The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 23  Read: Isaiah 22 Listen: (3:53) Read: Acts 9 Listen: (6:05)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 22.15-25

15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says: 
“Go, say to this steward, 
to Shebna the palace administrator: 
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission 
to cut out a grave for yourself here, 
hewing your grave on the height 
and chiseling your resting place in the rock? 
17 “Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you 
and hurl you away, you mighty man. 
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball 
and throw you into a large country. 
There you will die 
and there the chariots you were so proud of 
will become a disgrace to your master’s house. 
19 I will depose you from your office, 
and you will be ousted from your position. 

20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars. 

25 “In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.

From John: We are sensitive (and wary) about politics at The Park Forum. We’ve witnessed the dangers. We’ve seen religious leaders become slaves of a politician instead of slaves of Christ. We’ve seen pastors become promoters of political agendas rather than the gospel. We’ve seen apologists go from defending theology to defending “Western Culture.” This post discusses the spiritual implications of politics without endorsing or condemning specific politicians or parties. See the resources linked at the end of this post for more encouragement about how Christians can faithfully engage in politics.

Reflection: Spiritual Practices for Politics

By John Tillman

Isaiah prophesied that a corrupt official, Shebna, would be thrown out and Eliakim would be brought in.

Shebna was proud of Judah’s Egyptian chariots, and foolishly ignored Isaiah’s warnings not to ally with Egypt. Corrupt and vain, he misused government resources to carve himself an ornate tomb like ones typically reserved for kings. His downfall was good news.

The people hung hopes, glory, and honor on Eliakim, like a peg in the wall. But the peg sheared off and everything crashed down. Eliakim couldn’t hold their hopes.

Scripture warns us not to trust in princes, (Psalm 146) but we keep doing it.

Many times, I’ve hung hopes on the unworthy pegs of political officials (and Christian leaders) whom I thought had character, principles, and class. It’s painful to watch everything crash down when leaders I supported betray what I thought they stood for. Whatever your political tribe, you probably know how this feels. It can make us cynical, jaded, or apathetic. I’ve felt that way.

However tainted we feel politics is, we can’t surrender to cynicism and apathy. We can’t hang all our hopes on the Eliakims of the world, but we can’t let the Shebnas of the world keep abusing their positions. If justice and righteousness are to be established, government and politics are one means God has given us to do so. Politics and politicians are important because policies either help or hurt people whom God loves. Isaiah, other prophets, and the faithful remnant had fewer options than we do. Yet they never stopped working, even in lost causes. Even in exile, Daniel and others were politically involved, seeking the public good. (Daniel 1.18-21)

Spiritual practices for politics should include 1) prayer, 2) principles, and 3) separating the common from the holy.

Through prayer, seek humility. Ask God to change hearts and provide wisdom. Changing leaders without changing hearts changes nothing. (Daniel 6.6-16)

Through scripture, identify defining principles of good communities. Start with the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) and interpret the rest of scripture using Jesus’ lens.

Separate moral teachings from common goods. Don’t hang holy things on common pegs. Moral teaching must remain with the church. Good things may be enacted through governments. Secular governments can provide resources, educate, and protect from wrongdoing but they cannot and should not engage in moral instruction.

Engage in politics with the right attitude and with the proper understanding of the limits of human government.

Resources: Here are some resources we feel can be helpful in the topic and practice of politics.

• Podcasts: The Church Politics Podcast by the And (&) Campaign. Reimagining Christian Politics by Michael Rhodes and Marshall Teague (this is a new one to me but the first two episodes were very good…)
• Books: Spirit of Our Politics by Michael Wear. Compassion (&) Conviction by Justin Giboney, Michael R Wear, and Chris Butler. Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around by Justin Giboney (Haven’t read this one yet, but looking forward to it.)
• Organization: The Center for Christianity and Public Life
• News: The Pour Over, politically neutral, Christ-centered news

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse

The Lord is my shepherd and nothing is wanting to me. In green pastures he has settled me. — The Short Breviary

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

Read more: Apotheosis of Politics

We must hold our patriotism and our political activism more lightly than our faith.

Apotheosis of Politics

Read more: Be Yoked to Christ, Not Politics

We vote with Christ’s hands and feet as we serve and care for image-bearers of God. What does this look like?

