questions
• his first question is “When shall I come and appear before God”
◦ he feels distant from God – cut off,
◦ and that has intensified his desire, his thirst for God
• meanwhile, his enemies pour salt on his wounds,
◦ asking the very question he is asking, “Where is your God?”

When we become severely grieved or disturbed over a situation,
– specific memories tend to surface and haunt us
• for the poet, he remembers a time of festive joy
• he recalls past pleasures approaching the temple,
◦ with a joyful crowd, he sang praise to God on their way to the temple
– in his current state, to think of those things, only reminds him of how empty he feels
• and how far he is from everything good and important and matters most to him

The poet’s next question, he asks of himself,
“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?”
– he asks himself (his soul, that is) but gets no answer
• perhaps he doesn’t know why his inner self is cast down
• perhaps the problem is too obscure, or the pain is too deep,
or his soul is too confused or too stunned to answer
– what typically happens in a depressed state,
• is that the soul raises bothersome questions
◦ and rather than find answers, the questions just echo in endlessly in the mind
◦ but one feels that the question must be asked, or the worrisome thought must be repeated
• if you ask a depressed person why they’re in such despair and sadness
◦ nine out of ten times, they don’t know

Even if the poet cannot find an answer to his question,
– he eventually realizes what he must do: “Hope in God”
• this rushes into his soul as if the clouds suddenly parted, and the sun’s bright light reveals a clear path
• the poet’s soul has been dis-located – literally!
◦ it has been located in some place distant from God
◦ but now he can see the way back to where he wants to be
he can see himself again among the crowd of worshipers
he pictures himself praising God for rescuing him

This, then, is today’s Advent theme: “Hope in God”

Advent is an adventure
– a journey we make from a place of turmoil to rest
• a return home from a place of danger to our place of safety
• a journey from heartbreaking chaos to hope
– the first Christmas began as an adventure
• at least that’s how Matthew and Luke tell the story
• both of them describe scenes of conflict or tension
◦ then our heroes face strange surprises and difficult challenges
◦ for awhile, we’re held in suspense, but then comes a resolution to the turmoil,
and for a time, the stories settle down to a manageable pace

Hope is the adventure of a lifetime

I’m going to quote a verse that doesn’t fit the context of this psalm
– but it makes such a good point, I can’t resist including it
• it’s in the Book of Ezra (who is the main character)
◦ at this point near the end of his story, he is practically hysterical in his overreaction to a problem
He says, “As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.”
And a short while later we find him “weeping and casting himself down before the house of God” drawing the attention of a large crowd (Ezra 9:3 and 10:1)
• then one of the more level-headed leaders came to him
“We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this” (Ezra 10:2)
– that’s it! That’s the line!
“We screwed up! We made a mess of everything. Our circumstances could not be any worse, but even now there is hope in spite of this”

Conclusion: Advent hope is not a “natural” hope

It does not appear as a result of a change in seasons,
or political adjustments,
or new cures for mental or physical illnesses
Advent hope comes from the outside
outside the system,
outside the science lab,
outside the march of human progress
Advent hope is not an old hope,
taken from a warehouse, warmed up, and repackaged for the current century
Our hope is brand-spanking new, “born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”
Advent hope is not wishful thinking
it doesn’t require us to create a world of fiction – a fairy land or sci-fi planet
Does it seem lately that the days are too short and dark? That maybe tomorrow the sun won’t rise?
Hope in God;
for we shall again praise him,
our rescuing presence and our God

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (Heb. 6:19-20)

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come, Lord, join us here today.
Grant us peace in all things
Knowing you are with us
Helping us through
Teaching us
Correcting us as we need it
Comforting us
Giving us strength
Refocusing our attention back to you
Back to our neighbors
In love
With hearts full of gratitude
Making all things new
Making us whole
Together
Moment by moment
In all things
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: I think you most likely know that I love the Scriptures

The more I read them, the more I get from them,
– and the deeper I go, the richer my experience
• however, the journey is not always pleasant, and
◦ some parts of the Bible are not as easy to digest as others
◦ Hosea is not one of my favorite books
• still, there are verses in it that are among my favorites
◦ other than those few, working my way through Hosea,
is like crawling through a long, dark tunnel
◦ but the Bible doesn’t have to please me; I only need to let it speak to me
– in chapter 4, Hosea continues to hammer theme of spiritual adultery
• it’s like he can’t let go of it–perhaps God won’t allow him to let it go
◦ or maybe his own painful experience haunts him
• so far, it’s been the central metaphor of his prophecies
◦ he will move on to other more pleasant analogies, but not yet

