The Prophet Haggai is one of the shorter books in the Bible. We only read from it in the lectionary (the scripture readings scheduled for each day over a several year span) for two days, every other year. Haggai was active as a prophet after the Babylonian Exile, the time when the Jewish people had returned to the promised land. From the people’s perspective they were doing what they needed to do to re-create their homes — building houses, tending the fields, conducting business. From the prophet’s perspective they were neglecting the thing that mattered most — righting their relationship with God. Those concerns are with us still — is faith something we work into our lives after taking care of other things or does it have priority?
