“Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his bee-yard.” Doesn’t sound familiar? Not in the Bible, you say? You are right, it is not Biblical. I am just paraphrasing
Isaiah 5:1, which is part of the Old Testament reading appointed for worship on Sunday, October 4. As many readers know I have been trying my hand at bee-keeping for some years now. My hobby sometimes informs my understanding of other things that come to my attention. When I am working on a hive with 30,000 bees I get rather intensely focused and they capture my thoughts for hours afterward, especially if I get stung. And by the way, I usually get stung when I have done something stupidly wrong.
This week the lesson from Isaiah 5 describes the great care God put into the vineyard. Choice vines, fertile soil, protective wall, and high hopes for a harvest of goodness are all part of the passage. Reading it I think about the hours of tending the hives, the electric fencing installed and maintaining the solar charger and battery, and my own high hopes of a harvest of goodness. My relationship with the bee-yard gets kind of personal; every time I walk across the meadow to greet them I feel the hopes I have for each hive as I approach.
In the passage from Isaiah for this week God’s relationship with the vineyard is intensely personal and the love song of the vineyard turns bitter as the prophet describes the truth that the harvest of goodness was nowhere near God’s hoped for produce. The passage ends with an explanation of the love song pointing out that the vineyard represents the people of God and that the harvest God hoped for was justice and righteousness. Instead of that harvest of goodness the people delivered bloodshed and a cry. One can’t help but hear in the prophet’s word that strong personal connection between God and God’s people. And one cannot mistake the disappointment.
I wonder about how many of you are feeling these days? And I wonder if you might think that God would be disappointed with what’s happening among us too? In our congregation we are praying for protestors and police officers; we pray for forestry service people, fire fighters and people who are losing homes and loved ones to the wildfires. We are praying for all people working in medical fields responding to COVID-19, and the people who are becoming infected, those who are suffering and those who have lost loved ones. In the midst of these troubles we pray for God’s wisdom to dwell among all so that mutual care will be the hallmarks of our lives together. We pray for forgiveness that we may be renewed and have the opportunity to make amends and start again toward God’s goals of goodness. In the critical crises our globe is facing there have been obvious mistakes. God has created us with the capacity for compassion and care, which can result in justice and righteousness. We have witnessed however far too much bloodshed and heard far too many cries. These days news reports keep coming with story after story detailing the aftermath of our mistakes of injustice and shortsighted policies and sometimes the news stories feel like an angry hive reproving me for my mistakes.
Well, I have to tell you that stings make me much more aware of the bees. And I am convinced that the prophet’s stinging words are there to make us aware of God’s hope for us. The purpose of God’s love-song is not to make us feel bad for the sour harvest we have delivered; the purpose is to remind us of our original call to live according to justice and righteousness. It is time to be intensely focused on goodness.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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