Acceptable Worship (Isaiah 1, Isaiah 58, Amos 5, Micah 6)

 There are a couple of things that catch my attention in today’s scripture reading. Was there anything there that caught your attention? What words or phrases stood out to you?

Sodom and Gomorrah.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

The prophet begins with a bit of poetic name-calling. “You rulers of Sodom! You people of Gomorrah!” This is obviously not a compliment. 

Long ago, God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. By invoking those names, the prophet here is implying that the sins of the people in his own time are just as bad as the sins of those ancient cities.

But what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Many modern Christians believe that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality. But that’s not what the Bible says.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Genesis 19. In the story, a man named Lot welcomed two travelers into his home.  These two travelers appeared to be immigrants on a journey, but really, they were angels in disguise.

Lot offered them hospitality and refuge; a safe place to spend the night. Showing hospitality like this to travelers and immigrants was a sacred duty; people of faith were obligated to provide protection to travelers and immigrants, because of the vulnerable situation they were in. Lot fulfilled his sacred duty by doing just that: offering hospitality and protection.

But others in Sodom didn’t look so kindly on foreigners and immigrants. They arrived at Lot’s house and demanded that Lot turn the men over to them, so they could attack and rape them. Lot refused, because he had promised the two men his hospitality and protection.

Now: would the crime of the city be any less if the two travelers were female? Would it be OK to attack and rape them if they were women instead of men? Of course not. So the story is not about homosexuality. It’s about the sacred duty to provide hospitality and protection to immigrants and other vulnerable persons.

To use the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as a weapon against homosexuality is to mis-use and abuse scripture, to pervert the meaning of God’s word so that the Bible appears to support one’s own prejudice and bigotry.

As if the story in Genesis 19 isn’t clear, Ezekiel 16 addresses the topic, and says:

This was the sin of Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

In Genesis 19, the “poor and needy” happened to be these immigrants; these foreigners; these “angels in disguise.” So the sin of Sodom is specifically failing to show care and hospitality to immigrants and foreigners, and generally failing to show care and hospitality to anyone who was poor or vulnerable.

So when the prophet in Isaiah 1 mentions Sodom and Gomorrah, he’s making a comparison to those who neglected to show hospitality and provide protection to the poor and needy.

When Ezekiel talks about Sodom and Gomorrah, he doesn’t say anything about sex. When Isaiah talks about Sodom and Gomorrow, he doesn’t say anything about sex. 

What Isaiah talks about - and what all the other prophets talk about - is the sin of not caring for the poor, of not providing justice for the most vulnerable segments of the population.

“I hate your festivals.”

The next thing that catches my attention in Isaiah 1 is the declaration that God hates the religious festivals of the people. Worship is the people’s gift to God, but here, God rejects that gift. 

This is a startling declaration - as startling as being compared to the people of Sodom. The people offer God their sacrifices, they make their offerings to God, they observe the festivals and religious holidays - and now God says that God will not accept their sacrifices and offerings, and that God hates how they observe the festivals!?!

But that’s exactly what God is saying. None of their acts of worship are acceptable.

This isn’t the only place where God makes this declaration. 

God says the same thing in Isaiah 58, which - even though it’s the same book of the Bible - was likely written by a later prophet. There, in Isaiah 58, God says:

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers…Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.

All your acts of worship, God says, are not acceptable; but then, God goes on to say what is acceptable. God says:

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

That is worship that is acceptable to God.

Amos is another prophet who talks about worship that is - and is not - acceptable to God. In Amos 5, God says:

I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

No festivals, no offerings - not even songs of praise - are acceptable to God… unless there is justice and righteousness in the land.

Micah is another prophet who talks about these things. In Micah 6, the prophet is wondering what kind of worship he can offer, that would be acceptable to God. 

The prophet asks:

‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Worship must consist of justice, kindness, and humility, to be accepted by God.

“Your hands are full of blood.”

Here’s a third thing from Isaiah 1 that catches my attention: When God says to the people: “your hands are full of blood.”

This is poetic metaphor, but it’s a very vivid metaphor. We hear it read, and the image is there: hands covered in blood.

It’s the blood of the poor. It’s the blood of those who have been denied justice. It’s the blood of the vulnerable who have not been offered protection. It’s the blood of those who have been attacked, abused, and raped by a greedy society that cares more about income and profits than it does about people and human lives.

