July 24, 2016 – 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Hosea 1:2-10; Luke 11:1-13
Ordinary 17C; Proper 12

There are times when the “not appropriate for children” parts of the Bible come screaming to the forefront, times when the bulletin should have at least a PG-13 label on it.

This text from Hosea is a case in point. “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” I guess we can be grateful the lectionary doesn’t have this gem fall on Mother’s Day. I suppose putting this on the church sign as your sermon title might draw some attention, perhaps bring a few of those Pokémon Go! people back on Sunday morning.

Right off the rip, the book of Hosea pulls no punches. God is not happy and you know it.

Contrast that with the Luke passage for this week. It sounds like unicorns and rainbows by comparison. “He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’” Yes, thank you, much better. I pick door number two. I will preach prayer, not whoredom this Sunday. How about you?

But here is the thing about these two readings: They have more in common than one might think upon first reading. Doing just a little digging reveals that they are both “in-your-face” Bible passages. Hosea starts out that way. Luke ends up there with one of Jesus’ shocking parables. Both reveal that, ultimately, God cannot resist pouring out compassion upon creation, problematic, corrupt and recalcitrant as it may be.

Here is the last verse of Hosea:

Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

And Luke:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Knowing the ending, we can be brave about tackling the beginning and the middle of both readings. No need to leave Hosea on the cutting room floor.

So, what does whoredom have to do with asking, seeking and knocking? How do Gomer and Hosea relate to Our Father and our sleeping friend?

Well, it has to do with throwing off societal norms, disregarding what others think of such inopportune behavior and following God’s instructions, regardless of how troubling such obedience appears to the world. That seems obvious in Hosea’s case, but it is also true for Luke.

Here is what I love about this seemingly benign and gentle instruction on prayer that Jesus gives his disciples. So we don’t miss how bold this prayer is, he couples the prayer – a radical one, if we consider the petitions and the relationship we have to God that they imply ­– ­ with this story of literal knocking.

This story of the sleeping friend who disregards the culture’s hospitality imperative and the guy who makes a ruckus in the middle of the night are both examples of boorish behavior. Neither party is one my grandmother would have wanted me to emulated. (I can hear her asking, “Where are your manners?!” in a Dowager Countess tone even now.)

And yet, this is the parable Jesus uses to tell us how to pray. Be as in-your-face, uncivilized, uncouth, socially embarrassing as these two. It is almost as attention getting and scandalous as taking a wife of whoredom and bearing children with her.

These two passages are as anti-nice-church-people as possible. And I have to say, that’s why I love them. They force us to reconsider what it means to worship, what church and church-folk look like and how children of the living God are to act. It is not smocked dresses, bow ties and a polite passing of the peace. It is tabloid-like, click bait worthy, oh-no-they-didn’t gasp inducing behavior. And I invite you to call your congregation to go there this week.

Take seriously the “trouble” or “bother” in Luke 11:7. This is no, “Excuse me, sir, do you have any Grey Poupon?” This is the kind of late night disruption that distresses the inhabitants of the house and the surrounding neighborhood. Onlookers gather. The news crews show up. That word that gets translated “persistence” in Luke 11:8? Well, that’s a polite version of what is more like “shamelessness” and “impertinence.” My lexicon says, “lack of sensitivity to what is proper, careless about the good opinion of others, impudence, ignoring convention.” Something like, “because of his shameless disturbance he will get up and give him whatever he needs.”

Oh, yeah, that’s the kind of prayer circle I want to join. No bow your heads and close your eyes here. Instead, bang on the door, holler at the top of your lungs, wake the neighbors, get the dogs barking, cause a disturbance until the people with the power give you what you knocked on the door to get – because otherwise no one will get any rest.

How’s that for a model of church? Are you in? What do you think of this as an example of the power of prayer?

Shameless. Like doing the impertinent, impolite thing that God commands, taking Gomer for a wife and loving her and Jezreel and Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi no matter what the world thinks of them or of you and until God can’t resist compassion any longer and all are called children of the living God again. What if our faith communities were Hosea-like? Unabashedly sanctuaries for Gomer and her children, a place where the pitiless and the people-less are loved as God’s own (even though it distresses some and maybe causes trouble for us)? Ponder what that would look like where you live.

Given all that is going on in our world, on our streets, across our newsfeeds, in our courtrooms, classrooms and living rooms, it is time to pray as Jesus taught. It is time to make trouble, be impertinent in our asking, seeking and knocking. It is time to not give one wit for convention and shamelessly make a scene until our sleeping friends extend the hospitality that God requires be given to all God’s children.

Let us pray.

This week:

1. What does “the power of prayer” mean to you?
2. What do you make of the criticism about saying, “You are in my thoughts and prayers”? It is a valid criticism? Why or why not?
3. Have we domesticated the Bible? Are there Bible passages we just don’t want to read in church? What is lost when we ignore parts of Scripture? Are there some texts you personally wish weren’t in the canon?
4. Another translation of the word “trouble” is “labor.” Check out John 4:38, 1 Corinthians 15:58, 1 Thessalonians 1:3. How does this understanding of the word impact your interpretation of the Luke text? Prayer?
5. The word often translated as “persistence” in Luke 11 is found nowhere else in the New Testament. What do you make of the Gospel writer’s choice of “shameless disturbance” in this story?
6. Can you think of examples of prayer that you would describe as “shameless disturbance” or even persistent? What happened as a result of those prayers?

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