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It’s tough to be a prophet Hosea 1:2-10  The Lord is speaking through Hosea, and says to the prophet: Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord. (1:2, NRSV) Now this is an example of one of those passages in the Bible that we’d rather just skip over. Let’s face it, these are not pleasant or pretty words coming from God through the prophet. I also don’t envy the position of Hosea, who in fact goes and does just what the Lord asks of him. I don’t envy Hosea, having to speak these words to the people of his day. I don’t imagine that folks took too kindly to being told, by God speaking through Hosea, that they were committing great whoredom. In my imagination, I can just hear the folks in the crowd muttering, something along these lines:  Abraham:        Just who does this guy Hosea think he’s talking to, anyway?    Jacob:              Well I’ll tell you, he’s been known to do stuff like this before. Abraham:         Like what – what are you talkin’ about? Jacob:              This same Hosea, just last week, was telling people that they were about                           as low as they can go – something akin to pond scum, if you get my drift. Abraham:         Well, I know one thing for sure – he’s not talking about me, or about                                       my family. We are not – I can’t even get myself to say that “wh” word! I                            am a man of faith, I follow the laws of Moses, I am no “Wh”!!! Jacob:               Me neither, me neither brother Abraham.  And so it goes. The words of God through Hosea are quickly dismissed as having little to do with the folks who are there to listen to him. Hosea is similarly dismissed as one of those wild-eyed fanatics, and the land continues to commit whoredom. (Don’t blame me, I didn’t make up that word, it’s in the Bible!)  There is often talk among church-going folks about the state of our world, of our society, of our culture. We shake our heads in dismay at the loss of civility and morality, we speak of our concerns about the low level of church attendance, and we offer our platitudes in response to the bad behavior of others. I know what I’m talking about, now, for I’m an active participant in such discussions! I know how to shake my head and how to look down my nose with the best of them. I think it’s fair to ask whether or not our land, the place in which we live, is guilty of committing the kind of ‘whoredom’ of which God speaks through Hosea. Is it then also fair to ask if we have a responsibility and a role in seeking to improve the state of things? It’s tough to be a prophet, but at some level is that not what each of us is asked be and do – to have God speak through us? Is that not what it means to aspire to be Children of the living God? (Hosea 1:10)  - Pastor Piet – July 29, 2007