The message begins with an announcement
Hear the word of the LORD, O Israelites
for the LORD has a brief
against the dwellers of the land.
For there is no truth and there is no trust
and there is no knowledge of the LORD in the land.
Falsely swear and murder
and steal and commit adultery.
They burst bonds — and blood spills upon blood.
Therefore the land does languish,
and all those dwelling within it are bleak.
With the beasts of the field and the fowl of the heavens
and with the fish of the sea, too — they shall perish Hosea 4:1-3

“The LORD has a brief” – this is a “legal brief” or “indictment”
– remember in chapter 2 Israel was summoned to appear in court?
• God picks up that theme again, and now it’s directed to “the dwellers of the land”

The “land” was God’s gift to Israel, which he promised to bless with bountiful harvests and pastures for their herds and flocks. But now he has a judgment to pronounce against “the dwellers of the land,” because “there is no knowledge of the LORD in the land, and therefore “the land does languish.” So right off, what the people have put at risk is the very land that their nation rests upon and defines the boundary of their lives and to a degree their identity.

• here are the charges God levels against his people:
First, there was no truth or trust or knowledge of Yahweh
– the Hebrew words for “truth” and “trust” are a famous word-pair in Hebrew Scriptures:
emeth and chesed
• the King James Version usually translates them “truth” and “mercy”
◦ but both of them are rich in multiple meanings
emeth: trustworthy, faithful
chesed: loving-kindness, loyalty, an undeserved benevolence
• Israel lacked the necessary honesty and empathy that makes a society run well and pleasing to God
– “knowledge…” – not being informed about God was just part of problem
• knowing the person of God, in a way they could walk with him daily was the more serious problem
Second, what was common in their society included:
– falsely swearing – that is, lying under oath, which would include daily business as well as the courtroom
(no one could be trusted)
– murder, theft, and adultery – sounds like we’re revisiting “ten commandments”
– burst (or break) bonds – would include contracts or agreements
• there was an absence of moral restraint and integrity
Then, blood spills upon blood – this could have multiple meanings
– the statistics of Latin American governments killing their own people are staggering
◦ such mass spilling of blood has been world-wide from ancient civilizations
◦ there was no place for that in the social structure of God’s nation
• blood also played an important role in worship
◦ to them, blood contained a life-force that was sacred
◦ that is why it could be used in worship
▫ if handled carefully and properly, it could atone for sin
▫ however, if mishandled or misused, it could become bad juju
(for instance, an unresolved murder could affect the health of “the land”) “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell . . . .” (Nu. 35:33-34)
• the significance of this indictment regarding the spilling of blood comes in verse 3
◦ the entire landscape and topography of what was supposed to be “milk and honey” was wasting away
• the dire consequence of sin does not require an act of God
◦ human sin–especially greed–has ecological consequences:
◦ pollution, deforestation, and extinction

Who is to blame for this messed up society?
But let no man inveigh
and let no man rebuke
when your people inveighs against priest.
And you stumbled by day,
and the prophet, too, stumbled by night,
and I will destroy your people.
My people is destroyed without knowledge,
for you — you rejected knowledge,
and I rejected you from being priest to Me.
And you forgot your God’s teaching —
I will forget your sons on My part.
As they increased, they offended against Me,
I will exchange their honor for disgrace.
My people’s offense offerings they eat,
and they long for its crimes Hosea 4:4-8

God answers the question above in a round-about way
– he begins by saying, “Do not inveigh [sharply criticize] priest”
• that is not because the priests were innocent–they were not!
◦ but they weren’t the only guilty party
• if the priest stumbled by day, the prophet stumbled by night
◦ so there was twenty-four hour, around the clock failure
– God holds Israel’s spiritual leaders responsible for the Israel’s bleak condition

We’ve seen already that a true knowledge of God had vanished
– now we learn that was the fault of the priests and prophets
• from the start, the Levitical priests were to be teachers
“They shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law . . .” (Deut. 33:10)
• it was bad news when a prophet told King Asa,
“For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law . . . .” (2 Chron. 15:3)
– the priests were to teach the law and the prophets filled-in the gaps when the people needed a word from God in the here and now
• both priest and prophet were to inform Israel regarding God’s will
• both were responsible to give direction and correction to kings as well as subjects
Robert Alter, “Both have betrayed their calling of providing moral instruction to the people.”

