The Twelve Minor Prophets and Today’s Church (Part 2): Worship

A major theme of the Minor Prophets is the proper worship of Israel’s God. That’s not a surprising statement, in one sense. The Bible concerns something called “religion,” and worship is part of religion. Yet the Twelve, like other prophets, speak about worship in an often uncomfortable way. They explore its limits as well as its opportunities.

In Israel’s faith, as also in its descendants, Judaism and Christianity, worship does not primarily revolve around the feelings of the worshiper, though it does concern them. Worship is not an experience designed to stimulate an endorphin rush. Worship centers on God—God’s character as the source of all mercy and love and justice, God’s infinity, God’s majesty and mystery. In contemplating God, we see our own sin, our need for redemption and protection, as well as the possibilities of profound spiritual growth. 

At the same time, worship does open space for our entire emotional lives. We see this rich emotional life in worship throughout Scripture. The Psalms, in particular, evoke the entire range of emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, amusement, awe, contentment, desire, embarrassment, pain, relief, and sympathy. Perhaps there are more. Worship practices that try to eliminate some of these (usually the so-called “negative” emotions) can do great harm to the worshipers and their community. We know that from experience.

The Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets is not a prayer book like the Psalms, however. Instead, the Twelve insist on something else: that worship disconnected from the life of justice and mercy is worse than useless. It offends God, who seeks human health in every aspect of life.

Consider two passages mentioned last time. Amos 5:24 says, “Let justice roll on like waters, and righteousness like a perpetual stream.” The fame of this verse comes partly from Martin Luther King’s quoting it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. But in Amos itself, the verse is part of a longer poem about the connection between worship and life: 

Seek good, not evil, so you may live. In this way will the LORD God of Hosts be with you, as you are in the habit of saying. Hate evil and love good. Execute justice in the gates [that is, in the courts]. Perhaps the LORD God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. (Amos 5:14-15)

Besides the “perhaps” we saw in Jonah and Joel, reminding hearers again of their inability to manipulate God, this excerpt from a longer poem invites the people to connect every corner of their lives to their worship. Amos’s “As you [plural] are in the habit of saying” refers to the words they speak in worship. Amos seems to say, “You claim God is with you. Prove it by how you live.”

Conversely, the failure to extend to others the mercy, compassion, and empathy we hope to receive from God shows the superficiality of our worship. We cannot simultaneously expect mercy from God and withhold it from any human being.

Here’s another text. Micah’s call to “do justice, love mercy, walk honorably” (Micah 6:8) follows a discussion of proper sacrifice, the ultimate expression of human worship of God. “How should I approach the LORD,” Micah writes. With “whole burnt offerings, yearling calves, thousands of rams”? With human sacrifice, the greatest gift one could possibly imagine? No. None of that. The true follower of Israel’s God approaches with an entire life committed to fairness, honor, and respect in every single interaction with others. That is the true worship.

There are many other examples of such passages throughout the Twelve Minor Prophets, and the other prophetic books as well (for example, see Isaiah 1:10-20 or Amos 2:6-16). These texts matter because they reveal something crucial about faith in the God of Israel and about the church. God does not credit worship divorced from a life of justice. No matter how expressive, slickly performed, or enjoyable worship may be, if the worshiping community shows indifference to the suffering of others, the worship has no value at all. On the contrary, it is a stench in God’s nostrils, and a scandal to any thinking human being.

The Minor Prophets know of an alternative. They know that worship can feed human souls because it points us to our origins and our destiny. It nourishes the renewing of our minds. It can frame our deeds of charity as expressions of gratitude for what we have received rather than new ways of gaining the praise of others or controlling others. Worship opens up to the possibility of awe before creation and creator. Because of the great potential for human growth through worship, the Minor Prophets call upon their readers not to destroy that potential future before it can begin by continuing in unjust, unrighteous ways.

This warning from the prophets requires our attention today. As I write this, many Christians in the United States are rejoicing at the broadcast of their faith at a very public funeral for a major figure tragically murdered. These Christians tout the singing of hymns and the witnesses to love of family and other “Christian” ideas and practices. They also ignore, excuse, or even celebrate some of the most venomous political and social speech uttered in the history of our country. All at the same event. The so-called Christians turn a blind eye to the gross blasphemy of praising God one moment and whipping up hatred of most human beings the next. This mixture of politics and faith is a gross offense, and a gross scandal marking the radical apostasy of much of the church.

The Twelve Minor Prophets knew about it all in advance. They saw their own form of this toxic mixture as the human desire to use religion as a mask for the will to crush other people came to the fore. In their day, it all ended in tears. In our day, it probably will too. More on all that in the next three posts.