It’s the blood that covers our hands when corporations are given rights as persons, while actual people have their rights taken away from them.

It’s the blood that covers our hands when we care more about for-profit healthcare companies than we do about actually providing health care to those who need it.

It’s the blood that covers our hands when we neglect any public service that the poor depend on, from public schools to public transportation to food assistance, while subsidizing private schools and private transportation for the wealthy.

It’s the blood that covers our hands when we spend more on weapons of war than on tools for peace.

It’s the blood that covers our hands when we refuse to fund mental health care and refuse to regulate guns and then offer only thoughts and prayers every time there’s a mass shooting.

And when our hands are covered in blood, no act of worship will be acceptable to God. No songs of praise will lift God’s heart. No offerings or sacrifices will be pleasing to God. 

Washed Clean.

So how do we wash this blood from our hands? How do we make ourselves clean?

Through Isaiah, God tells us:

To wash yourselves, to make yourselves clean: remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Rescue the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow.

In other words, do what is right for those who are vulnerable. Those in need of protection. Those who are suffering. Those who have been victimized by unjust legislation. 

Do what is right for those who have had their rights taken away.

Do what is right for those who have been attacked, abused, and raped - literally and figuratively.

Do what is right for the poor.

Do. What. Is. Right. 

Because the most important part of worship is what you do outside of worship.

Jesus said the most important commands are to love God and love one’s neighbor. That’s not something one does one hour a week. It’s something one does every day. It’s something one does with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength.

What all this means is that there are people who work for justice but who never attend a worship service, whose lives are more acceptable and more pleasing to God than many who do attend worship, but who neglect to work for justice in the world. 

And I find myself wanting to learn from people who spend their lives working for justice for the poor, doing their best to love them, even if they never go to church, because their lives seem closer to Jesus than the lives of many who do go to church every week. 

But it doesn’t have to be an either/or. We can sing God’s praises and we can offer to God our sacrifices and our offerings, and such things will be immensely pleasing and acceptable to God, because we have worked for justice. Because we have voted for justice. Because we have communicated with our elected leaders about justice. Because we have loved our neighbors.

That is the ideal we are called to pursue. It’s what Jesus did. He went to the temple, but he also worked for justice. What he learned in the temple inspired him to work for justice, and the work he did for justice shaped how he interpreted the scriptures and applied them to his life.

And if we are able to follow that path, the scripture says, then our light shall rise in the darkness. Our gloom shall be like the noonday. The Lord will guide us continually, and satisfy our needs in parched places, and make our bones strong; and we shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Our ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; we shall raise up the foundations of many generations; we shall be called the repairers of the breach, the restorers of streets to live in.

"With Blood Stained Hands" Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

I’ve been thinking a lot about worship these past few weeks. 

I’ve been thinking about worship because it’s the single most significant thing we do as a congregation. 

I’ve been thinking about worship because I’ve attended these past few weeks a variety of worship services incorporating a great diversity of styles, at General Assembly, at Loch Leven, and – last week – at First Christian Church of Orange. 

I’ve been thinking about worship, because I’m currently working with other leaders in our church to plan a series of worship services in September centered around the theme, “Focus on Excellence.”   

And I’ve been thinking about worship because I’ve been thinking about Isaiah, and Isaiah thought a lot about worship.

The first chapter of Isaiah is a kind of prologue to the whole book that bears his name.  The themes of the book of Isaiah are introduced here, and they have to do with worship. 

And strangely enough, Isaiah says that one of the most important things about worship – perhaps the most important thing about worship – is what happens when you’re not in worship.

God – speaking through Isaiah – says, basically, I can’t stand your worship services.  “I’ve had enough of it,” God says. 

Let me tell you why.

Worship in those days involved the sacrifice of animals.  Chrysanne Timm, a Lutheran pastor in Ohio, describes the ancient sacrificial system well.  She says:  “Offerings of grain, turtle doves, pigeons, lambs, goats, and bulls all served specific purposes. Some, like the grain offering, were a witness to the Lord's gracious provision for the people. Other offerings expressed gratitude and well-being, while still others served to remove the stain of people's sin from the Lord's sight. Aaron and his descendants were responsible for fulfilling these duties for the sake of the people.

