Sermon slides for Feb. 23: Good Trouble On the Line

Our experiment with these sermon slide posts continues. Please let me know how helpful these posts are…or are not.

How do we close the gap between who we currently are as a society and who we are called to be?

Micah: Do justice, offer lovingkindness [hesed], walk humbly with God 

Jesus: Don’t be afraid, follow me, fish for people

Boat from 1st Century CE in the Sea of Galilee:

Humility? 
“The first four apostles were in the fishing business. With their own boats, they were similar to middle class business owners today”
“Simon and Andrew weren’t middle class. They didn’t run a successful business.”

Why is Jesus’ call to fish for people so enticing?
Echos earlier instructions from God to prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, and Amos.

You who oppress the poor, who crush the needy…The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. —Amos 4:1-2

I hate—I totally reject—your religious ceremonies and have nothing to do with your solemn gatherings. You can offer Me whole burnt offerings and grain offerings, but I will not accept them. You can sacrifice your finest, fattest young animals as a peace offering, but I will not even look up. And stop making that music for Me—it’s just noise. I will not listen to the melodies you play. —Amos 5:21-23

Here’s what I want: Let justice thunder down like a waterfall; let righteousness flow like a mighty river that never runs dry. —Amos 5:24

For the prophets, fishing is a radical snaring of the wicked, wrenching them out of the familiar environs of oppression and setting the world a-right with divine justice. —Dr. Diana Butler Bass