5 Locations: Egypt Sinai Jerusalem Babylon Jerusalem

Transcription

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2 5 Locations: Egypt Sinai Jerusalem Babylon Jerusalem

3 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. 2 Chronicles 36:15-20 (NIV)

4 God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. 20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 2 Chronicles 36:15-20 (NIV)

5 (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi)

6 The prophets task is to wake people up to God s vision of justice and generosity for the world. Prophets condemn injustice and greed; they advocate for the poor, widows, foreigners and orphans.

7 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:15-17 (NIV)

8 49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49 (NIV)

9 21 I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:21-24 (NIV)

10 12 But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. 4 trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land. Amos 6:12, 8:4 (NIV)

11 They replaced justice in the land of God for worship in the house of God.

12 Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ I recognize the widest possible difference - so wide that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. - Frederick Douglas

13 T Shuvah!

14 The prophets called Israel back to their identity and mission. You wondered from home and now you are invited to come home. If you have wondered off your path and lost your way, you CAN RETURN to Sinai.

15 I viewed the prophets as giant nags, disembodied hands of God, suspended in the air, wagging their fingers. I m going to count to three, and if you don t start behaving, I m going to send you to your room... in Babylon! Now, I view them as open hands, beckoning us to take responsibility, reminding us that God won t do it alone and that each of us must help create a just and moral world. The prophets chief legacy is an ecology of change. They locate within each individual the power to influence the community as a whole. - Bruce Feiler

16 Facing the truth of the empire is difficult for those of us who by race, sex, or class are the rightful inheritors of the imperial project. - Ched Myers

17 Have you veered off your path? Have you lost your way? Do you need to (return) home? Do you need to be reminded of your identity and mission? Return to your true path. Return to the love, joy and peace that comes from being true to who you are here to be.

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