How did the spiritual leaders get so turned-around?
– one of the reasons was personal gain
• the last two lines are sort of this section are cryptic, but expose a motive
• whenever a sacrifice was made for a specific sin,
◦ the priest was given a portion of the meat for his food
(meat was not part of an everyday diet for most people)
◦ the more people sinned, the more meat the priest received
So, because
“My people’s offense offerings they eat,
they long for its crimes”
– more “crimes” (sins) meant more sacrifices and more meat for the priest

God could not let this confused and sinful state continue
And it shall be, people and priest alike,
I will make a reckoning with them for their ways,
and for their acts I will pay them back.
And they shall eat yet not be sated,
play the whore yet not burst bonds.
For they have forsaken the LORD
to keep on whoring and drinking
and new wine that takes away the mind.
My people asks oracles of a tree,
and his rod tells him what to do.
For a spirit of whoring made them stray,
and they played the whore against their God.
On the mountains they sacrificed,
on the hills they offered incense,
beneath the oak and the poplar,
and the teribinth of goodly shade.
Therefore their daughters go whoring,
and their daughters-in-law are adulterous.
I will make no reckoning with your daughters for whoring
and with your daughters-in-law who are adulterous.
For they themselves go off with the whores
and with the cult-harlots they sacrifice,
and a people undiscerning comes to grief Hosea 4:9-14

God was going to take action, make a reckoning, hold them responsible
– everyone will be included in this, “people and priest alike”
• I find it interesting that he takes this approach
◦ he will prevent them from experiencing any pleasure or satisfaction from their sinful pursuits
• Israel’s excess of pagan festivity and wine “takes away the mind”
◦ the Hebrew, word translated mind is lev – is the “heart,” but with broad range of application
◦ it includes perception, awareness, appetite, drives, and desires
▫ so here it can mean, “whoring and drinking dulls the senses”
– I’m reminded of the Rolling Stones’ song in the 1960’s “Satisfaction”
• they sang of the failed promises of advertisers and society at large
• but I also think of drug addiction and alcoholism
◦ after all the pleasure is exhausted, all that’s left is the need for another “fix”
◦ there is no more pleasure, no satiation, no satisfaction

I imagine hearing a tone of frustration in God’s voice,
“My people asks oracles of a tree”
– this is an insulting way of referring to sacred wooden objects,
• for making idols or using in divination
• this is the next strong charge against them
– specifically, God mentions daughters who have gone whoring
• this could mean these young women were engaged in idolatry
◦ but it could also have a stronger and more explicit meaning
◦ that they actually became cultic prostitutes in Canaanite fertility rituals
• at any rate, God would not have a specific reckoning for them over that
◦ the reason being: their fathers and brothers were consorting with cultic prostitutes themselves
– again, they are faced with the consequence of sin
“a people undiscerning comes to grief”
• sin blurs the lines between right and wrong, healthy and sick, sane and crazy
• losing clarity, we make bad decisions that end in regret and grief

The southern kingdom of Judah receives warning
If you go whoring, Israel,
let Judah not be held guilty
And do not come to Gilgal
nor go up to Beth-Aven,
and do not swear, “As the LORD lives.”
For like a wayward cow
Israel was wayward.
Now shall the LORD herd him
like a sheep in an open field?
Ephraim is stuck fast to idols,
Let him be!
When their swilling is over,
they go on to the whore.
They love the disgrace of their defenders.
The wind bundles them in its wings,
and their altars are shamed Hosea 4:15-19

When the northern tribes of Israel broke away from Judah,
– there first king, Jeroboam, invented a cult to prevent his subjects from seeking God in his temple in Jerusalem
• he designated two sacred sites for worship
• one was in “Gilgal” to the far north and the other was “Bethel” in the south
◦ Beth-el means “house of God”
◦ only Hosea calls it “Beth-Aven” “house of wickedness”
Henry McKeating, referred to this as “a nasty nickname for Bethel”
• Ephraim was one of Israel’s key cities, and Hosea uses it in place of “Israel”
“Ephraim is stuck to idols,
Let him be!” (or, “Keep your distance”)
– in the end, the northern tribes would be bundled in the wind and carried away
(like the wicked who are “like chaff that the wind drives away” (Ps. 1:4)

Conclusion: When I began developing today’s talk, I asked myself,

“How can I turn this into a Happy Thanksgiving talk?”
Obviously, I’ve given up on that

