Suggested Readings: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; Hosea 6:1-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10
Two songs are in today’s reading. Both come out of difficult times in the life of Israel.
Psalm 85 is a communal lament that emerges from Israel’s experience of returning home from exile in Babylon. The psalmist feels God’s favor has been removed from Israel: the exile has left them scattered, and they are wondering if they will be able to maintain their identity as people of God. The psalmist begins by asking for “God’s favor.” The initial joy of homecoming has vanished and the reality of harsh challenges with the land has settled in.
While the song expresses feelings of estrangement from God, in verses 8-13, the lament directed to God turns into self-talk about God. The psalmist exhorts himself and his people to listen for God's word, a word of peace. Verse 10 declares that God’s steadfast love and the people’s faithfulness will come together. The psalmist imagines God’s re-newed action with affection and intimacy: a kiss of faithfulness from the ground and righteousness from the sky will meet. Renewal of the land will meet God’s protection and care once again. God’s righteousness is imagined as a plow that will clear away everything that impedes the feeling of God’s presence.
Hosea the prophet also sings. As he delivers a word of judgment to Israel about their warring ways, he offers God a penitential song of the people. This song presents God as healer of all that has been damaged. However, judging from God’s response, the repentance of the people is insincere. True faith is expressed not in acts of worship but in steadfast love and true knowledge of God that comes when the people care for the poor and needy.
What does this mean for us today? Advent is not only about waiting but often waiting in darkness. Somehow God’s timing includes our desperation before the gift of light breaks in. Today we are all too familiar with destruction and darkness as we witness the struggles of Ukraine and Israel and the Palestinian people. But the word of God is peace, and as Fredrich Buechner points out, God’s peace is never “because of” but always “in spite of.”
The birth of the Christ child is God’s great “in spite of.”
Cynthia Curtis
Cynthia Curtis