“These practices were meant to keep the righteousness and holiness of the Lord in the forefront of the people's minds and hearts. They were established to continually remind God's people of his ready provision and faithfulness. They were intended to remind the people of the Lord's passion for justice and care for the suffering. These sacrifices were meant to restore people to community when they sinned against one another and to reconcile them to the Lord when they forgot his purposes in favor of their own.”

These are all very good reasons.

As reminders of God’s faithfulness and holiness, and as reminders of God’s passion for justice and care for those who suffer, the sacrificial system worked pretty well.  Until the people forgot what it was for.  Until they forgot that God’s passion for justice and care for those who suffer meant that they were called to work for justice and to care for those who suffer. 

I mean, one just can’t offer a sacrifice of holiness and justice on the Sabbath while ignoring holiness and justice the rest of the week.

Therefore God says:  “I’ve had enough!  I’ve had enough of your offerings and sacrifices!  I no longer take delight in them.  When you come to worship me, I will remain hidden.  You will not see me as long as you continue to practice violence and bloodshed.  You will not see me as long as you fail to practice justice and mercy and compassion.”

Several times now, I have been camp counselor to high school youth who admitted to me that they were pretty sure they did not believe in God.  And the reason they didn’t believe in God is because they have been unable to see God in the world.  God has remained hidden.

In the world, there is always a war raging.  Every day, people are killing people, and often they do it in the name of God.  Every religion has those who are willing to kill in the name of their God, and it keeps others from being able to see God.

And then there are always people willing to stab you in the back, people willing to tear you down, to speak words of cruelty, words that hurt, words that are violent. 

These high school kids read the news.  And even if they don’t, they experience every day the insults and put-downs of a world that tells them they aren’t smart enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, rich enough. 

Do you ever watch a sitcom and realize that most of the so-called jokes are just one character insulting another?  I don’t know about you, but it makes me uncomfortable.  I don’t like it.  It’s not funny, watching someone make fun of someone else and hurting their feelings.  It’s not funny, because it happens too often in real life to be funny.

And just like violent actions, violent words keep people from seeing God. 

Isaiah says that though the people came to worship, they came with hands full of blood, stained red with the sin and the guilt of the world.

It’s easy to say, “my hands aren’t stained red with blood!  What have I done?”

Every action, every choice we make, has consequences that we either ignore or fail to understand.

A fellow Disciples pastor commented recently about those who say they “love Jesus,” then make it their “political mission to dismantle systems and programs designed to help those whom Jesus loves -- without offering up a legitimate alternative.”  When the world sees Christians behaving in ways that withhold care and support from those who need it most, God is hidden.  God cannot be seen in the lives of those who claim to follow Christ, but act in un-Christlike ways.

We have a huge problem with ozone levels in our atmosphere, due largely to the exhaust from motor vehicles.  We have so many choices when it comes to transportation, so many choices that affect how much pollution we create and how much energy we use. 

How often could we carpool, but instead we choose to go alone?  How often could we walk, but choose to drive?  How often do we choose to buy goods that have been made overseas because they are cheaper, goods that have to be transported thousands of miles by cargo ship and 18-wheeler? 

L.A. wants to build a giant rail transfer facility next to the border of Long Beach.  You’ve probably heard about that.  Long Beach is suing to have the transfer facility built somewhere else.  People are protesting, because the proposed facility will be built upwind from Long Beach schools and neighborhoods.

If Long Beach is successful in getting it moved (and that’s a big “if”), then the transfer facility will likely be built somewhere else.  But that somewhere else will still produce the same amount of pollution, and it will still be upwind from someone. 

A more important question is:  Why do we need a rail transfer facility in the first place?  And the answer is because we have an insatiable appetite for stuff.  Cheap stuff, which comes from overseas.  We live in a disposable society, which means we always need new stuff, which we buy, use, and then throw away, because – being cheap – it wasn’t made to last. 

And since so much of this stuff is made overseas, it has to get to us somehow.  Hence the need for a rail transfer facility.

