One of the more knotty problems facing Christians is: does God get involved in our lives and, if so, in what ways?

For some, God is too distant and too holy to get involved in our grubby lives and it would pollute God’s purity to even touch our world. This was certainly a common idea in the early centuries of Christianity with Jesus being the go-between, somehow bridging the gap. For others, the idea of God is so nebulous and non-personal that to talk about involvement just does not make sense. The biblical record takes a middle understanding as we see in the lectionary readings for October.

In the Old Testament stream, after woes about the Jewish exile and neglect of Jerusalem (Oct 2), Jeremiah (Oct 9) encourages exiles to settle down and pray for their new cities, and (Oct 16) promises better days and a renewed covenant with God. Joel (Oct 23) follows this with the promise of plenty after the ‘locust years’ and Habakkuk (Oct 30) asks the question why does Israel suffer with the confidence that God will give an answer.

In the Gospel we continue with readings from Luke. After a call to do our duty (Oct 2), we have Jesus approached by 10 lepers whom he heals (Oct 9), the story of the widow who demands justice from a judge with the idea that surely God is more willing to intervene than this (Oct 16). Then there is the story of the Pharisee and the tax-collector – God will support the one who recognises his own weaknesses (Oct 23), and finally (Oct 30) we are treated to Zacchaeus whose encounter with Jesus changes his life.

The Epistles focus mainly on 2 Timothy with an encouragement to be faithful (Oct 2), recognising that suffering for Christ is normal (Oct 9), keeping the faith using God-breathed scripture (Oct 16), for God has and will rescue despite the trials that we suffer now (Oct 23) – this is our calling (Oct 30 – from 2 Thessalonians). 

All in all we are led to believe that God does care for the weak and vulnerable, especially those who call to God for help, and that God knows our every weakness and despite (or rather because of) that, God will come to our aid and rescue those who call for help.

In some ways this is rather simplistic and a sermon that does not dig a little deeper does no one a service. Why not preach about what kind of rescue God actually gives? Or seek to explain our role in receiving God’s rescue or even giving rescue to others as God’s agents in our communities? 

At the bottom line our faith and actions are meant to declare God’s Realm, not just in theory but in practice; what values of that Realm do these stories and readings declare to us and how might they apply in our context? That is the preacher’s task in October.