Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Tuesday, 28 October 2014 - Micah 3:5-12

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Tuesday, 28 October 2014 - Micah 3:5-7 Here is God’s Message to the prophets,
    the preachers who lie to my people:
“For as long as they’re well paid and well fed,
    the prophets preach, ‘Isn’t life wonderful! Peace to all!’
But if you don’t pay up and jump on their bandwagon,
    their ‘God bless you’ turns into ‘God damn you.’
Therefore, you’re going blind. You’ll see nothing.
    You’ll live in deep shadows and know nothing.
The sun has set on the prophets.
    They’ve had their day; from now on it’s night.
Visionaries will be confused,
    experts will be all mixed up.
They’ll hide behind their reputations and make lame excuses
    to cover up their God-ignorance.”
8 But me—I’m filled with God’s power,
    filled with God’s Spirit of justice and strength,
Ready to confront Jacob’s crime
    and Israel’s sin.
9-12 The leaders of Jacob and
    the leaders of Israel are
Leaders contemptuous of justice,
    who twist and distort right living,
Leaders who build Zion by killing people,
    who expand Jerusalem by committing crimes.
Judges sell verdicts to the highest bidder,
    priests mass-market their teaching,
    prophets preach for high fees,
All the while posturing and pretending
    dependence on God:
“We’ve got God on our side.
    He’ll protect us from disaster.”
Because of people like you,
    Zion will be turned back into farmland,
Jerusalem end up as a pile of rubble,
    and instead of the Temple on the mountain,
    a few scraggly scrub pines.(The Message)
It is hard to wake up to the words of Micah. Micah is crying out in the darkness of a world torn by war and mothers crying out for food for starving children. He brings a word from God who is not only distressed that his creation has fallen into deep darkness, but is downright angry that the very people he has called to be a beacon of light are a part of the darkness.
During this All Saints week I would like to focus on two quiet, rather ordinary people, who are not a part of the darkness, but reflect God's light. Jim and Dorothy live in my cooperative. They have volunteered to walk the halls every night to make sure the windows and doors are secure for the night. Dorothy leads a group of women who sew quality garments for the children of the poor. Without any fanfare they make life better for us and for those who do not enjoy what most of us have. Even as light makes no noise, Jim and Dorothy are bright but silent beacons of light.
My most recent experience with this silent light was their gentle nudging me into volunteering for Feeding My Starving Children. I was amazed at the sight of dozens of ordinary people gathering for five shifts every day, packing meals for thousands of hungry children all over the world. My job has been to put labels on the food packets. Each packet will provide six carefully planned meals. There is no darkness greater than children who have no food. Jim and Dorothy are a beam of God's light and they have introduced me to one of many other beams of light in a world of darkness.
Saints can be described as silent beams of light that reflect our God's compassion and love and concern for justice. I believe in the "communion of saints."
Lord of justice and mercy, charge our batteries that we might reflect your light. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen!
Hub Nelson
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 
Edina, Minn. (Retired) 
Master of Divinity , 1962
Micah 3:5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths.
6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without revelation. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them;
7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.
8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity,
10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong!
11 Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, "Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us."
12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.(The New Revised Standard Version)
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