One Hit Wonders
August 24, 2025 - October 12, 2025
A one-hit wonder in the contemporary music biz is a song that transcends the limitations of composer, performer, and context. One song from a lifetime of music-making far outlasts its immediate impact so that generations to come will probably be able to hum the tune, if not sing every lyric to perfection. One-hit wonders are timeless, and it’s a little surprising (a wonder!) because they’re surrounded by mediocre or even bad music.
There’s a similar reality in scripture: some books of the Bible are so anachronistic, so pessimistic, maybe even so theologically questionable, that they’re best forgotten... except for that *one* passage where the author seems to lift off with the Spirit under their wings, soaring to heights of beauty, poignancy, and surprisingly good theology. Those one-hit wonders deserve a little attention, at least once in a while.
And the whole question of one-hit wonders makes me wonder: what is my own “peak” contribution to the life of the world? My life is mostly ordinary, sometimes even a net drain on the world’s resources... but it’s always possible that God can make use of that one smidgen of sparkle I’ve got to give.
For the secondary (responsive) readings each week: let’s go the *opposite* direction. Instead of one-hit wonders, we’ll look at the repeated instances of a refrain that God’s people have repeated again and again: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Many of the poets and prophets have used that refrain, and we’ll be listening for its repetition from week to week. Even some of our “one-hit” books include this refrain!
New Mercies, Every Morning. Lamentations is a collection of poetry composed and compiled shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The poems name God as the punisher of all Israel’s sin. This is a God who initiates massive, generational suffering and blames the victim for it; imperial armies are only God’s instruments of torture. BUT in the middle of the Lamentations comes an ode to God’s mercy and steadfast love. In the chiastic structure of this book, the reader is invited to believe that this counter-testimony is the ultimate reality, the revelation of God’s true, life-affirming nature in a bleak season. Rev. Amber Baker is preaching.
The Lord Bless You and Keep You. The Book of Numbers is filled with census data of the wandering Israelites, and a collection of laws for keeping social order among those thousands of people. One tribe, the Levites, and all its subfamilies, is designated to translate between God and the people as temple-servants (or priests). The Levites are given an all-time blessing to say over the people, which, God says, “puts [God’s] name on them.” What does it mean to move in the world with God’s name on you?
I Will Pour Out My Spirit on All Flesh. Joel’s prophetic call to repentance urges Judah (the southern kingdom remaining after northern Israel’s fall to Assyria) to repair their social structure and return to faithfulness. And assuming they will, God promises bloody revenge on the nation-states that have taken advantage of their weakness. The prophet imagines a restoration of trust between God and God’s people, and an abundant outpouring of God’s Spirit that douses all people, irrespective of human difference and hierarchies, with the ability to see what God sees and hope for what God hopes for.
There Is Still a Vision. Habakkuk is a prophet with writer’s block – he does not have a word from the Lord or from the distant battlefield, and that’s making him antsy. He climbs the ramparts of Jerusalem’s wall to scan the horizon, trusting that a runner will come. And instead, he gets a word from the Lord, kinda: “Wait, and listen, and trust that I’ve got something in mind, and it’ll be good.” Tomás Halík has said that faith is trust + patience. How much patience have we got for God?
Last of All, Servant of All. God has always employed real live humans for the task of directing and caring for God’s people. What kind of people are best suited for this work? Those who serve relentlessly, conscientiously, joyfully. We’ll celebrate stories of church leaders who have sacrificed much for the sake of the “flock” they “shepherd.”
The Leader, in Diligence. How do congregations of people discern collectively who their leaders should be? What help does God give in that process, and how do we access that help? (Spoiler alert: Something, Something, Holy Spirit.)
The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength. Ezra and Nehemiah worked together to rebuild Jerusalem following the Babylonian sacking of 586 BCE. Along the way they re-established Israel’s religious identity, including this scene of reading re-discovered scripture, with interpreters helping the people understand. And when the people are overwhelmed by the beauty? challenge? of what they’ve heard, they’re overcome with emotion, even weeping. But Nehemiah says the more appropriate response is joy – because it’s not too late, because God is ready to receive us even when we’re late.