If we refuse to change our lifestyle… If all we do is protest until the sources of pollution are moved to someone else’s neighborhood… and we keep living a lifestyle that consumes cheap, disposable goods from overseas… and we keep making transportation choices for ourselves that do not reduce the amount of pollution we create directly… and we fight against providing healthcare for the poor while we grumble about our $20 co-pays… and then we come to worship and sing songs like “For the Beauty of the Earth” and “This is my Father’s World…” and “All Creatures of our God and King…” I wonder if God will even listen to our songs of praise.

And when we talk about God’s love for the earth and for the people of the earth but we do nothing to reduce the negative impact our lifestyle has on people around the world… don’t you think that makes it hard for people to see God in and through us?  Don’t you think that makes it hard for people to see God in and through the Church?

And I haven’t even mentioned yet our sons and daughters who have died fighting in countries where the fossil fuels we depend on for our lifestyle originate, and how many people – soldiers and civilians, adults and children – have died in wars fought, at least in part, for access to oil.

In a very real way, then, our hands are stained with blood. But we don’t have to have literal blood on our hands to prevent people from seeing God.  All we have to do is behave in ways that are un-Christian, criticize someone behind their back, complain about someone to someone else, or display anything that is less than pure love for another. 

We are created in the image of God.  We are brothers and sisters, one body, and we cannot hurt another person without hurting ourselves and those around us.  It’s just not possible.  If you stab someone in the back, some of their blood ends up on your hands.

And if we in the church can’t handle disagreements and conflicts while maintaining respect and love for one another,… God is kept hidden. 

At the General Assembly, several resolutions on controversial issues were presented, and there were arguments both for and against.  I am so grateful that the discussion was both civil and respectful.  I’ve heard that in some online forums that was not always the case, but everything I saw and heard at the assembly showed the love of Christ.  After the vote on one of the most controversial resolutions, two of the most outspoken leaders on opposite sides of the issue were spotted enjoying a friendly conversation and even embrace.  In that moment of friendship, even more than in the results of the vote, God was seen.

I think that this is something that we’ve learned here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church.  It’s certainly what I’ve seen in the five years that I’ve been a part of this congregation. 

But in the world, it is not always this way; and in the church, it is not always this way.

And even though I celebrate what I’ve experienced in the church these past few years and these past few weeks, I know that we still have work to do.  We still live lives that are in need of transformation.  I am still in need of transformation in so many areas of my own life.

So I am not surprised that many young people today find it hard to see God or believe in God.  God is kept hidden by our actions, by our lifestyle, by the way we treat one another.

What’s amazing to me, though, is that the kids I’ve met – even those kids who have lost their faith in God – they still come to church camp!  They want to be there.  And the reason is that at church camp, at a place like Loch Leven, they see something they don’t see anywhere else in the world.

They see unconditional love.  They see compassion.  They see acceptance. 

You and I know that the love, compassion, and acceptance they see and experience is God.  God is love.  We read that in 1 John.  God is compassion.  We see that in Matthew 25. 

But what those kids have heard is that God is judgment, God is vengeful, God is capricious and temperamental.  No wonder they find it hard to believe in God.

At camp, they see something else.  Because of what they’ve learned, some of them don’t recognize it as God, at least not at first.  But it keeps them coming back, year after year.  And someday, if the love that they experience at camp proves to be stronger than the hate and judgment and hypocrisy they’ve experienced in the world, they will learn to see God.

And that’s the hope that is found in Isaiah.  Though our hands may be full of blood, God can take our sins that are like scarlet, and turn them like snow.  God will show us how to love, and with God’s help, we will, as Isaiah says, cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, and rescue the oppressed.

And then, God will take delight in our worship!

Working for Justice (Isaiah 1:1, 10-20)

