PROBING THE TEXT THROUGH QUESTIONS -

Why the connection to Sodom and Gomorrah? Was Judah-like the referent- guilty of a total disregard for justice and mercy? Did both seek pleasure at the expense of weightier issues of salvation? Or perhaps did both disregard or flaunt the fundamental laws of human rights?

I’m sick of your sacrifices! These are passionate, wrathful words! What is it about Judah’s worship practice at this time in their history that God so abhorred? "I am sick of . . ." is an English phrase usually reserved when we are at the point of exasperation and frustration. God is torqued! Off-put. Disgusted. Seems that there is a disconnect between their worship ritual to God and their treatment of other human beings.

Could the prophet be suggesting that from the divine viewpoint, worship was meant to impact our lives, such that it actually reshapes our paradigms and perceptions of others and results in better treatment of others?

Is there anything about our worship makes God angry?

Stewardship is more than setting up soup kitchens and overnight shelters . It’s good that we reach into the river of despair and rescue people who are drowning. But it is time to move upstream and see who’s throwing them in. --Edmond Browning

You can’t divorce religious belief and public service . . . I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one you violate the other. --Jimmy Carter

Even if a man were in rapture like St. Paul and knew of a man who was in need of food, he would do better by feeding him than by remaining in ecstasy. --Meister Eckhart

This is one of those hard-hitting prophetic texts that, coupled along with Psalm 50, could serve as a useful adjustment and tool for our own listening communities.

Begin with the similarities of the ancient biblical worship as you have learned of it from your biblical studies. Show how these people were quite serious with their worship performance-doing things right and in order and all in the attempt to please God.

But then freeze the thought and introduce a contrapuntal tension by asking and then exploring the ancient worship service to find answers as to why their worship just made God angry.

Ask point blank: What in (or about) our worship service makes God angry? Name the great places in worship that pleases God, but go to the incongruity between what occurs in our divine encounter with God on Sunday and the nonchalant, casual way that we treat our discipleship during the week. The great divorce kind of idea.

Move toward empowerment through verse 25-Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God. I think this final statement brings a balance into the worship war of performance vis-à-vis practice: heart-felt, ordered sacrifice worship + "the right way" = true worship of God.