Tag Archives: mercy

Happy Birthday, Mr. Berry

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Today is the birthday of poet and essayist Wendell Berry, born in Port Royal, Kentucky in 1934.  Here are three quotes and a poem from Berry that I like.

"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy."

"We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it."

"Especially among Christians in positions of wealth and power, the idea of reading the Gospels and keeping Jesus’ commandments as stated therein has been replaced by a curious process of logic. According to this process, people first declare themselves to be followers of Christ, and then they assume that whatever they say or do merits the adjective "Christian"."

 

What we need is here

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

Hosea 1:2-10 – A Contemporary Paraphrase

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Hosea 1:2-10

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This is what the Lord said to Hosea the first time he spoke to him: “Go and marry a whore, and have children with her, children of whoredom. For Israel is no better than a whore herself; she has turned her back on me and gone running after other Gods.”

So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and in time she had a son “Hosea, I want you to call your boy “God Sows,” said the LORD, “for I am about to sow the blood shed in Jezreel by King Jehu upon his descendants. I will also destroy the kingdom of Israel, bringing an end to its power in the valley of Jezreel itself.”

Later, Gomer gave birth to a daughter. The LORD said to Hosea, ” I want you to call her “No Mercy,” for my mercy and forgiveness towards Israel has run dry, and I am all but ready to sweep them off the face of earth. But I will have mercy on Judah, and I will save them, and not by any bow, or sword, or war, or horses and horsemen. I, the Lord alone, will save.”

After “No Mercy” was old enough to stop nursing, Gomer had another son. Then the LORD said, “Call this boy “Not my people,” for Israel is no longer my people and I am no longer Israel’s God.

But even so, in the future it will be impossible to count the children of Israel. There will be as many of them as there are grains of sand along the seashore. And while they are now called “Not My People,” one day they will be known as “Children of the Living God.”

Hosea 1:2-10

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Hosea 1:2-10

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The first time the LORD spoke to Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take a whore for your wife, and have children of prostitution, for the land plays the harlot by turning its back to the LORD.” So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, as his wife, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the LORD said to him, “Give him the name Jezreel [God sows]; for in a short time I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass that on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, “Give her the name Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but will utterly cast them out. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.”

When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, Gomer conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said, “Give him the name Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.” And yet the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said, “You are not my people,” it shall be said, “Children of the living God.”