A few weeks ago – before Vacation Bible School, before Loch Leven, before a week of volunteering at Cub Scout Day Camp – I sat down and picked out some scriptures to preach on for these Sundays in August. The lectionary listed this reading from Isaiah as one of the selections for today, and as I read through it, my thoughts focused on verse 17: “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
That sounded like a good scripture upon which to base a sermon, so I settled on that and then focused on the other activities on my schedule. The actual sermon writing, of course, could wait until later.
When “later” came, I took a closer look at the scripture. It was then that I realized I was in trouble, because there are several things about this scripture that are problematic.
It starts with a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah, a troubling story for many. We could ignore the reference, and ignore the story of Sodom and Gomorrah entirely, something that I am sometimes tempted to do. But that wouldn’t be very responsible of one who is called to interpret the Bible with integrity.
Also troubling is the violent tone on which this passage ends. “If you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.” I believe that our God is a God of peace, and verses like this one can be a real challenge to deal with.
Fortunately, some research and biblical scholarship is able to clear up the difficulties and misunderstandings that arise in here. Stick with me, and I’ll share with you what I’ve learned.
First, though, let’s talk about the context. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are a distinct unit which scholars call First Isaiah, and First Isaiah does have a lot of proclamations against the nations, with anticipation of doom and disaster. But in between all these dark and dreary passages are windows of hope, through which a new, brighter vision may be glimpsed. In that new, brighter vision, a wolf shall live with a lamb in peace. In that new, brighter vision, the messianic king will inaugurate a new kingdom of righteousness and peace. In fact, he will be called the Prince of Peace.
Much of the rest of First Isaiah, however, deals with God’s anger and judgment. But one has to wonder: what is the anger and judgment about, and how does it relate to the windows of hope and peace?
Two things are going on at the time of First Isaiah. There is a war that threatens to interrupt the divinely-ordained house of David; and there is an environment of social and ethical misbehavior among the people. Isaiah sees the two as related; the social and ethical misbehavior of the people has led to the war, which Isaiah describes as God’s punishment for the people’s misbehavior.
Both war and the social injustice of the time are contrary to God’s will for the people of God. Much of the things Isaiah writes had their origins in specific events of the time. Uniting it all, however, is a vision of what the world can be like, a vision of what the world can be like when all people follow the teachings of God; a vision of peace and justice and equality; a vision of what the world can be like when all people, to use the language of the earliest Christians, live in the kingdom of God.
Unfortunately, war separates people from that kingdom. War puts the realization of that kingdom in jeopardy. And if war jeopardizes the realization of that kingdom, then so does the injustice and inequality and unethical behavior that lead to war.
Isaiah speaks against people and nations whose actions contradict the ways of that kingdom, those things which dim the vision. And Isaiah brings that vision back to the people’s attention, as if to say, “Look! This is what you should be living for.” And Isaiah says things like, “You want to know why God is not listening to your prayers? It’s because you are not living according to God’s vision. You are not following God’s teachings. You are not living in the kingdom.
“Sure, you pretend to. You go through the motions. You offer your sacrifices; you say your prayers; but your heart is not in them. That’s easy to see, because if your heart really was intent on following God, then you wouldn’t be living the way you do. You wouldn’t be depriving your neighbor of justice. You wouldn’t allow your neighbor to starve while you feast sumptuously. Come on, people! Cease to do evil; learn to do good.”

So that’s the background. Now, back to the issues I raised earlier.

