More on Words

Click here to read Isaiah 28

Priests and prophets stagger from beer, bet you never thought that was in the Bible?  Not exactly a passage that gets preached on a lot on Sunday mornings!  Let's be clear that Isaiah does not exactly give a rousing endorsement of combining beer with your religion.  I do think it needs to be clarified that some of Martin Luther's famous Table Talks with his theology students was done at the tavern, where I once heard that Luther had a stein with the 10 Commandments on it...it has to be true because I heard that from a Lutheran!

Having just come off the Super Bowl, I saw lots of ads for beer. Of course, now everyone from the White House to your neighbor's basements tries to create it's own micro-brew.  And while I live in a state that glorifies beer to the point of naming our baseball team after the act of brewing beer, it is a complicated relationship at best.

While the image of the priest not handling his liquor well is one thing, it is the next verse that really cuts close.  People ask, "who is he trying to teach?"  I wonder on Sunday morning if people wonder if I am talking to them, really talking to them?  Who am I trying to teach?  What am I trying to teach?  And while I am completely sober, that does not mean I don't play the part of the fool.  Looking foolish is a bit of a past time for me.  I am reminded of what Mark Twain once quipped, 'Better to keep your month shut and let people think you are a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.'  

It is an occupational hazard that I open my mouth and I know the truth of Twain's quote.  But Isaiah reminds me that God is the One who measures justice and God's righteousness (not mine) is the plumb line.  We live in a world awash in words. In previous generations there was basically newspapers and gossip.  Now, there is t.v., radio, newspapers, blogs, and gossip (some things don't change).

I invite you to continue to listen to the words around you.  Continue to listen for that still speaking voice of God.  And may some of the words you hear be in harmony with God's wisdom of justice and righteousness.

Blessings and peace!

Say What??

Click here to read Isaiah 23

You might be wondering, what in the world does the above picture and Isaiah 23 have to do with each other?  It all starts with the first verse, "Wail, you ships of Tarshish."  Tarshish was the place Jonah fled to instead of going to Nineveh.  God had told Jonah to bring God's word to the people of Nineveh, which was just to the north of where Jonah lived.  But Jonah loathed...I mean loathed....the people of Nineveh.  And so, Jonah hopped on the first ship head west...not exactly the opposite direction...but certainly not the right direction either.  The ship Jonah found himself on was heading to Tarshish.

Usually, when I think about Jonah, I think about fleeing from where God is calling me, going in a different direction.  But there is also something about humans that loves, to use the cliche, "think the grass is greener on the other side."  Tarshish is the other side.  It is that job in the paper that would be so much better than the one you have now.  It is the other car you see the moment you have signed the paperwork and drive off the lot.  It is the all the "should'ves"  and "could'ves" that are part of our daily conversations.

Of course, the rest of the passage in Isaiah is not very uplifting.  It ends with some saucy language about prostitution.  I invite you to keep Isaiah's words in tension with the ministry of Jesus, who reached out to the lost, lonely, grieving and the prostitutes in his day.

Part of Isaiah's honesty is the age old human tendency to speak ill or woes to those around us.  We do this because we feel threatened.  A person in the Sunday morning Bible study commented that often Israel felt like a bone caught between two dogs.  Israel has always been threatened from those in all directions who want to take it over to gain an geographical edge against others.  When you are in the midst of fear or uncertainty or living in constant tension, our words are not always happy.

I invite you today to think about a situation or a relationship where your words did not "turn the other check"
Did your words sound like Isaiah 23?  I know at times mine have.  And while I might not have said, "Wail, you ships of _____ (fill in blank of a person's name),"  I do recognize the sentiment.

May the traces of God's grace sustain us and open us honestly to our words for better and worse.

Blessings and peace