Intersections

 Last week, I talked about the first part of Hosea, this book of God’s unrequited love as shown through a marriage that was anything but ordinary.  Who is the person or group hardest for you to extend love to? We all have that one person or group. We also know that God offers grace and mercy to all who come to the throne. I’ll be honest with you - I find difficult people some of the hardest to love. And having two children who are as stubborn as I am means that Tadj has a really hard job some days. What do I mean when I say difficult people? I mean, those friends, acquaintances, maybe family members who put up walls, are unpredictable, don’t know how to apologize or compromise.  Does that sound like you sometimes? Because I’m realizing that that might be hitting a little too close to home for me. Don’t worry - it’s good to know I have more work to do. I might be calling my therapist tomorrow. But coming from the world of family law, I dealt with these people all the t...

 This passage from the Bible doesn’t seem like it belongs there. It feels like we’re reading from a different book, and you might be feeling confused. This and next week may a the only times you ever hear a sermon preached on Hosea and Gomer, so hopefully it’ll make an impact. And if not, well - I’m pretty sure it’s a lot cooler in here than it is outside, so why don’t ya’ll stay for a bit?  Let’s take a wider view of this book before we jump into the scripture today. Hosea is one of the twelve minor Old Testament prophets we’ve been talking about for the last few weeks, and he’ll be the last one in the series. He lived in the northern kingdom of Israel, and he lived about the same time as Amos from last week, just a little bit after him 753 to 715BC, so about seven centuries before Christ. Israel would be captured by Assyria in about 722 BC, so this is the beginning of the end, and based on what Amos heard from God, that seems accurate.  Hosea is preaching to Israel, and...

 Twelve years ago, I was reeling and recovering from my life implosion that happened only the previous year. I had been knocked down and to be honest, I was kind of bitter about it. I was angry that this is how my life was turning out. I knew I had to get out, make some new connections, friends, acquaintances - even. Fort Wayne was a very different place then. As much as we still had the Three Rivers Festival downtown, that was about the ONLY attraction, especially in the summer, that was going on and pulled people in from the suburbs and outlying regions to celebrate, or even to spend much time down there. If you would have gone downtown at any time after 5:00 on a weekday, you might have seen some misplaced tumbleweeds rolling down the street. Nothing was happening.  One thing that had started happening though, that there was a new young professionals group, called YLNI or Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana, who were under 40 and wanted to make Fort Wayne more palatable sinc...

  Last week, the scripture was out of 2nd Kings, and the story about Elisha and Naaman. Naaman had been struck with leprosy and wanted to get healed. His wife’s servant knew of a man who could do just that. He had to listen to the Spirit and go into his enemy’s land to get healed. At any point, he could have refused but he also knew that his goal of healing wouldn’t happen.  But if last week was about listening to the Spirit and follow as you’re lead, our scripture today is all about looking around and seeing who may be prophets around us. We are switching from a narrative story told more from the kings perspective to individual prophets. Before we dive too deep in, let’s zoom out for a second. This book takes place about the same time period as the stories from last week. We are talking about 8 centuries before Christ. The Israelite nation are still split into a northern kingdom (known as Israel) and the southernmost kingdom (known as Judah). Amos was from the southern kingdo...

  What might we learn if we took the risk to listen? If we took the risk to let these holy ones of God become our traveling companions on our summer journey? We might be troubled, and we will be, but we might also be lifted up. We might be challenged, but we might find reasons for hope, or we might find a renewed vision that inspires us for all the journeys we make. So, what do you say? Are you up for a journey this summer, a journey to the edge of our faith? Then you’re ready for “Prophet Margins.” I understand that this is a play on the phrase "profit margins", which are a business assessment tool to determine what percentage of their income is, on average, more than their expenses. The higher a profit margin, the more a company can keep or reinvest in their business. Profitability is a good sign for the health of a company.  But how do we determine whether the church is profitable or not? Do we really have a good or service that we are “selling”? I’d like to think everyone...