Life in the Minor Key

By Nathan Drake

Some parts of the Bible tend to get all the spotlight—the gospels, Paul’s letters, the psalms, Genesis, Isaiah. But it’s rare that we hear the names of Nahum, Habakkuk, or Obadiah on Sunday morning. The 12 books known as “the minor prophets” are often left out of the worship rotation because of the harsh nature of the words and ideas they contain.

Inside these 12 books we find some of the Old Testament’s most shocking images and terrifying judgments: slavery, exile, genocide, sexual debauchery, wanton immorality. In other words, a minor prophets coloring book would probably not be a bestseller in a children’s bookstore.

The words spoken by the minor prophets are very specific words to very specific people. Israel is being devastated by war and is in the grip of idolatry. God sends the prophets to plead with Israel so they will denounce evil and turn back toward God. Amid the sorrow we find God’s great grace: an unconditional love for his people and a desire to save them from their own wickedness and the wickedness of the world around them.

The minor prophets live in Israel’s “dark night before the dawn.” They speak to Israel in the time before the hero comes, when everything is looking hopeless. After the minor prophets conclude, we are left with 400 years of silence—a silence that is finally broken by the birth of the Messiah.

Although it’s tempting to gloss over these difficult books, it’s a temptation we should resist. Through the entire Old Testament we see the world’s need for a Savior. The books of the minor prophets represent the pinnacle of that need. Alongside (and inseparable from) some of God’s harshest judgments are God’s greatest promises of mercy.

Telling the Story in Worship

How do we begin to tell the story of the minor prophets? How do we help people absorb their message? Because of the abstract nature of the minor prophets, our congregation opted to use the visual arts to provide context and deepen our understanding of what was written.

Trading Cards

With the bulletin we handed out “minor prophet trading cards” to provide a quick visual summary of that week’s prophet. They were fun for the children (and for 30-year-old kids like myself) to collect and learn about the prophets. Each card included the prophet’s name, the place and date of writing, length of book, and a brief summary of the book’s contents. A member of our congregation who works in a print shop volunteered to print the cards for us on standard 8.5 x 11 glossy cardstock. Sheets of eight cards are available for download at tinyurl.com/lifeintheminorkey for whomever would like to use them.

“Life and Times of the Prophet” Videos

The minor prophets of the Old Testament are similar to the epistles of the New Testament in that they were written to a specific people, at a specific time, to address a specific issue. Without that context, it is impossible to truly understand the meaning of the text.

While it’s fairly easy for us to relate to Paul’s letters addressing the ways in which the church should follow Jesus, the problems facing the minor prophets (such as slavery, exile, hunger, and war) can be harder for many to relate to in North American culture.

To alleviate this inaccessibility, we created a series of short videos to provide historical and theological context. Each week before we read the Scripture we showed the video for that specific prophet. This provided our congregation with the needed context to engage the text as it was read and preached.

Painting the Prophets

While the trading cards and video provided historical context, our resident painter, Ed Westervelt, provided artistic interpretation. He began with twelve black-and-white panels that resembled piano keys, and hung them with Velcro around our sanctuary. Each week he would take one home and paint a semi-abstract interpretation of the prophet in a unique artistic style representative of the text. He would then bring it back to church and hang it up for the week in which we read that particular prophet. On the final week he removed all the completed panels from the walls and slowly put them together (on stage) to reveal a new image: a large tree transforming from death into life.

Worship Atmosphere

The minor prophets lend themselves to a reflective atmosphere during worship. During the series we held church “in the round,” placing all chairs in a circle around the communion table. We replaced our drum set with percussion and moved our worship band down on the floor, as part of the circle where the congregation sat, to provide a more intimate, acoustic atmosphere for worship. If worship in the round is not possible in your space, you could also considering moving your musicians off-stage or to the side.

Using the Whole Text

While we could read a few of the books in their entirety in worship (the whole book of Obadiah is only 21 verses), most are too long for a typical worship service. We used a few different strategies to utilize as much of the whole text as possible. Each week we invited the congregation to come meet at the church’s coffeehouse and read through the whole book. The longest of the minor prophets is 14 chapters, so it rarely took longer than an hour. Our pastor chose a few select verses to preach about that were the most representative of the message of that prophet, and we used other portions of the book as parts of our typical liturgy. For example, the week we used Amos the call to worship was from 5:4-15, the prayer of confession was 5:18-24, the words of assurance were 9:11-15, and the sermon was based on 7:7-9.

Do involve your congregation in the worship planning, too. If you meet to read through the entire book, ask people to listen for parts of the text that would be good to use in your worship service. For all weeks, consider using Michael Morgan’s “Song of the Prophets” (Lift Up Your Hearts #53). Each week sing the first stanza, the stanza for that day’s prophet, and the final stanza.

Following are service plans that center on each of the twelve minor prophets.

Week 1

Hosea

Summary

God uses Hosea’s marriage and his unfaithful wife to illustrate Israel’s unfaithfulness to God.

Assurance of Pardon

Hosea 11:8-9

Song Suggestions

“One Thing Remains” ^{Johnson/Black-Gifford/Riddle}
“Mighty to Save” ^{Fielding, Morgan}
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” ^Chisholm
“Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling” ^Thompson
“Give Me a Clean Heart” ^Douroux
“Give Us Clean Hands” ^Hall

Week 2

Joel

Summary of God’s Law

Micah 6:8

Song Suggestions

Life in the Minor Key

Telling the Story in Worship

Trading Cards

“Life and Times of the Prophet” Videos

Painting the Prophets

Worship Atmosphere

Using the Whole Text

Week 1

Hosea

Summary

Assurance of Pardon

Song Suggestions

Week 2

Joel

Summary

Call to Worship

Call to Confession

Song Suggestions

Week 3

Amos

Summary

Call to Worship

Prayer of Confession

Words of Assurance

Scripture Reading and Sermon

Song Suggestions

Week 4

Obadiah

Summary

Song Suggestions

Week 5

Jonah

Summary

Song Suggestions

Week 6

Micah

Summary

Assurance of Pardon

Summary of God’s Law

Song Suggestions

Week 7

Nahum

Summary

Song Suggestions

Week 8

Habakkuk

Summary

Song Suggestions

Week 9

Zephaniah

Summary

God’s Greeting

Assurance of Pardon

Song Suggestions

Week 10

Haggai

Summary

Song Suggestions

Week 11

Zechariah

Summary

Call to Worship

Song Suggestions

Week 12

Malachi

Summary

Assurance of Pardon

Song Suggestions

Other Resources by this Author

Reawakening Hymns

The Gospel According to Jesus

Reformed Worship Resources in Your Inbox