Hosea 1
Marriage is the most intimate of relationships; that is how the Lord wants to embrace the people. Our Israelite ancestors were continually unfaithful. As a jolt to the people, God commands faithful Hosea, the prophet, to take a prostitute as a wife. His unfaithful spouse is God’s way of confronting our ancestors with their infidelity.
The Lord longs to marry you in fidelity and love. Nothing less than total intimacy is God’s desire. At this very moment, God wants to refashion your soul-pain. What symbol does God use for you as energy to draw you closer to the Lord?
To love is to be poured out. The Holy Spirit was poured out, as Jesus’ blood was shed for you. “Till death do us part?” Not for Jesus … His death means life and union for you!
Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter. 
The Reading for Today
This is the first of thirteen weeks in the season of Pentecost, Year B
Mondays are dedicated to the Prophets.
During this season we read Hosea.
The Bible Through the Seasons 
I find anger, anguish, promise and love in this scripture.
Anger… Certainly God has reason to be angry because of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Only anger would lead to the seemingly terrible directions God gives Hosea. I wonder, is what God asks of Hosea of two purposes? In these instructions God confronts the people of Israel with their unfaithfulness (did they hear him?) and at the same time provides them with an example of true faithfulness. It’s as if God says “This is what you have done wrong and I am quite angry, but I am giving you a chance to repent. This is how you should live.”
Anguish… Don’t you find yourself in anguish when you are angry at someone you love, especially when it is because of how they have been behaving toward you? If that is what you feel with human love imagine how much greater it must be for God. I imagine that Hosea must have experienced terrible anguish at what he was asked to do by God whom he loved deeply. A good and faithful Jew was asked by God himself to break God’s own law and then to name each of his children terrible names that serve to remind the people of evil they have committed.
Promise… Verses 10 and 11 spell out God’s promise clearly. The people of Israel and Judah will be one people, his own people. They will be fruitful and numerous. God will not forget them.
Love… I find it throughout this scripture. Love explains God’s desire for faithfulness, anger at unfaithfulness and provision of an example of how to live. Love is behind the punishment God promises the people of Israel. Love requires consequences for actions so that lessons can be learned and actions changed to live a more God centered life. Without love there is no reason to care if we change or not. Of course there is nothing but pure, visible love in the promise of forgiveness and of once again being “Children of the Living God.”
Emotion, human emotion is woven throughout these verses. Does God experience the same emotions? Well, God made us in his image. Jesus, God incarnate, wept. No, God does not experience the same emotions we do. We experience the same ones he does. Perhaps the next time we look in the mirror with tears streaming down our face we should recognize that we are looking into the eyes of God and remember, “At this very moment, God wants to refashion your soul-pain.”
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Okay, I’ll admit it. The first paragraphs turn out to be chatter that leads up to the last paragraph. That is the one that matters.
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