Readings for 11th Sunday After Pentecost, 8/4/13: Hosea 11:1-11, Psalm 107:1-9, 43, Colossians 3:1-11, Luke 12:13-21 also: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23, Psalm 49:1-12 Hosea 11:1-11: This is in some ways a very pretty passage, filled with metaphors of God's love for Israel as a parent for a child. Unfortunately, it seems only after strong impulses to destroy the naughty children that God's compassion finally wins out! Israel has been a wayward child: "The more I called them, the more they went from me." Do we react to God's call this way? Insisting on going the opposite direction as soon as we realize what God wants from us? I know my nephew, Sam, is more likely to get in some last bits of "naughtiness" as soon as he realizes his parents want him to do something else. Are we like that? "How can I hand you over, O Israel? . . . My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender." This inner dialogue of God's, while
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