Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, November 7, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I love a good worship service. The music, the message, the praying with others. Sometimes festive, sometimes solemn. Does God really despise these things? When we feel God’s presence so keenly in such conditions?
I would say not. God loves nothing more than to witness God’s children learning, growing, praising, and celebrating together. But that’s not what God is seeing here. God’s people are engaging in these festivals and solemn assemblies for their own sake. Going through the motions in the hopes that it will garner them favor in God’s eyes. And God sees right through their BS. Outside of their pomp and circumstance, God’s people were ignoring the commands to take care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. They trampled on the least and lost and then turned around and proclaimed God’s name as if they owned it. Total hypocrisy.
God sees it now, too. Sees it in a nation that proclaims itself Christian, yet enacts laws and policies that victimize the most vulnerable among us; perpetuate poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia; prevent the sick and suffering from receiving adequate medical care. Next time we are standing in worship together (or sitting together on Zoom for Facebook Live) let us remember that if we are not actively working for justice, God wants nothing to do with our festivals and solemn assemblies. Period.
Where do I find myself acting in hypocritical ways?