Be Yoked to Christ, Not Politics

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 19  Read: Isaiah 16 Listen: (2:32) Read: Acts 5 Listen: (6:49)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Jun 20  Read: Isaiah 17-18 Listen: (3:44) Read: Acts 6 Listen: (2:35)
Jun 21  Read: Isaiah 19-20 Listen: (4:49) Read: Acts 7 Listen: (8:49)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 16.1-5

Reflection: Enemy Love Starts With Outsiders

By John Tillman

Moab was Israel’s enemy. Isaiah prophesied the fall of Moab and portrayed their refugees as vulnerable birds shaken from the nest.

For centuries, when Israel was in distress or fleeing danger, Moab mistreated them. They mocked, robbed, enslaved, or killed them.

When Israel came out of slavery in Egypt, Moab opposed them, attempted to curse them (Numbers 23.7), and seduced them to worship their god Chemosh (Numbers 25.1-2), which became a recurring temptation Israel dealt with until the exile (2 Kings 23.13-14). Moab conquered and ruled harshly (Judges 3.13-15). They raided Israel and joined other armies to attack them. When others conquered Israel, Moab mocked and mistreated the survivors and refugees.

Yet, Isaiah’s prophetic poem commands Israel not to treat Moab’s refugees that way. Isaiah commanded them to help the refugees. Instead of mocking them, welcome them. Instead of robbing them, aid them. Instead of enslaving them or turning them over to be killed, hide them and shelter them from the oppressor.

Remember, these are not sympathetic refugees. These are historically violent, treacherous,  idol-worshiping foreigners who hated and mistreated God’s people. Still, God commanded Israel to welcome and protect them. No excuses. Israel must do unto Moab what Israel would have them do unto them (Luke 6.31).

Isaiah tied this treatment to the coming of a faithful ruler on a throne of love who would bring justice, and enact righteousness. Jesus is this ruler. He sits on a throne of love and does not withhold love from his enemies. He calls us to emulate him. Can we? Will we?

We naturally react with celebration when enemies suffer, and sometimes celebrating the fall of evil is good. But there are also moments when we are called, even commanded, to something else—enemy love.

Enemy love reflects the glory of Jesus in a way that nothing else does. It is unlike the anemic versions of showing kindness to enemies found in other belief systems. They are pragmatic and calculating, seeking selfish returns. There’s no pragmatism in the gospel. It is extravagant love that the pragmatic world calls foolish.

Enemy love’s little brother is love for the outsider. We’ll never graduate to loving true enemies if we can’t love those who are just different. The ones who worship different gods. The ones people claim are dangerous or violent. Stretch your heart to display the glory of Jesus through enemy love. Start loving the outsider and build up from there.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

God is a righteous judge; God sits in judgment every day. — Psalm 7.12

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

Read more: Grief for the Guilty

You can look at tragedies…and still your heart rends in grief…Because we see the goodness God created in each person

Grief for the Guilty

Read more: The Church of Acts

Acts is not a start-up handbook. But there’s a clue in Luke’s title—Acts. They will know we are Christians by our love. By our actions.

The Church of Acts

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 18  Read: Isaiah 15 Listen: (1:34) Read: Acts 4 Listen: (5:15)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 15.5

Reflection: Mourning and Loving Enemies

By John Tillman

Moab was Israel’s enemy. God brought judgment on Moab, yet mourned for their suffering.

Moab was not an enemy because of who they were but because of what they did. Moab had close family ties to Israel. They descended from Abraham’s nephew, Lot. They had even closer ties to the Davidic kings. Ruth, the Moabitess, was David’s great-grandmother.

Despite being relatives, the Moabites were judged for multiple reasons. Throughout their history, they violently oppressed Israel when they were vulnerable. They also led Israel to sinful idolatry and worship practices that included sexual acts and human sacrifice.

A few examples include Balak, king of Moab, who recruited the false prophet, Balaam, to entice Israel to sin, (Numbers 31.16; Revelation 2.14) Eglon, king of Moab who ruled over Israel for 18 years until he was killed by Ehud, (Judges 3.13-14, 20-21) and a Moabite king who, when threatened by an Israelite attack, sacrificed his first-born son on the wall of his city begging his god to turn back Israel. (2 Kings 3.26-27)

Those led into sin included Solomon, who built a temple to Chemosh, the Moabite deity after building the Lord’s temple. (1 Kings 11.7)

Very few of us will ever face enemies of our faith that threaten us with physical or military violence. Very few will ever face true religious persecution for our faith. But how many of us are looking to the power of the state to enforce our beliefs rather than the power of the gospel to spread them?