“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah.”
Isaiah mentions Sodom and Gomorrah because the names are attention-getters. Sodom and Gomorrah are cities that did not live out the vision. In fact, the lifestyles of those cities contradicted everything the vision stood for.
I think there is a general misunderstanding regarding what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about. As the story reads in the book of Genesis, two men come to visit Sodom; these men are really God in disguise. They arrive at the house of a man named Lot, who insists that they stay with him.
Lot is a good man. He knows the teachings of God. He understands the vision. And one of the most important components of the vision is offering hospitality to travelers. Abraham had earlier offered hospitality to these divine men, and was blessed because of it.
In ancient times, offering hospitality meant offering protection. It meant protecting those who, because they were away from home or because they had no home, were vulnerable to those who might take advantage of them or do them harm. By welcoming them into his home, Lot is sworn to protect them.
Lo and behold, a gang of men come to Lot’s house and insist he throw those two guests of his out, so that they might rape him. Lot refuses, but instead offers his own daughters to them instead.
A lot of people argue that this is a story that condemns homosexuality, because the gang of men tried to rape Lot’s guests. But what about Lot’s offering of his daughters? The story seems to present that as a good thing. Are we really prepared to say that this story is about sex, that homosexual gang-rape is forbidden while heterosexual gang-rape is OK?
I don’t know anyone who would say that rape is OK, no matter what the gender of the victim and the assailants. So any attempt to derive from this story a lesson on proper sexual conduct falls flat.
But listen to what Lot says to the mob at his door. He says: “stay away from these men, for they have come under the shelter of my own roof.” He does not say, “stay away from them, because they are male.” He says “stay away from them, for I have offered them shelter. I have sworn, according to the rules of hospitality taught to us by God, to protect them.” Then he offers his daughters as a substitute, not because they are female, and certainly not because he wants to, but because he takes seriously his commitment to shelter and protect his guests, and thereby remain true to the code of hospitality.
“Stay away from these men, for they have come under the shelter of my own roof.”
So the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about hospitality. It’s about honoring and ministering to the stranger in one’s midst, the foreigner, the sojourner. It’s about living in the vision which will not allow injustice against a stranger or guest, even if standing up for justice comes at a terrible price. And yes, it’s a dramatic story about two cities that were destroyed, because they did not live in the vision of God.
So, that clears up the issue surrounding Isaiah’s reference to Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is still that violent ending to Isaiah’s passage, not to mention the violence done against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. How does that fit into Isaiah’s vision of a peaceable kingdom?
In thinking about this, my thoughts turned to a more modern prophet, who – like Isaiah – had a vision of what life is like in God’s kingdom. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision – he called it a dream – was also of a world of peace and justice, a world that lives according to the laws and teachings of God.
It is largely because of his nonviolent ways that Martin Luther King, Jr. is regarded so highly, and honored with street names and holidays and ceremonies. And yet, in the midst of his most famous speech, the “I Have a Dream” speech he delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he said: “There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”
Whirlwinds of revolt shaking the foundations of our nation? Sounds kind of violent for Martin Luther King. Just what was he saying?
Well, he wasn’t saying that he himself was going to take up arms, or that others should do so. We know that. He wasn’t about to lead a violent revolt, or to plant bombs that literally shake foundations.
But he was saying that there will nevertheless be turmoil until justice is granted. There will be no peace until the vision, the dream, is made real.
I believe that Isaiah’s prophecy is to be read the same way. There will be no peace until people learn to live in the vision that God has set before them. Those who do not work for justice, who intentionally or even unintentionally perpetuate cycles of injustice, will be devoured by the sword. The fact that the language is metaphorical doesn’t make it any less harsh. There will be no peace until we learn to live in the kingdom of God, until we learn to make living in God’s kingdom our number one priority.
And in that kingdom, people will cease to do evil, and learn to do good. In that kingdom, there will be justice. In that kingdom, those who are weak will be made strong; those who are poor will be made rich. The oppressed will be rescued, orphans will be defended, and widows will find an advocate. And there will be peace.
And as an outpost of that kingdom, it is our responsibility, as followers of Christ, as Christ’s ambassadors, to live in that kingdom; and living in that kingdom means that we are the ones who do good. We are the ones who seek justice. We are the ones who pursue peace. We are the ones who defend the weak and the poor.
Isaiah’s language is violent because he lives in a violent time. Foreign nations commit acts of war against the house of David, and the people commit acts of violence against one another through their acts of injustice and inhospitality.
Martin Luther King, Jr. used a violent metaphor not because he advocated violence, but because he also lived in a violent time. The violence came about through society’s injustice and inequality. He knew that injustice and violence were linked, and that justice and peace were also linked.
This weekend, we are witness to another reminder of the violence of our time. 65 years ago this weekend, perhaps the single greatest act of violence committed against people took place as an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Ever since, we have lived in a nuclear age. And as long as we live in a nuclear age, the kingdom of God will never be fully realized on earth, as it is in heaven.
As ambassadors of Christ and Christ’s kingdom, it is our calling to be proclaimers of justice and makers of peace. The Disciples of Christ have a long history of working for peace. Our earliest leaders, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone, were pacifists. In 1935, Disciples Peace Fellowship was formed, the first denominational peace organization in the country.
Here in Long Beach, Bixby Knolls Christian Church officially became a shalom congregation in 1984, committing itself to studying issues of peace. With the vision of Isaiah and the prophets guiding us, not to mention the teachings of Jesus, let us continue to be an outpost of God’s kingdom, doing good, seeking justice, and rescuing the oppressed, so that God’s peace may reign, honoring the Prince of Peace, in whose name we live.
If you want to rid the world of violence, you don’t build bombs. Alexander Campbell once wrote that the only way to conquer an enemy is to turn him into a friend. You work for peace and justice and equality for all.

