Learning Activities

Bible conversation guide: Why worship a block of wood?
Isaiah 44:9-22

Key concepts
1.  Idolatry of any kind is nonsensical at its heart.
2.  Still, we make our own idols and thus fool ourselves.
3.  Idolatry is more subtle than it seems.
4.  There are other choices than this kind of foolish behavior.

Background
Isaiah lays on the sarcasm thickly here, asking his readers to imagine the garden-variety foolishness of constructing and worship ordinary objects that have no inherent godliness. By contrast, the Lord is worthy of worship and takes a dim view of this kind of foolishness.

Items for discussion or sharing

1. What in this text causes you to smile, at yourself or at others?
2. Substitute for Isaiah’s piece of wood some contemporary examples. Talk about the similarities and difference between ancient idols and current ones.
3. What’s so subtle in this text that you missed it the first time you read or heard this text?
4. The idols about which Isaiah fumes “can’t do anything” because they’re objects. Think about idols in our day that seem to be able almost anything (e.g.,sports heroes or technological marvels)? How easy or hard is it to worship those (American) idols?
5. Respond to verse 20, substituting a contemporary idol that you might be worshipping in the place of Isaiah’s piece of burning wood.   
6. What makes idolaters “nothing” (NRSV) or “worthless” (CEV)? (See verse 9.)
7. How does God’s grace show up in spite of our idolatries?
8. In the journal, Sustaining Simplicity, where do you find explicit or implicit references to idolatries? How does the author react to them?

Activities and next steps

1. Retell this Isaiah passage using contemporary examples of idols or idol-makers.
2. Write this passage at the center of a piece of poster board. Around the edges paste photos or drawings of contemporary idolatries that are as foolish as Isaiah’s examples. Add captions to each photo or drawing. Place your new poster where others can read it easily.
3. Compose “The Confessions of an Idol-Maker” and place it in your congregational newsletter.
4. How does God’s Spirit steer you away from idol-making or idol-worship?