Sunday Stretch: Vol. 131

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

I wrote this post prior to Saturday night’s news of the U.S. bombing attack on Iran. There is much to say and lament in this moment - and no way to adequately or appropriately cover it now.

I will say that many people caught in this political crossfire of deadly weapons of war are on my heart tonight. The people of Iran - many of whom have already suffered under a fundamentalist Islamist government that oppresses its people, especially women. And also American service members serving in the Middle East, and their worried families and loved ones back home. I’m praying for protection, peace, and de-escalation.

Angela

I’m still processing the tragic and terrifying political violence that occurred last weekend right here in the Twin Cities, ending in the assassinations of MN Speaker emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the attempted assassinations of MN Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who endured several gunshot wounds, surgery, and hospitalization, but managed to survive.

As I write this note to you, I just have to look above my laptop to see the photo of me and Melissa, taken back in 2018, not long after she was named Speaker and when I was invited to share an opening prayer at the Minnesota Legislature.

Her facial expression in that photo, one I have interpreted as a mix of pride and support and acceptance - has always encouraged me as I continue to work in spaces where my presence as an outspoken woman clergy member is not welcomed or accepted. But I never imagined that I would look at that photo and see a woman who paid the ultimate price for her own brave leadership. My heart is so deeply sad at the loss of such a dynamic leader for Minnesota and America. We have lost so many good people. And somehow none of it ever seems to really change the narrative. People continue to think what they’ve always thought. Angry, divisive, hateful rhetoric spewed by leading politicians (primarily Republicans who follow Trump’s leadership, along with Trump himself) continues to be spewed and accepted. Worst of all, many of the worst offenders are those who say they are motivated to speak and act in these ways because of their “Christian” faith.

By the time you’re reading this, I hope to have had more time in prayer and discernment to process last weekend’s events. I hope to have put it together somehow in writing. For now, we move to God’s word for us this week. As I read this week’s Lectionary Bible stories, I was brought back to 2019, when I preached on this very Gospel text on multiple occasions. Jesus’ direct encounter with Legion - the Devil - also results in tragedy - but that’s not the full story. Instead, Jesus insists upon a refusal to deny anyone’s humanity. He asks the man’s name, and in this recovery of a shared human spirit, the evil spirit departs over a cliff. The man goes away and proclaims the Gospel, even as others surrounding him were afraid. May it be so.

Let’s get to the texts …

Art by Isaiah Wilson

Bible Stories

Isaiah 65:1-9

Is. 65:1 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,

to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that did not call on my name.

² I held out my hands all day long

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

³ a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

sacrificing in gardens

and offering incense on bricks;

⁴ who sit inside tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

who eat swine’s flesh,

with broth of abominable things in their vessels;

⁵ who say, “Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”

These are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all day long.

⁶ See, it is written before me:

I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

I will indeed repay into their laps

⁷ their^a iniquities and their^b ancestors’ iniquities together, says the LORD;

because they offered incense on the mountains

and reviled me on the hills,

I will measure into their laps

full payment for their actions.

⁸ Thus says the LORD:

As the wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, “Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,”

so I will do for my servants’ sake,

and not destroy them all.

⁹ I will bring forth descendants^a from Jacob,

and from Judah inheritors^b of my mountains;

my chosen shall inherit it,

and my servants shall settle there.

As often find in the words of the prophets, today’s is a solemn message of warning. But unusually, as I read through it again, I actually had to pause for a moment of a little levity. I found it in verse 2 (translation: NRSV)

I held out my hands all day long

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

Truly, the Bible is a fascinating and holy book. Because I know this wasn’t the translator’s original intention … but in 2025, reading this verse again, I’m struck by how apt it is. Aren’t we a rebellious people? Walking in a way that is not good? Literally following our own devices (i.e. the smartphones that tell us what and how to think!?)

Our own devices …