Reading: Isaiah 5:8-17
The above picture is one I’ve seen in other contexts as well. What appears to be every house on the block on in a neighborhood for sale. Having a house for sale currently, and reading this passage from Isaiah is interesting. In its context in ancient Israel after the conquest the land had been divided up among the tribes and then among the people. Everyone started out with a hereditary plot. The sabbath year and the jubilee years were supposed to “bail out” those who did not have good business sense and had sold their property or themselves. There is no written account of these ever taking place on a large scale. Instead the rich would get richer and the poor would be driven out. As Isaiah says the rich would add field to field and they would dwell alone – the ancient version of the gated community or the cul-de-sac development or Tom Wolfe’s insulation.
The LORD condemns that. Through Isaiah he says surely many houses will be desolate, large and beautiful houses without inhabitant. Economic ruin comes from this activity. Eventually exile from the land.
One can make extrapolations to the entire US rather easily. That might be correct – the Lord is Lord of all, but the warnings were given to Isreal, the people of God. Does the church today demonstrate any of these tendencies? One of my wonders is the growth of Mega-Churches. Being the minister at a small congregation, this could just be sour grapes, but how many mega-churches grow to that size because they are just joining field to field? What I mean by that is becuase they are big to begin with they offer programs. Those programs are attractive regardless of the theology or belief behind them. Do they attract a disproportionate number of church shoppers – i.e. people who had a church home, but became attracted by the offerings of the larger church? The net is not an increase in the reign of God, but just an adding of field to field.
I don’t have a sure Word on that. I am sure there are large congregation who are very missional, but there are also those who clearly are just gathering market share. But it is something each congregation should think about in regards to obligations to fellow congregations.