Service (Matthew 25)

This past week I spent three days with over 100 clergy in our region at a 3-day conference with our General Minister and President, Sharon Watkins, as well as her husband and seminary professor, Rick Lowery. The warm California sun was shining brightly as we studied the Bible, took part in conversations with Sharon Watkins, and worshipped together in three different languages. Before the retreat, Sharon spoke at First Christian Church in Orange, and it was good to see Hattie there along with many others from our regional church.

I also spent two days at Founders Day, an event at which the covenant between Chapman University and the church is most visibly manifested.

For me, this has been an amazing week of spiritual growth, as well as an opportunity to knit more strongly the ties that bind us all together as one church.

In the midst of all this, I did, in fact, find time to write a sermon. Fortunately, I started putting thoughts together long before this past week began. Two months ago, when the idea came to me to do a sermon series on spiritual practices, I wasn’t sure about including a sermon on the practice of service. For one thing, the series of books on ancient practices that I’ve been reading doesn’t include a book on the practice of service, which meant that my search for resources in preparation for preaching would be just that much more complicated. But a more significant reason I hesitated to preach on service is that I didn’t really know what I could say about service that you all didn’t already know.

After all, doesn’t everyone believe that it is good to serve others? Even non-Christians, even people of no faith at all, understand that it is good to serve others. The value of service is impressed upon every one of our children, who must perform community service in order to graduate from high school.

Even the Walt Disney company knows the value of service. It planned a year-long program of getting one million people to serve their communities by rewarding them with a ticket to Disneyland or Disneyworld. That year-long program ended after just two months, when the goal of one million people was reached much sooner than expected. People wanted their free tickets, yes, but they also wanted to be able to do something they felt good about doing.

This week, there was a wonderful article in the Uptown Gazette about the work of Christian Outreach in Action, an agency here in Long Beach that serves people who are hungry and homeless, an agency that we here at BKCC support through donations and by preparing meals.

And so, the people of BKCC, I thought, know about service. The people of our community and our nation, I thought, know about service. We know that service is about helping others. We know that Jesus commands us to serve one another, and we ourselves feel within us a desire to do just that: to serve others, to help the “least of these,” those who, for whatever reason, are economically or socially disadvantaged: the poor and the oppressed; to restore wholeness to a fragmented world; to restore justice, in ways big and small, to those who have been denied justice.

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I didn’t think I had anything else to say about something that I thought everyone agreed upon, that serving others and working for justice is a core value of the Christian way of life.

Then someone told me what Glenn Beck said on his show a week and a half ago. He said that justice does not belong in church. He said that justice, that social justice and economic justice are code words for Nazism and communism. He held up images of a swastika and a hammer & sickle to emphasize his point, to show that he really meant what he was saying.

Then he said that if your church’s website mentions justice, that if it has words like social justice or economic justice, that you need to leave that church and run away from it as fast as you can; and he also said that if your pastor talks about justice, social justice and economic justice, then you need to report him to the church authorities.

Well, just so you know, our church website does mention justice. In fact, justice is the first thing mentioned in our congregation’s mission statement, which is based on Micah 6:8: to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. And, just so you know: as far as reporting pastors who talk about justice, who teach and preach about the need for social justice and economic justice: I’ve already reported myself. I am a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Jesus calls his followers to justice, to removing the yoke of the poor, and the burden of injustice, to providing food to the hungry and water to the thirsty; to restoring fairness and integrity to property and economic policies.

This is certainly not the first time that those who work for justice have been accused of being communists. Hélder Câmara, a Roman Catholic archbishop from Brazil, once said: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a Communist.”

We talked about Sabbath last week, that spiritual practice that is the fourth of the ten commandments. Justice is at the very heart of the practice of Sabbath, because on the Sabbath, rich and poor, the powerful and the weak, all people are given a day of rest. Scripture also talks about Sabbath years – every seventh year – in which fields would lie fallow as a rest for the land.

And then there’s the year of Jubilee, which takes place after seven sets of seven years: in that fiftieth year, all debts are to be forgiven, all slaves are to be set free, and all landowners who had had their property taken from them would have their property restored to them. That’s radical social and economic justice. It’s also biblical.

