The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 4  Read: Malachi 3 Listen: (3:13) Read: Psalm 91 Listen: (1:39)

Scripture Focus: Malachi 3.13-18

13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. 
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ” 

16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. 
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Reflection: The Dissonant Notes of Hope

By John Tillman

Micah’s audience of exiles didn’t have a rosy, happy homecoming to Jerusalem. They met opposition and oppression, financial problems, political problems, and threats of violence. They were disillusioned, discouraged, and doubtful.

They noticed that those “winning” in life were arrogant evildoers. Two groups responded differently to these observations. God said one group spoke “arrogantly” and called the other his “treasured possession.”

One group spoke to each other, asking, “What do we gain by obeying God? What’s the ROI?” If cruelty wins, why be kind? If crooks prevail, why follow rules? They concluded that character was nice but winning was better and morality was negotiable if tradeoffs accomplished their goals. They called the arrogant blessed. God condemned the arrogant group. 

Another group “feared the Lord.” They spoke to each other, but did so “in his presence” through prayer and scripture. The Lord listened and heard their prayers. They studied and remembered those who feared the Lord and honored his name, writing out a “scroll of remembrance.”

God answered this “remembrance group” with a promise that they would see a distinction between those who were “winning” now and those who followed God’s ways.

In every age, God’s people experience the dissonance of hearing the promises of righteousness and seeing the payouts of wickedness. Corruption blooms. Integrity wilts. The arrogant gloat. The humble are shamed. We don’t resolve this dissonance by modulating our morality to modes fitting the key of corruption. We don’t give in.

In the film, Casablanca, Nazi soldiers sing a German anthem in a crowded bar. Spurred by Victor Laslow, the band plays, “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem. The Nazis were winning the war at that time. But the bar patrons, with tears and defiant hope, out-sing the group of soldiers.

Today, we watch this scene knowing the outcome—the Nazis lose. But in 1942, when Casablanca was produced and in 1938 when the play it was based on, Everyone Comes to Rick’s, was written, no one knew. They wrote it anyway, filmed it anyway, and sang it anyway.

When wickedness seems to be winning, and singing loudly about it, God’s people don’t sing along. We sing the song of the kingdom to come. We remember the promises of the past and anticipate joyous victories to come.

Hold out a dissonant note of hope. Sing, even through tears, and remember.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. — Psalm 51.16

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Bearing Reproach

Bearing the gospel will also mean bearing reproach.
May we be faithful in both.

Read more: God’s Feathers

The psalmist portrays humans as fragile birds…easily ensnared by grift, infected by filth, or broken by force.

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 3  Read: Malachi 2 Listen: (3:12) Read: Psalm 90 Listen: (2:03)

Scripture Focus: Malachi 2:7, 17

7 For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth…

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.

Reflection: Knowledge Is Power

Erin Newton

We live in the age of fact-checking and social media community notes. We value truth and honesty, and people are eager to confirm statements as true or false.

As Christians we also hold our leaders to such standards. Malachi says, “A priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty” (2:7). In the ancient world, when literacy rates were much lower, people relied on religious leaders to relay (and interpret) the words of God. In the New Testament, James reiterates the standards of religious teachers: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (3:1).

Knowledge is power; therefore, truth is a vital cog in the machine.

Malachi reports about the dishonesty among the priests. They do not practice justice, and they are unfaithful to their spouses. They are not trustworthy in their conduct, so how can they be trustworthy in their words? In their instruction? In their guidance?

In the end, God is fed up with their empty words.

The preservation of knowledge includes knowing what is true and being able to discern what is false. Christians have attempted to fine-tune the faith until every inch of life is covered. We think we are preserving knowledge, knowing that people are instructed by our interpretations.

But we often fail through our actions. Sometimes we fail through compromise.

What we say about God’s word matters. How we glean truth from the Bible, prayer, experience, and tradition matters. Our desire to have the right answer is noble in and of itself, but if our lives are counter to our words, we weary God.

Not many of us are ordained priests or employed as pastors, ministers, or leaders. When James speaks of teachers, we might think we have escaped such a risky position. However, in our modern era, we become thought leaders on social media. When something we say can be cropped into an inspirational phrase, our words suddenly have more weight. We lead and teach children as parents, aunts, uncles, or elders. As iron sharpens iron, we act as teachers to our friends. 

The priesthood of the believer is not only our ability to approach God with our prayers but also our role in teaching the world. With such a position through Christ, let us learn to speak truth, live truthfully, and not weary the Lord.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Jesus taught us, saying: “Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.” — John 14.21

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Offal Leaders 

Malachi describes a de-commissioning…feces from the animal would be smeared on their faces, representing impurity and death.

Read more: A Broken Rebel’s Prayer

His family must have hoped that their little rebel, like a well-slung stone, might take down the oppressive giant…Instead, he fails miserably.

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 2  Read: Malachi 1 Listen: (2:47) Read: Luke 24 Listen: (6:16)

Scripture Focus: Malachi 1.10-11

10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

Reflection: When God Wants to Quit Church

By John Tillman

Imagine facing dangerous obstacles and making huge sacrifices to build a church where none exists. Then, when it is up and running, God says, “Lock the doors. Stop coming.”

That’s the opening chapter of Malachi.

It was a moving and inspiring moment when the rebuilt and rededicated temple was functioning again. (Ezra 6.15-18) But soon after temple worship resumed, God wanted to close the temple doors.

What happens when even God doesn’t want to attend worship? What makes God quit church?

Despite all they did to build the building, the people became indifferent and apathetic and treated the temple, and by extension God, with contempt.

One example of contempt, which Malachi highlighted, was sacrificing unacceptable and valueless animals. A main element of temple worship was eating sacrifices in the Lord’s presence, which also provided food for the priests. Israel brought animals so flawed and sickly, no one could, or wanted to, eat them!

That wasn’t all. Malachi went on to condemn witchcraft, adultery, lies, defrauding workers, oppressing the vulnerable, and depriving immigrants and foreigners of justice (Mal 3.5).

The people’s sacrifices broke faith with God and the temple and their actions in the community broke faith with those God loves and protects. They selfishly kept the best of everything for themselves, leaving the vulnerable desperate and the temple defiled. God will quit or close churches with contempt for the vulnerable.

Often (especially when promoting church attendance and involvement), leaders say something similar to, “Just like you can’t love me and hate my wife, you can’t love Jesus and hate his bride, the church.” This well-intentioned, but flawed analogy fails to account for our responsibility to tell the truth about the conduct of a friend’s wife and the conduct of particular churches. If a friend or family member’s spouse is abusive, an addict, cruel, corrupt, or manipulative, love obligates you to address those problems, not pretend they don’t exist.

If you love Jesus, you should love the church as Jesus does, sacrificing and serving her. This part of the analogy is accurate. But when churches operate in wicked or abusive ways, they don’t get a pass. God tells the truth about his temple and Jesus tells the truth about his churches. Love compels us to tell the truth, not ignore it.

Build churches God wants to keep open, remembering that honest critique is not betrayal but love and love rejoices at repentance.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, God reveals himself in glory.
Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; for God himself is judge. — Psalm 50.2,6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: All Roads Lead to Jerusalem

We must face our Jerusalem…What shall we say, “Deliver us from this hour?” No. We must say, as Jesus did, “Father, glorify your name!”

Read more: Examine Your Sacrifices

We are still called to works of sacrifice…feed the hungry…welcome the stranger…visit the sick and the prisoner.