Sermon Thoughts
Proper 6
June 17, 2012
Father's Day and Insisting on Wrath
by David von Schlichten

Today in Bible study, the people around the table just wanted to see God's wrath under every biblical stone. We started with Ezekiel 17:22-24, which uses tree imagery to offer a word of hope for the people of Judah. I tried to point this out, but my parishioners kept saying statements such as, "God strikes down the tall trees. We better watch it, or we're going to be in trouble."

Later, when we read 2 Corinthians 5, we heard of being judged. My parishioners just loved that. "See? The judgment. We better get it together!" They really seem to enjoy the threat of wrath.

My parishioners who attend Bible study are senior women. They are sweet. They are devoted to the Church, but they tend to view the Bible through a lens that presents God as an angry father.

This problematic tendency is nothing new, and it is certainly not unique to my Bible study participants. Indeed, one of the prevailing ways to view God is as an angry man (yes, man) whom we must forever strive to placate so we don't end up in hell.

Then there's Father's Day. Fathers can be wonderful, but they do not have a great track record. They have a reputation for being neglectful, abusive, or both. It is no wonder that we view our FATHER in heaven in a similar way.

How do we get a more compassionate, less wrathful understanding of God to take root in the consciousness of our hearers, and how do we tie that to Father's Day?

St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Youngstown, PA

(from www.goodpreacher.com/blog/)