Jeremiah 18: 1-11 Walter Brueggemann lists the most prominent metaphors for God used in the Hebrew Scriptures, including gardener, shepherd, mother, healer, and, as in today’s excerpt from Jeremiah, potter.  He identifies these as “metaphors of sustenance.,” which “include dimensions … Continue reading →

Jeremiah 2: 4-13 Jeremiah delivers the Lord’s subpoena against Israel.  The charges are that the people have gone “after worthless things, and become worthless themselves.”  The Lord brought them through the wilderness into a “plentiful land,” but the priests and … Continue reading →

Jeremiah 1: 4-10 Jeremiah records his call as a young boy.  “…[T]he word of the Lord…” informs the child that while he was still in the womb, the Lord “consecrated” him.  The youth points out the obvious problem with this … Continue reading →

Isaiah 5: 1-7 The “gardener’s love song” in Isaiah depicts an attentive, hands-on worker who lovingly plants and nurtures a vineyard in the expectation that one day it would “yield grapes.”  Instead, the vineyard produced “wild grapes.”  In frustration and … Continue reading →

Isaiah 1: 1,10-20 The majestic Book of Isaiah begins by identifying its location, Judah/Jerusalem, and its time, the reigns of the kings of the seventh century B.C.  In this context, the complaint that the prophet brings against God’s people is … Continue reading →

See entry for The Last Sunday after the Epiphany: Year C :

Hosea 11: 1-11 This moving testimony to God’s enduring love for Israel combines God’s awesome power with God’s tender love, which is as intense and as gentle as a parent for a child. God regarded Israel in its ‘childhood’ as … Continue reading →

Hosea 1: 2-10 The beginning of the received text of the story of Hosea is surely one of the most poignant among the Hebrew  prophets.  A narrator declares that it is the Lord who directly instructs Hosea to take a … Continue reading →

Amos 8: 1-12 Amos re-states the requirements of God’s covenant and the consequences when it is ignored.  He describes in detail the exploitation of the poor and needy by those who are better off as a heinous violation of God’s … Continue reading →

Amos 7: 7-17 In this third of five visions, Amos sees the Lord lower a plumb line directly into the midst of the institutions, laws, practices, values and customs of Israel and finds them out of balance.  Amos declares that … Continue reading →