This past week we had a guest preacher at the dedication of our renovated sanctuary at Woodland Park Pres, so I got to take a break from preaching and did not blog. The dedication celebration was a rousing success, as we had many former pastors and members in attendance to help us give thanks to God for the many years of ministry here and look forward to many more years.
This coming Sunday, we'll be reading Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 4:21-30 in our worship service. Here's part of the Jeremiah passage:
"Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.'
Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am
only a boy.' But the Lord said to me,
'Do not say, I am only a boy;
for you will go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,'
says the Lord.
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
'Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.'"
How many times in your life have you felt frightened, weak and unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead of you in life? Maybe I should ask how many times a day?
All through the scriptures, people express disbelief that God would call them to do something in this world when obviously they are not up to the task for various reasons. For Jeremiah, it was his immaturity, his insignificance. But God can be pushy and says, "You shall go to all whom I send you and speak whatever I command you." Jeremiah is not going to get away.
Joseph Brodsky, a Russian-American writer said, "Passion is the privilege of the insignificance."
In what ways do you feel small now? How is the Spirit calling forth your passion from that insignificance?
The Buddhists have a suggestion that we approach life with a beginner's mind. I see Jesus' saying that we much approach the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child with similar sets of parabolic meaning. While humility to respect another's opinions can be part of this, I like the idea that all of us can help each other to understand God by sharing our experiences of the Trinity.
ReplyDeleteI see these verses as Jeremiah's understanding of how he was able to face a big challenge in his life with the encouragement and nudging of God. I believe that most people when faced with a challenge are not fully prepared for it. I know that I am not. But I can only do the best I can in any situation I face that is difficult. I hear the encouragement and nudging of God through the communities I am connected with, the people whom I share my sufferings and my joys in life.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to reflect an observation based on one of your sermon points, today. We do indeed use our freedom succumbing to the secular marketing by filling our closets with i-pods and other electronic gadgets. The secular world also makes us feel like the devil will fill our idle hands, unless our every waking moment is busy doing. Janis Joplin singing “Freedom is just another word for nothing else to do,” captures the pulling away from our testing the contemplative waters. Lent offers us a chance to rediscover ourselves as a “human being,” rather than a “human doing.” I hope Wes' friendly invitation will encourage some of the hesitant to use their freedom to sample these springs of living water during the Sunday evenings of Lent.
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