Though the fig tree does not blossom,
     and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
     and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
     and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
     I will exult in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
     he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
     and makes me tread upon the heights.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19a)

The prophet Habakkuk had witnessed the destruction of his homeland by the invading army of the Babylonian Empire. The kingdom of Judah had suffered plundering and depredations of all kinds. The Babylonian army had seized the city of Jerusalem; the royal household had been removed to Babylon; the surrounding countryside was bereft of any means of agricultural or economic production. Several other Judahite cities had been destroyed by drawn-out sieges, which usually decimated the fields, vineyards, and orchards surrounding a city, and required the consumption of all the livestock in the area for the army's sustenance. The situation must have seemed utterly hopeless to the prophet and his Judahite brothers and sisters as they struggled to make ends meet.

Yet, the prophet's concluding oracle is one of hope and trust in the Lord. In God, the prophet has hope for the renewed and refreshed life of those at peace, in which gardens and orchards are once again productive, fields sown with seed and beginning to sprout with new plantings, and livestock fatting in the stall. It is through God's restorative and redemptive power in the world that the war-torn country's experience of the bleak present can be replaced by the prophet's vision of a carefree and exuberant existence. Only in the shadow of God's protection does the world's groaning for justice for the oppressed and food for the ravaged country come to an end; only through faith in God's continuing creation and patient renewal of the covenant with humanity can we have hope that wars will someday cease entirely, and that we will all be able to live peacefully, as brothers and sisters of Christ.

Gracious God, we pray for peace; we pray that your spirit of justice would surge through us like waters rolling down a valley floor (Amos 5:24); and we pray that you would strengthen us as we "dedicate our lives to the care and redemption of all that you have made" (LBW, p. 68). Give us the strength to speak truth in the face of deceit, love in the face of rage, and calm in the face of terror. Amen.

Contributed by Jeremy
Sunday February 11, 2007
Liturgical Year C Week 11