So, instead, here’s where I’ll leave us today
If we put ourselves in the place of Judah,
can we pay attention to the warning; take it seriously?
There are many spiritual leaders today misleading people
A few of them seem to assume that if they can draw a crowd,
they’re reproducing the Jesus Movement
It isn’t the same
Back then, the crowds were drawn to Jesus
It grieves me that there are pastors who identify with Christian Nationalism;
someday they’re going to have to make a choice which one it will be
It seems that even some of the Calvary Chapel pastors have lost their way
I get it, when the pastor is young, a third or fourth generation Calvary Chapel pastor,
who was not even alive when the Jesus Movement occurred
But I don’t understand how someone who sat under my dad’s ministry
could drift so far away from the path he walked back in the day
If the sort of person who attended Dad’s church in the late 60’s or early 70’s
walked into some of the Calvary Chapels today,
they would receive a very cold reception, rather than open arms;
they would run into a barrier rather than a bridge
Many professing Christians today make a lot of noise regarding what they are against,
many are misguided,
and many have been walked into the wrong “ism”
Don’t be one of them

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come, Lord, join us here today

Help us be the thing
Help us be the real deal
Yours, help us to be yours,
Known as yours as
The lover of neighbors
The vulnerable
The weak
The needy
The unwanted

And known as yours as
The patient
The kind
The gentle
The compassionate

Help us be in alignment
Our words matching our actions
Our bank accounts matching our intentions
Our reputations matching our hearts

Help us overcome the fears that
Pull us down
That inhibit our faith
That crush our good will

Envelope us in your great goodness
Surrounding us in your care and affection
Looking to you
Being with you
Abiding with you
Our one
Our hope
Our life
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

And the LORD said to me, “Again, go love a woman beloved by a companion yet an adulteress, like the love of God for the Israelites when they turn to other gods.” And I loved a lusting woman Hosea 3:1

Intro: Years ago, I was engaged in a conversation with two friends

In making a point, one of them quoted a famous evangelist,
“People change–but not that much”
– okay–so I reacted immediately, but kept my mouth shut
• this same person stood in front of large crowds,
◦ promising them that Jesus would transform their lives
◦ that in Christ, they would become a new creation
• that is the essence of the evangelical message
◦ it’s what we’ve been singing for the past 250 years
“I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see”
◦ could we regard the scope of these changes “not that much”?
– what good is my Christian faith if it it isn’t thorough? If it doesn’t make me a better person?
Peter Drucker one said, “The bottom line of a business is a dollar. The bottom line of a non-profit organization is a changed life”
• changed lives is what justifies the church’s existence
• if lives aren’t being changed in our churches, we have no grounds to exist

In this brief chapter, Hosea returns to his personal story; which was broken off at chapter 2
– the prophecy includes his story because it to a bigger story
• how God’s love for Israel would transform the life of a nation and its people

The next movement of Hosea’s story begins with a bizarre twist

God gets the action action moving in this phase of the story with the command, “Go”
– this is a typical way for prophets to receive instructions (for instance, Isa. 6:9; Jer. 2:2; etc.)
• an interval of time has passed since the first chapter
◦ we’re not given any information about how this new situation came about
◦ we only learn Hosea’s wife deserted him for someone else
• it’s one thing to marry someone who was sexually loose in the past
◦ it’s another thing if they relapse and leave you for their previous life of promiscuity
– the way the first sentence is constructed, turns on the word “again”
• “again” could be used in one of two ways:
◦ either “again” God is speaking to Hosea,
◦ or else God is telling Hosea to go and love his wife “again” as he had before she left him
• previously she was a prostitute before they married, now she has become an “adulteress”

I’m going off-road for a moment, hoping we can feel significant empathy for Hosea
because a new layer of suffering has been poured over Hosea; namely, betrayal
– Martin Buber was an influential philosopher and theologian in the 20th century
• when he examined this part of Hosea’s story, he asked, “is it possible to [command] love?”
• he qualifies the question, saying he doesn’t mean a general love like God commands in the law
◦ for example, “you shall love [the stranger] as yourself” (Lev. 19:33-34)
Buber, “but that a particular person should be bound to love another particular person in utter concreteness, is there such a thing as this?”
Buber’s conclusion is that this “word can only be spoken to one who already loves. He loves, he still loves the faithless one, he cannot suppress this love, but he does not want it, for he feels himself degraded by it. . . . Into this state of soul, God’s word descends, ‘Continue loving, [you are] allowed to love her, [you] must love her; even so do I love Israel.’”
– this may be projecting onto Hosea something that wasn’t there
• but this is similar to what God expresses towards Israel
• so what Hosea must deal with now is “like the love of God for the Israelites when they turn to other gods”

