People Are Kissing Golden Calves!

This meditation is based on a passage for October 13, 2010 in the Daily Lectionary Year 2 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).

Text: Hosea 13:1-3

Reflection and Question: I confess I have witnessed a fair amount of kissing of idols in my time. After all, I have lived in Pittsburgh most of my life and our sports stars have kissed the Stanley Cup and the Lombardi Trophy over and over on our TV news. This is no different from the kissing of silver calves by the people of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. Hosea tells them “they shall be like the morning mist” or “the smoke from a window.” Our preoccupation with sports is just as meaningless and so, we are no better than our forbearers in our faithfulness to God. Where do you see kissing of idols today?

Prayer: God of Gomer and Hosea, just as the people in Hosea’s time “incurred guilt through Baal and died,” we have sinned in our distracted devotion to things so very much of this world. Spare us, we pray, the fate of Israel. Draw us to You today. Amen.