Here at BKCC, I’ve already mentioned our support for Christian Outreach in Action. We also support Centro Shalom and other agencies; we prepare food for the hungry; we collect canned food and gently-used clothing; we support the work of our larger church, the Disciples of Christ, which does a lot of work for justice throughout the world, through Global Ministries, through Homeland Ministries, through the office of the General Minister and President, and in so many other ways. We actively serve others by working for racial reconciliation and immigration reform. Disciples are traveling to the Gulf Coast, to Haiti, and to many other places, in order to serve people in need.

Which brings to mind our upcoming Pacific Southwest regional trip to Hawaii. A lot of people go to Hawaii to vacation, to lay on the beach, swim in the ocean, and see the volcanoes, but we are going to Hawaii to work.

Hawaii is part of the Pacific Southwest region, and there are a couple of churches there doing ministry, but they need a little help. They have property needs that need attention, but they do not have the resources to adequately address those needs.

And even though they are a part of our region, a part of our Pacific Southwest family, they often feel excluded from regional life. Now I spent two years at First Christian Church in Morro Bay. I groaned over having to drive six hours from Morro Bay to Loch Leven, and six hours from Morro Bay to the regional assembly which, while I was in Morro Bay, just happened to take place in San Diego. So I know what it’s like to feel detached, alone, in a remote part of the region, away from the life of the larger church which is designed, in part, to help sustain and support congregational life.

But Morro Bay, I suspect, is nothing compared to Honolulu, or Wahiawa, or Kailua. The work that our region is preparing to do, the service that we have committed ourselves to, is not just to address some important property and building issues, but is also to foster a greater sense of community with the farthest congregations in our region.

Our trip to Hawaii is called “Miracle Week.” I’ve mentioned it before. It takes place the third week of August. It is my hope that we can get a group of us to go and be a part of this exciting opportunity; and it is my hope that we will be able to raise some money to help them go, since flying over to Hawaii and renovating churches is not cheap.

If you are interested in going, now is the time to start making plans. I invite and encourage you to read the insert in your bulletin, to check out the information about Miracle Week that’s posted on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall, and watch the video that I’ll have playing in the fellowship during our Baked Potato lunch.

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In a Bible study at last week’s regional clergy conference, Rick Lowery reminded us that, throughout much of human history, inviting someone to eat with you was a highly symbolic act. Think of how often meals are depicted in scripture: starting with the time Abraham prepared a feast for the strangers he encountered, those angels in disguise, and continuing all the way to Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, not to mention the meal in Emmaus, the breakfast by the lakeshore, the feeding of the 5,000, or the many other meals mentioned in scripture.

The symbolism is such that one who dines with you is no longer a stranger. In eating together, your table companion becomes your brother, your sister, someone who, no matter what happens, will never be your enemy; someone with whom you will live the rest of your life in mutual love and loyalty. The bond of love and friendship established as a result of table fellowship can never be broken.

Several of the 8th century prophets describe feasts that God’s people prepared, to which they invited God as the honored guest. The sacrifices were carefully prepared: the finest bulls, rams, calves, and lambs. The table was meticulously set with the finest table linens and dinnerware available. The invitation was sent out to God: there is a place prepared for God at the table, the place of honor.

But God refused the invitation. God broke with accepted protocol, and refused to come. God dared to insult the hospitality shown. In Isaiah, God says: “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats….[Your feasts and festivals] have become a burden to me.”

In Amos, God likewise refuses the invitation: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.”

Why does God refuse the invitation? Why does God dare insult those who have offered up such hospitality to him?

God refuses the invitation because at these feasts, justice is not on the menu. Service to others is not one of the entrees listed. The people have prepared these meals to serve only themselves.

In Isaiah, when God refuses the invitation, God says: “Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” And in Amos, God explains his refusal to come by saying, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”

The spiritual disciplines are practices that are meant to draw us closer to God. Well, you cannot get close to God without justice. God will not respond to your invitation if you are not serving others.

But in serving others, and in practicing justice, God will come near, and you will dwell in the light of God’s love. In serving others and practicing justice, God will say to you, “Come, you that are blessed; inherit the kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me… Whenever you do these things to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you do it to me.”