William Yagel
Grace Radford
July 31, 2022
Proper 13, Year C
I hear the sound of the genuine in myself, and having learned to listen to that, I can become quiet enough, still enough to hear the sound of the genuine in you. “There is something in you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in other people.” Now if I hear the sound of the genuine in me and if you hear the sound of the genuine in you it is possible for me to go down in [my spirit] and come up in [your spirit]. So that when I look at myself through your eyes having made that pilgrimage, I see in me what you see in me. [Then] the wall that separates and divides will disappear, and we will become one because of the sound of the genuine makes the same music-Amen
These are the words of Howard Thurman composed for a commencement speech, but which serve as a prayer this morning.
Until this week, I did not realize how much I like the book of Hosea. Maybe I got stuck with the first couple of chapters, a passage of which Jennifer Hand read for us last week. And after the service I commented that she must have drawn the short straw with that reading. I’m not sure if you remember, but it was about Hosea taking a wife of “whoredom”, that is one who is unfaithful. Then the names of the children of that union were nearly impossible to pronounce, and after the pronunciations, the meaning behind them was not very easy either. Yeah, Jennifer definitely drew the short straw on that one. Still, I appreciate you reading it for us, maybe next time will be better?
Hosea has so much more to offer than that one passage last week, and it took this week’s passage to illuminate that for me. And illuminate it did! Hosea was a prophet of the divided kingdom who live at about the same time as Amos from a few weeks back. Well, Hosea was a few years later, but their lifespans definitely would have crossed. Where Amos was from the southern kingdom of Judah, Hosea is from the northern Kingdom of Israel, which Hosea also called Ephraim. I know, why can’t they ever just keep it simple?
Anyway, both Amos and Hosea were prophesying about the Northern kingdom of Israel, whose capital you might remember was Samaria, which was about to fall in 722 BCE to the Kingdom of Assyria. At that time the Assyrian empire included modern day Syria, Iraq, parts of Iran, and parts of Turkey-more or less. Both the northern and southern kingdoms were on their way to destruction, but the northern kingdom had hopped in the fast lane hit the gas. In general, the Northern Kingdom is seen to have had more corrupt kings and definitely had a nasty habit of worshiping other Gods, particularly the Canaanite God, Baal. The summary is that their behavior was not in accordance with the covenant relationship God made with Israel via Moses at Mount Sinai. This covenant people had promised to be faithful to God, to be in relationship with God, and to Love God. God had promised to provide for them, to be faithful to them, and to love them too.
Hosea extols in the 7 chapters preceding the one we read this morning the terrible behavior of the people of Israel. Israel, or Ephraim, is despicable, and they are committed to their bad behavior. Understand this. In the narrative of this prophetic work, Israel is NOT asking for forgiveness, they are not returning to right relationship with God, they do not think they are doing anything wrong. They are a greedy people who have turned away from God, and they are OK with that. God could rightly have ended the relationship, which is offered as a consideration, so things are precarious for Israel, but they don’t even recognize that they are in the wrong.
This is the moment that Hosea enters in our reading this morning. This infidelity on the part of Israel is contrasted with God who had kept the covenant, who had remained in community.
And it is at this point that we are afforded a glimpse of who God is.
Hosea reveals to us an image of God that is close and personal and tender and compassionate. When we say God is Love, this is a chapter you can use as a reference. God is portrayed as a loving parent whose child, Ephraim, has been held to God’s cheek. Who God led out of bondage, and who now forsakes God. This child doesn’t even know how badly they have hurt their parent. But even with that kindness, God is disappointed. God appears to be done with them. God is about to let them go.
But he doesn’t
To end that relationship is contrary to God’s very being.
John Zizioulas is a Greek Orthodox theologian who has reflected a great deal on this being of God, on God’s personhood and what that could look like. His reflections highlight the vision of God as Trinity. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is one. God is three in one. We profess it weekly in our creeds and it is a foundation of our faith. But, it is part of our theology that many of us might be more than a little unsure of. It is my experience that many of us are good with God, we really like the life and teachings of Jesus, and are grateful for the presence of the spirit, but the hard work of considering the nature of God as Trinitarian is really not where we spend our time. But, that is exactly what I am going to ask you to do, at least for a moment, this morning.
I want you to remember back to the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth. God’s wind, or Spirit, moved over the surface of the waters, creating with God, creating as God. From the beginning, the Holy Spirit was there. The Holy Spirit didn’t show up on Pentecost, but is always with God. The Holy Spirit always is God.
Again in the beautiful prologue of the Gospel of John we are told that in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That nothing came into being without the Word. The Word of God would become enfleshed or incarnate in the person of Jesus. The life of the man, Jesus of Nazareth, was not the beginning of the second person of the Trinity. The word of the God is with God. The Word is God.
You confused yet? Hold on, I promise, I am going somewhere with all of this. You see, I want to emphasize to you that God, as we understand God, and as God has been revealed in scripture, did not become the Trinity 2000 years ago. God’s being is Trinitarian. Always. Period. The Trinity is an eternal dance of the three persons.
So, you see, God’s nature, God’s being, God’s identity is one and God’s identity is three in one. And in 1985 this is what John Zizioulas was reflecting on when he offered that
God’s being is communion.
God is necessarily and always in communion; in community. That God is a communion of three in one, always shows us how important community is to God.
This is important when we hear the words of Hosea this morning and we see a reflection of the inner communion that is the Trinitarian God. God was angry and ready to give up on the people of Israel, and deservedly so. But what conclusion does God reach? God says:
“I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in you midst, and I will not come in wrath.”
God changes course. God’s own identity stops God from abandoning this people, not the pleas of the people who made a mistake, but the assurance of God whose identity is to be in community. It is God’s Love, God’s compassion, and God’s faithfulness that keeps God in relationship. God who on some level, beyond our comprehension, exists in loving community extends that community to the people of Israel. We see that community reflected to the people of Israel 2700 years ago.
And we are called to be a reflection of that here, today.
We are called into the work of being beloved community. In a moment that seems impossibly divisive, we are called to be in communion with those in our midst. And this is not a call to a saccharine sweet “let’s act as though we are happy all the time”. Certainly, the northern kingdom was conquered, and they did fall, but they were able to live in the promise of relationship with God.
This is a call, in the words of Howard Thurman, to listen for the genuine self where we can hear truth in one another and where we can strive to do so with the inspiration of God whose very nature is to understand what it is to be in relationship.
Amen