Hosea briefly tells how he brought his wife back home
And I hired her for myself with fifteen weights of silver and a homer of barley and a letekh of barley. And I said to her, “Many days you shall dwell with me. You shall not play the whore and you shall be no man’s, and I, too, shall not come to bed with you” Hosea 3:2-3

What amazes me about this entire story is its lack of pertinent details
– it seems that God’s concern in the text is to rush to the point
• after this chapter, Hosea’s personal life fades into the background of his prophecies
◦ but the fact of ceaseless love, betrayal, and reconciliation continues
◦ anyway, his wife’s relapse was so severe that she had become another man’s property
• in the version I’m reading, Hosea says, “I hired her”
◦ the Hebrew translated “hired” can refer to a purchase or the process of buying
◦ to me this sounds like “I haggled over the price for her”
(and it only cost him fifteen silver shekels and a wagon load of barley)
– once Hosea had his wife home again, he placed conditions on their reconciliation
• first, he established an unspecified block of time–“many days”–perhaps as a trial period
◦ I’m sure there were many things they had to work through
• second, she could not relapse again
◦ that is, return to prostitution or be with any other man
• third, neither was Hosea going to have sex with her during this time
◦ the goal was to work on reconciliation and readjustments

The live illustration now shifts to its application
For many days shall the Israelites dwell without king and without commander and without sacrifice and without sacred pillar and without ephod and without teraphim Hosea 3:4

The sentence begins with the word “For”
Hans Wolff, “In this verse ‘for’ introduces the interpretation of the symbolic action [in Hosea’s circumstances] for Israel . . . .”
– the repetition of the words “many days” makes an immediate connection between Hosea’s story and God’s story
• Hosea’s wife would no longer live in a distorted reality
◦ a world in which she substituted sex for love
• Israel would no longer live in their distorted reality;
◦ a world in which their king and his officials operated corruptly
◦ the rulers had permitted the introduction of other gods
▫ at times they even promoted pagan gods along with idolatry
– another loss for Israel during these many days would be religious
• there would be no sacrificial worship – which they could not do without the temple
◦ also rather than objects and places of their former pagan devotions, there would be empty spaces
• former methods of divination were also banned
◦ the ephod had been a legitimate means of consulting God
◦ the teraphim were superstitious fetishes–“household gods”
Hans Wolff, “Thus Israel will first lose its political existence, in which she believed herself capable of securing her life independent of God. Further, the offering of sacrifices becomes impossible.”

The plan was that the trial period would eventually end
Afterward, the Israelites shall turn back and seek the LORD their God and David their king, and they shall revere the LORD and His bounty Hosea 3:5

At that point, God would have what he wanted
– his people, on their own, would return and “seek the LORD”
• one of my favorite biblical words is “seek”
“And you shall look for Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13)
• I have made a short list of biblical words and phrases that relate to contemplative prayer
◦ “wait” (on the Lord), “here I am,” “watch,” “be still,” and “seek”
– at that same time, their nation and its government would be restored
• but with an important qualification: “David their king”
◦ not only a descendant of David, but one who ruled in justice and righteousness
• the most prominent characteristic of their restoration:
◦ they would know and feel and express reverence; for God, and also for his goodness
▫ something they would never again take for granted

Conclusion: As I get ready to close my Bible and try to live it,

Here is what will matter most to me:

That God comes after me, and never gives up
As long as we’re alive, we have hope
I trust it’s okay to say that sometimes God can be annoying
But I love him for that – I thank him
God is where I want to be

That people change, and God makes it a total transformation!
In Jesus, we cross a threshold,
From death into life
From the old person, to the new creation
From the false self, to our true self
Baptism is the threshold, the liminal space in which we celebrate our new life
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life” (Ro. 6:3-4)

That I surrender to God’s relentless love
Sometimes this means forcing myself to trust him enough to rest in him
Instead of being anxious about my circumstances – my world
I close the door of my mind to all distressing thoughts
And allow myself to be sustained in nothing other than his love

Join me in these endeavors–and have a wonderful week!

