Rev. Zach

Isaiah 12       2 Thessalonians 3:6-13    Luke 21:5-19 I’d like to begin today by talking about the things that we might assume these texts are talking about, rather than what they are actually written to address. Our passage in Isaiah talks about salvation. It was not written to tell anyone about Jesus. Our passage in Thessalonians talks about idleness. It was not written to address welfare or any other so called “entitlement” program of the United States Government. Likewise, our passage from Luke was not written to describe a pattern of events leading up to a final day of judgment. Now, let’s unpack this a little more. The book of Isaiah is believed to have been written during three different periods – before, during, and after the Babylonian captivity and exile of the Jewish people. Our section was most likely written before the actual exile, and it is accompanied with passages that speak of the judgment that was to come at the hands of a foreign power. It was a terrible time,

Isaiah 50:4-9     Romans 12:1-8      Mark 12:28-34 Today is “Dedication Sunday,” and there are things that I love and things that I don’t love about this day. One thing that I love is that I get to to tell my bacon and eggs joke. Do you know how bacon and eggs demonstrate the difference between involvement and commitment? Because the chicken is involved in getting your breakfast to you, but the pig is committed to it! Of course we are assuming the egg is unfertilized. I’m not sure that the pig was all that excited about the idea, either, and I would guess that if given the chance the pig would decline the invitation. Christian faith is, however, an “all in” kind of thing – or at least that is the description we get in scripture. Our passage from Isaiah was written to a conquered people to demonstrate the hope that remained in their identity as the people of God. The “Suffering Servant” demonstrates perseverance and faith as a testimony to the people, but also as an example to

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4       Ephesians 1:11-23        Luke 6:20-31 Although the landscape of North American literature is not quite as littered by self-help materials as it may have been in recent years, the “How To” and the “Idiot’s Guide To” Just About Anything You Never Wanted to Know, are still out there. In fact I would say that our general orientation has been slightly skewed to include looking for a step by step guide instead of thinking critically and problem solving. Perhaps that is nothing new. The words of Habakkuk were written in a time when people wanted to know how and why they were experiencing misfortune. They wanted to know how God could be involved in it, or to at least be given a reason why God wasn’t. And God tells Habakkuk to write the vision. “Write the vision? You don’t know what the vision is? All right. Wait for it…it’ll come.” That’s what the Lord tells Habakkuk. In the verses that follow, there is a bit more detail describing the people as self