Very few of us will be tempted to build a literal temple to a false god next to our churches. But how many of us have temples in our hearts devoted to worldly beliefs, politics, or ideas? What altars are in our hearts?

The Moabites were a real danger to the Israelites, both physically/militarily and religiously/ideologically. Yet, they were also family. God mourned the suffering of these violent and vitriolic enemies of Israel and commanded Jerusalem to be a sanctuary for Moabite refugees. (Isaiah 16.4)

It is dangerous to call other humans “enemies” even if they are truly dangerous. Paul says our enemies are not flesh and blood. It is better that we remember that we were formerly enemies of God, reconciled in Jesus. If God did this for the Moabites and Jesus does this for us, how can we do anything less for those we think of as enemies?

Let us mourn our enemies’ situation and shelter them in their suffering.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you; let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
Let none who look to you be put to shame. — Psalm 25.1-2

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

Read more: Solomon’s Cheating Heart

Solomon was a temple builder but he did not only build temples for Yaweh. He built temples for the very gods that Israel has been warned about.

Solomon’s Cheating Heart

Read more: In Trouble For Good

It insults truly persecuted Christians when those who are suffering the consequences of being cruel claim to be suffering for Christ.

In Trouble for Good

Links for today’s readings:

Jun 17  Read: Isaiah 14 Listen: (5:04) Read: Acts 3 Listen: (3:33)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 14:9-11

9 The realm of the dead below is all astir
    to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
    all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
    all those who were kings over the nations.
10 They will all respond,
    they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are;
    you have become like us.”
11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
    along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
    and worms cover you.

Reflection: Death, the Final Equalizer

By Erin Newton

“There are dead things, dead faces in the water,” he whispered with horror. “Dead faces!”

Gollum laughed. “The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their names…”

“Can’t we get on and get away?”

“Yes, yes,” said Gollum. “But slowly, very slowly. Very carefully! Or hobbits go down to join the Dead ones and light little candles of their own.” 

This scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers describes the perilous journey of Frodo and Sam to Mordor. In the movie, Frodo is entranced by the faces and falls into the water, being pulled further and further down. Like the refrain in Isaiah 14, “The realm of the dead is astir to meet you.”

The imagery is potent. The dead are ravenous for their newcomer. 

When people die, as we often hear from well-meaning friends, “They’ve gone to a better place.” And for those we disdain, we proclaim they are “worm food” or we wish them to “rot in Hell.”

The first sentiment speaks of the loved person’s everlasting soul. The second sentiment sounds closer to the prophet’s description of an eager underworld. 

The ancient Near East focused primarily on this earthly life. The taunt in Isaiah strikes at that focus specifically.

The prophet declares to this soon-to-be-fallen king: You’re on borrowed time. You’re definitely going to die.

And the prophet adds: Death has come for your fellow royals already. You are weak, just like them, swallowed up by death.

Instead of cheers of fans or a parade, harps and drums sound a processional to the underworld.

The fallen king’s abode is simply a means of becoming compost—a bed of worms, a blanket of maggots.

Tolkien envisioned the dead as ghostly faces drifting in a dreary marsh. Isaiah describes the dead as lying in beds of decomposition.

All of this morbid description is a reality check for Israel’s enemy king. Gone will be the days of their superiority and subsequent oppression of others. Like all humanity, even kings return to dust.

In the end (quite literally), we are all equals. There is some comfort in knowing even trillionaires become worm food. But more importantly, we remember that our bodies are not the final word. We are more than our frail cells. We are not bound to be dust for eternity. Perhaps our bodies will become part of God’s good creation once more, but that is not our true end. Hallelujah!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. — Psalm 31.1

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

Read more: Waiting at the Beautiful Gate

Jesus didn’t give us the Holy Spirit for warm, fuzzy feelings in our sanctuaries. The Holy Spirit is given to us to heal

Waiting at the Beautiful Gate — Readers’ Choice

Read more: Taunting Ourselves

Babylon honors the brutal and brutalizes the gentle.
Babylon protects the powerful rather than the weak.

Taunting Ourselves