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today
Be with us
Among us
Close and known
Immanuel
Calling to us
Helping us along
Bringing us near
Restoring us
Making us new
Ready to love
And serve
With joy and expectation

And join us here today Lord
One people
One family
One body
Close and known
Serving each other
Restoring each other
Learning together
Growing together
Building up
Sharpening
Softening
With gentleness
And kindness
And patience
With joy and expectation
Amen

Today’s Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Therefore, I am about to beguile her
and will lead her to the wilderness
and speak to her very heart.
And I will give her from there her vineyards
and the Valley of Achor an opening to hope,
and she shall sing out there as in the days of her youth,
as on the day she came up from the land of Egypt Hosea 2:16-17 (Robert Alter translation)

Intro: Since it has been a couple of weeks, let me remind you . . .

The book of Hosea is a love story – but not like a romance novel
– it was never meant to entertain
• God’s message came to Israel in a graphic illustration,
◦ played out in the life of his prophet
• first, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute
◦ the point was to give Israel a living re-enactment of
◦ their history with God – deserting him for another god or other gods
– Hosea and his wife had three children who were placed onto the stage with their parents
• each of their names revealed an aspect of the unfolding crisis
◦ Jezreel – a place where God would render a verdict, to bring closure
◦ Lo-Ruhamah – No Mercy – God would leave them to their fate
◦ Lo-Ami – Not Mine – God rejected them from being his people
• so up till now, the unfolding drama has been harsh

We cannot allow ourselves to lose the “big idea” of Hosea’s prophetic story
– God’s message is intense–and urgent– and must be heard
• what is revealed in Hosea is God’s Crazy love
◦ although he says he will stop loving his people, stop caring for them,
◦ his love won’t let him dump them and walk away
• though God’s complaint against them is brutal and ongoing,
◦ though his threats are severe and painful to read,
◦ God’s chief aim is to repair the rupture in their relationship
– it is important for us that we own the storyline
• we are God’s people – we are the subjects of his intense love
◦ the truth is revealed through Hosea for us to learn it and experience it
• the first half of the chapter was brutal
◦ God rejects Israel from being his wife because she cheated on him
◦ abandoning her, their land would come to ruin

Now, the prophecy makes a sudden and unexplained turn (vv. 16-24, Hebrew Bible)

God reveals his strategy to win Israel back to himself
– first he would beguile her – sometimes translated allure, entice, even seduce
• but the context suggests “woo” – God would romance Israel
◦ “lead her into the wilderness” – that’s where it all started
Henry McKeating, “God and Israel spent their honeymoon in the wilderness. It is there that God will take her back and make a new beginning.”
Compare this to God’s reminiscence in Jeremiah’s prophecy
“I recalled for you the kindness of your youth,
your bridal love,
your coming after Me in the wilderness,
into an unsown land” (Jer. 2:2)
◦ there, God says, he would “speak to her very heart”
• Alter has translated this statement literally
(some versions paraphrase the Hebrew as tenderly, comforting, soothing)
◦ this is an idiom in the Hebrew language that is found many time in Old Testament
◦ in this passage, speak to her very heart captures the idea of courtship
– once God wins their love again in the wilderness,
• he will give them gifts – two, in particular:
◦ “vineyards” – which makes sense as evidence of their restoration
◦ and “the Valley of Achor and opening to hope”
▫ this makes less sense – that’s because this valley has a history
• Israel’s first battle in the promised land was against Jericho was a total victory
◦ but there was a glitch; one soldier, Achan, disobeyed a direct order from God
▫ his disobedience sabotaged Israel’s next battle and they suffered a disastrous defeat
◦ Achan had to be exposed, confronted, and suffer fate of enemy
▫ the Hebrew name Achan means “to trouble”
Joshua confronted Achan, asking him, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today. . . . Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor” (Jos. 7:26)
▫ Achor is related to the name Achan, therefore that place was “the Valley of Trouble”
– you can see why this is odd, that the Valley of Trouble would become “an opening to hope”
• but this is how the story finds its way to a solution
◦ it is in Israel’s trouble that they wake up and return to God
◦ hope lies on the other side of the door in the Valley of Trouble
• instead of their hardship being the end,
◦ it would lead Israel to a new beginning with God
◦ a renewed romance, renewed covenant, and renewed commitment
“and she shall sing out there as in the days of her youth . . .”; i.e., in her prime
– finally, they will demonstrate the response God wants to see
– when we go to the Psalms, we find Israel had a song for everything
• the Hebrew word translated “sing out” has another meaning: to respond or answer
• we will come to that alternative translation in a few verses
◦ in this and the following verse we see a combined effort
◦ God says, “I will” which is followed by, “she shall”

