July-August Herald Letter

Dear Friends, 

Slowly, we have been working through the prophet Hosea.  And each week, with all the talk of judgment and punishment, I entertain the thought of just moving out of this book and into something else.  Am I allowing the Spirit to lead or I am just being stubborn about pressing on?

All this punishment, week after week, it gets depressing.  We don’t like to talk about the dark stuff generally.  Add to that the general reputation that the Old Testament has for being angry and vengeful, and Hosea has 14 chapters of it. 

The recurring message of the prophet is “obey God” and you grow.  Don’t, and you won’t grow-in fact, you wither.  For the last ten years, as a church, we’ve not grown.  Ever dare to wonder out loud if we are not growing because the Lord has something against us?  Are we doing something that is deserving punishment?  Have we been in survival mode for so long that we’re just stuck here?

That thinking leads to doubt.  Is this wrong-headed thinking?  “Good Christians” aren’t supposed to think that way, are they?  Besides, wasn’t Jesus supposed to change that whole way of doing business?  Isn’t it about the faith and not good works?

I believe we have to lay all those questions before our Lord.  The whole point of the prophecies was that punishment was NEVER the end in itself.  There was always the way back to God, there was always hope.

What amazes me right now in the life of this church is that all the elements are coming together to give us the hope to become a Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom.

Starting from the Jeremiah’s Journey, working with Mary Lu to give Spirit to the worship service, drawing in resources to do effective Latino ministry, working through the police to serve the needs of the community, this is the church God is envisioning this church to be!

The question is, are we going to do something with these opportunities?  We say that we want to, but will we?  Two points of view evolve when in survival mode.

The first is to tread water, ready to agree on what we ‘should’ do, but no more.

The second is to start swimming, to embrace these opportunities the Lord has given to us, to dare to believe that NOW is the moment of our renewal.

 Hosea is clear on what happens when we stay put.  We need to learn that lesson very, very well.      

 Rev. Peter Hofstra