Jeremiah 15:10-21

It's been a few days since my last post here, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote something for today. This particular reading really spoke to me as I am pondering the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ during this, the most Holy of Weeks.

"O Lord, thou knowest; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors,"

I'm still having a terrible time reading Jeremiah and the great zeal with which he pursues judgment upon the people of Israel. It borders on simple for all the people who have wronged him in his life. It almost becomes a personal vendetta that, in some ways, is not unlike the two boys who went into Columbine High School to shoot all the people who had mistreated them over the years. I've struggled with Jeremiah, and last year, I struggled with a text much like this one for one of my preaching classes. Back then, I decided to paint God's vengeance, God's judgment as something much better than what we would plan for our enemies, for God's enduring mercy always seems to go hand in hand with God's judgment. God's judgment is just, but God does not abandon us and God leads us through the suffering of that judgment.

Part of what Jeremiah is crying out for here is a cry against the persecution he has been facing because he keeps speaking out against the people of Israel. Maybe that's what I'm having the most trouble with, because I have no idea what true persecution is like. But God knows what is wrong and what is right, and maybe God is simply standing up for what is right here. The people Israel simply have to live with the consequences of their actions. The wages of sin are always death. That truly is something to consider as I walk through this Holy Week.

Jeremiah 25:30-38

"And those slain by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground."

I don't know what to say. God's wrath, God's anger is extensive so that no one is able to escape it. Everyone receives the judgment of God. Everyone feels the result of God's anger. This is what Jeremiah is told to prophesy - not one word should be left out. This is terrible and I don't know how I can stand in the face of this at all.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord.

Jeremiah 25:8-17

"Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it."

I was recently reminded this week as I looked at all my friends' status updates of the saying, "the wages of sin is death." This can be really hard for me to grapple with in my life, because I trust and I believe in a God who is steadfast in love and has unending mercy for the creation that God has made. I don't like to think about how our sin, our turning away from God placing our trust in whatever idols we can conjure, destroys and creates death for us in our lives. God's judgment against our sin does not pass away. Our sin condemns us and our fallible way of living. God's wrath and before it we cannot stand. But (and with God there is always a "but" when it comes to our sin), God still does not abandon us to our sin and death. God comes to us in our sin and death and still states in every possible way, "I am still your God, and you are still my people." Yes, God wrath will come. God's wrath does not pass away, because God does not want to lose us forever in our sin and death. God's wrath is a big, loud "NO!" to a way of life that does not give life but rather takes it away. I just wish that God didn't have to be a punisher and bringer of wrath. That's why I take comfort in that God also brings steadfast love and mercy.

Jeremiah 24:1-10

I've had a hard time finding direction of where to go and what to do with the Psalms these last days of Lent, so I decided to turn to my daily devotional for some guidance on readings everyday. This means that I probably won't be reading a psalm every day, but I think I will focus on the Hebrew bible (Old Testament for those who haven't gone through seminary classes and thought about what we call the Old Testament) readings as my daily (*cough*) devotional reading and reflection.

"Behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord."

You'd think that by now Jeremiah would know what God is up to whenever God speaks to him. Almost chapter after chapter, the Lord presents Jeremiah with object lessons which are in no way at all subtle. Earlier in the book, God even makes Jeremiah literally go buy a new pair of underwear, wear it without washing it, bury it the ground, and after "many days" dig it up just so that God could make a point about the corruption going on in the land. But no, Jeremiah yet again has to endure another painfully obvious object lesson from God. That painfully obvious object lesson holds some much needed truth and grace for us in our lives, though. In this lesson, God compares the people who have been uprooted and exiled from their homes as good ripe figs. In that, God says that those people are people that God will care for, strengthen, and return their homes to them. The others, the bad figs....well, I'm not sure what to do with what God says about them.

There are times when I don't know if I am a good fig or a really bad fig that cannot be eaten at all. There are times where I am good and times when I am bad. The only thing I can do is simply trust in the Lord that God is steadfast in love and mercy.

Psalm 70

"But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me , O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!"

Today, I simply opened up the book of psalms and started reading the first psalm that caught my eye. It's a little random, and I'm not sure how much you can put into it. But, there are times when random encounters with scripture can be helpful in your life. This is especially true of the Psalms.

I'm not sure how many times I've prayed this prayer in my life. I don't usually exclaim to God, "Come to me now!" But I do know that I can be a little impatient at times in my life. This is especially true when I'm confronted with the fact that no matter how much I may try, I really am still a poor and needy person who lives by the loving grace of God. It's not that God tolerates me, although I'm sure God has had to put up with a lot of the things in my life. God truly loves me and cares for me and there are times when I want God to hold me and comfort me as quickly as possible.

Psalm 107

I went on vacation last Thursday, and for number of various reasons (most of which are in fact simply excuses) I haven't made any postings since last Wednesday. Now today, I find myself trying to figure out exactly which psalm I'm going to read next. I settled on Psalm 107. It simply was the psalm for today in the daily lectionary.

"O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south."

I find myself somewhat surprised and yet wholly comforted by this psalm and what it proclaims - the steadfast love of the Lord. I don't think we truly step back and ponder what God's steadfast love truly is, and this psalm tells us of a deep and abiding love AND a steadfast love that won't let us delude ourselves with our won conceptions of power and security over our lives. God gathers us from all directions and miraculously turns the whole world on its head. Desert will become springs of water. Fruit orchards will become desert. And this happens because the Lord takes pity upon the lowly and the needy and gives them what they need - food for their hunger water for their thirst, and calm in their stormy seas of life.

I think that I should ponder the the steadfast love of the Lord much more often, especially since it doesn't always mean what I think it will mean.

Psalm 119 - Shin (vs. 161-168) & Tav (vs. 169-176)

One of the things that I have been thinking about a lot lately is about where place their faith and the church in their lives. When I say "faith," I mean a person's life centering trust in who God is (something that is only known by what God does...). When I say "church," I mean the church universal that is present in the lives of people gathered in Christ's name. Now, I'm not speaking primarily of placing faith and the church in terms of how we prioritize them in order of the things we care about in our life. This isn't a "what comes first?" placing of the church, although to be sure for many people, myself included, some serious meditation on this subject should be made. What I mean by "placing" is simply whether or not church and faith is something you put on a high and narrow pedestal in your life.

My hunch is that people have all too often held faith and church as a high and valuable virtue. We hear this happen we or others recount our mountain top experiences - those places and times where we feel the closest and most connected to God in our lives. Church and faith are very good virtues in our lives. They should be given high esteem and be a valued priority in our lives, yet but what about all the times in our life where we feel like we've fallen from that highly exalted and good place? This question is what makes me wonder about placing the church and faith on such a high and narrow pedestal.

When this happens, I've been pondering another question as of late. How can church rather be a place of support and strength for people in their bad times? How can church and faith be a place that you turn towards rather than fall from. Shame and guilt and pride can be real roadblocks for us in our lives to even begin to feel that the church and our faith are places where we don't belong. We say to ourselves, "Church is a place that I went to when things were right in my life - when things were good."

That's why the very last verse in the whole of Psalm 119 seems so important to me as I read it.

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments."

We need our faith and our churches to be a place that we turn towards when bad times hit. We need to realize that all too often we are like sheep who have gone astray and are in desparate need for God's guidance and support in our lives.