At this point, the poem picks up momentum
And it shall be, on that day, said the LORD,
she shall call Me “my husband”
And no longer call Me “my Baal.”
And I will take away the names of the Baalim from your mouth,
and they shall no more be recalled by their name Hosea 2:18-19

Three times in the next six verses we find the words, “on that day”
– on that day that Israel returns, God becomes very busy taking care of his wife
• I think we can all appreciate what we see happening here
◦ we feel like we’ve waited so long to see God answer our prayers and take action,
◦ but when he moves, he makes a lot of changes all at once
– the first thing God does is restore his exclusive role with Israel
• Ba-al had the general meaning of lord, master, and husband
◦ but it was also the name of the primary God of the Canaanites
• it’s possible Israel sometimes referred to God as Baal Yahweh
◦ God was going to remove that word from their vocabulary
◦ he was going to leave no memory of their former lover

God’s covenant with his people must be renewed and reaffirmed
And I will seal a pact with them on that day,
with the beasts of the field and with the fowl of the heavens
and with the creeping things of the earth.
And bow and sword and battle
will I break from the earth,
and I will make them like down secure Hosea 2:20

“And I will seal a pact with them” is usually translated, “make a covenant”
– this is something that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel emphasized
• Israel broke their covenant with God, so now it must be restored
• the covenant is what binds them together
– God’s part as described here is first of all protection
• part of this promise picks up some of the very words from God’s covenant with Noah
“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you . . . .” (Gen. 9:8-10)
• the promise also includes protection from their enemies’ armies

These verses come as close to vows as anything we find in the Scriptures
And I will betroth you to Me forever,
I will betroth you to me in right and in justice
and in kindness and in mercy.
And I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you shall know that I am the LORD Hosea 2:21-22

Three times the Lord says, “I will betroth you to Me”
– “betroth” meant to become engaged with a determined commitment to marriage
Robert Alter, “The triple repetition of ‘I will betroth you’ sounds very much like a performative speech-act, God pronouncing the wedding vows.”
– these are the shared commitments of God and his people:
• first, the relationship is forever
• second, it is sealed in right and justice
◦ righteousness is personal – doing what’s right given the nature of one’s relationship to another specific person
◦ justice communal – to practice and maintain fairness in the social realm
• third, it is sealed in kindness and in mercy – (Heb. chesed and racham)
◦ there is a suggestion of strong passion in both of these words
• fourth, it is sealed in faithfulness

“And you shall know that I am the LORD”
– to “know” is a frequent theme in Hosea
• it isn’t merely memorizing information
• here it is a personal and experiential knowledge of Yahweh

God describes a goodness granted to Israel that advances by degrees to an ultimate blessing
And it shall be on that day,
I will answer, said the LORD,
I will answer for the heavens,
and they shall answer for the earth.
And the earth shall answer for the new grain
and for the wine and for the oil,
and they shall answer for Jezreel.
And I will sow her for Me in the land
and show mercy to Lo-Ruhamah,
and I will say to Lo-Ami, “Your are My people,”
and he shall say, “You are my God” Hosea 2:23-24

“I will answer” – this is the word that I told you also means “to sing”
– the poem moves through the following stages:
• God responds to the heavens that depend on him for rain clouds
• the clouds respond to the earth that needs to be watered
• grain, wine, and oil depend on the moist soil in order to grow
• Jezreel now stands for the culmination of God’s work
– finally, the restoration of all that Israel had walked away from
• this is the heartbeat of the covenant:
God says, “You are My people”
Israel responds, “You are my God”

Conclusion: Whatever devotion we have toward God,

What ever praise we give him, or love we have for him, it is always a response
“We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19)
But where I want to leave you today is at the opening to hope in the Valley of Trouble
The help is there, so for our part, we have to walk through the open door

In 2003, after reading this chapter, I wrote the following in my collection of meditations:
“Despair can come to us through loss, ongoing hardship, chronic pain, clinical depression, a series of bad choices, and so on. God cares enough to provide a door of hope–light in our darkness, joy in our sorrow, a glimmer of faith in our unbelief.
‘And she shall sing there.’ Amazing how hope creates a song!”
There is always a door of hope.”