humbly

Sunday February 9^th, Isaiah 58: ¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.    Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. ² For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right a and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. ⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?   Perhaps today the self-righteous would cry, We have opposed abortion and supported gun rights so the gun manufacturers can make more, we have supported tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of everyone else, including ourselves, how much more humbling can we get?  What more do you want Lord?  Although what Isaiah describes is anything but humbling of the self, it is exerting your own self-interest above the needs of others, especially the least, lost and lonely.  Let us not be confused, abortion is not and never has had anything to do with God’s plan for the world, but then neither has subjugation of those who find themselves between a rock and a hard place to the draconian laws of the self-righteous. It seems no one has suggested that the father of the child is to be responsible for raising the child in addition to the costs involved with bearing the child and some compensation for the pain and suffering involved.  As someone who was a single father of three difficult children, I can begin to understand some of the difficulties faced by those who all too often find a hand across the face instead of a hand up.  But more important than raising difficult children is how one cares for the workers.  We worship capitalism in our country and the push by many is for the free market to do its magic.  In order to do its magic however it must ignore the needs of those who dedicate their lives to the cause to make this magic happen, the workers.  Shipping a job overseas is often seen as a financial decision.  In labeling it as such it ignores the tremendous cost to the families, children and communities involved.  Is this the kind of fast I have chosen?  That the chairman or CEO has his wage tripled while worker after worker finds their house upside down in the mortgage market and their job shipped overseas?  Is it not to loosen the chains of free market indifference and care for those who work for you?  Is it not to support those who have suffered so long to find a job after the rich you supported with your tax cuts have given them all away?  This is what the Lord requires of you, to show mercy, seek justice and walk humbly before your God.