Jeremiah 7

Same old, same old!  The people are still being disobedient and so we find Jeremiah still proclaiming God’s judgement on the nation.  There really is a bit of a theme going on through the early chapters of this book, isn’t there?

And, perhaps it’s just me, but it feels a bit uncomfortable hearing the same message and the same accusations over and over again.  I wonder if the command to ‘Amend your ways!’ just gets a little too close to the bone – hence my discomfort as I read this chapter?

Jeremiah is delivering these words from the spot where the Lord has told him to stand and speak: ‘in the gate of the Lord’s house’ – indeed at least one commentator (Brueggemann) calls this chapter ‘Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon’.  Picturing him standing there, calling out this challenge to God’s people as they bustle past on their way into the Lord’s house doing their level best not to see or hear what’s going on, I feel his pain as prophet and feel myself accused.  It certainly adds a new and a more personal dimension to the well-known words that follow:

“Has this house , which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?”

The Lord refers them back to what happened to their ancestors in Shiloh (the northern shrine where Samuel served that was destroyed: 1 Sam 3-4).  The people are warned that the same fate now awaits the temple and themselves.  Yet it would have been unthinkable to them that what happened at Shiloh could happen to them.  But it’s all here, loud and clear (except they’re not listening) – they will be cast out of God’s sight and his anger and his wrath will be poured out and will burn and not be quenched (verse 20).  The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the animals of the earth (verse 33), God will bring an end to the sound of mirth and gladness, and the land shall become waste (verse 34).  Gulp!  This really is not good news, but, then, they aren’t listening anyway.

God assures Jeremiah once again that he’ll speak all these words but that no one will listen to him – no wonder he is our ‘weeping prophet’ – what a miserable ministry he has!

What are we to draw from a horror story like this one? Although it begins with a positive invitation from the Lord to enter the temple, to worship and to repent, so much of it speaks of God’s wrath and judgement – poured out in unspeakably appalling actions – death and destruction all around. How do we find God’s love in such words and deeds?  And, as we approach the coming Advent season – where do we glimpse any light in the darkness, or hope for the future? It all sounds so desolate, bringing us only – presumably like Jeremiah – to weep and to despair.

 

Seeking asylum

This list of facts really struck me when I came across it last week as the whole issue around asylum seekers and refugees is very close to my heart.

 

The city parishes where I live and work are a vibrant and incredibly diverse community of people from every imaginable ethnic, cultural and faith background.  Among them are many who have come to the UK in search of asylum, seeking freedom and protection from persecution in their home countries.

I get to hear something of their stories, but some just cannot speak about what they’ve left behind, or fled from. Discussing the baptismal question: Do you renounce evil? one candidate once said to me: ‘I’m sorry, but this is all just too hard for me to talk about’.

From my life of freedom and comfort and privilege and luxury, I can do little more than attempt to imagine the horrors – the evil – that that particular baptism candidate may have been concealing in those quiet words of apology for non-participation.  I have tried to read and educate myself to better understand the countries and cultures from which some of the asylum seekers arriving in the UK come.  With a better understanding of the reality in many other countries today, I realise how impossible it is, for someone like me, to try and imagine what  people arriving here to seek asylum may already have experienced in their lives.

I feel prompted to pray for those who suffer in the struggle and difficulty that is the asylum system in this country.  And, as I do so, I am frequently brought back to the many occasions in scripture when God’s people are commanded to show special care for the stranger – for the alien resident in our midst.

“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as a citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 19:33-34 (NRSV)

In my desire (and sense of God’s call) to serve the needs of people seeking asylum here, I spent some time yesterday in discussion with one of the staff of a local charity serving destitute asylum seekers.  Boaz Trust – whose founder, Dave Smith has recently published this excellent book on the subject – provide housing, advocacy and practical support (food, toiletries and other essential items) to many in our city.  I wanted to find out if and how we might do more to help those living in our local community.

The whole issue of immigration (including asylum seekers) has become a hugely contentious one in UK society today, and a political hot potato as the 2015 elections approach.  But I can’t help but hope that, whatever anyone’s personal views on asylum, we might all pause and consider the real human beings behind the headlines and the statistics.

You may not share my Christian conviction and therefore not be much persuaded to live according to an ancient biblical command from the Hebrew scriptures. But it does seem to me that loving others, whoever they are, however they connect with our own lives, is the way for the whole of humanity to live together in the world – whatever our faith tradition or lack thereof.

Words from the Word: Isaiah 40

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God … the grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever … See, the Lord God comes with might … He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms … and gently lead the mother sheep.”

Isaiah 40:1-11 (NRSV abridged)

Jeremiah 6

Get out! Flee! Evil is coming from the north – a cruel people with no mercy!

This chapter fills our heads with a picture of the horror of an invasion that now seems imminent. The call is to prepare for war, because terrible times are coming (verses 4-12). But no one is listening.  These people we are told are greedy (v13), have committed an abomination (v15), and are stubbornly rebellious (v28).

Yet in the midst of all this stands a verse (v16) that is often quoted – a verse that conveys a sense of goodness and beauty and tranquility:

“Stand at the crossroads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”

The Lord’s gentle and encouraging words here for his people. And their reply? No!

Still the people refuse all offers of help, and still they reject teaching about a better way of being and doing. So, therefore, disaster is coming (v19) with stumbling blocks against which both young and old will perish (v21) and terror everywhere (v25).

The analogy with the pain of a woman in labour reappears (v24) and the warning of bleak times ahead continues just as it continues to go unheeded.

And so we come to learn (v30) that ‘the Lord has rejected them’.

How do you feel as you reach the end of this chapter? I find myself puzzling over the gentle tone, the sheer beauty and encouragement captured in the words of verse 16 (quoted above) and yet the full horror to come continues to beat down on the people – and on me as I read. I feel the coming violence and the sheer agony that people will suffer. And yet God’s word in the midst of this is ever patient, gentle, loving and merciful. God is as ever the peace in our turmoil, the security and protection in our fear, and wholeness and healing in our brokenness. If we would only hear his voice and let him in …

Jeremiah 5

It’s been a while since we last read Jeremiah together.

But things are still not getting any better as this book progresses. Commentators note the lawsuit-style of the language used here as the utter corruption of God’s people is portrayed. There seems a moment of hope – but is it perhaps more sarcastic hyperbole than hope? If there is just one honest, truth-seeking and just person to be found, then Jerusalem can be saved. I guess if we want to read that with some positive spin, we can conclude that God does not want to bring destruction on his beloved people and their city – though some might then reasonably ask why God won’t simply let it go and pardon them anyway.

The accusation falls on rich and poor alike – there’s no distinction here. Wild animals – lion, wolf and leopard – lie poised to tear them to pieces for the many transgressions and apostates of which they are all guilty.

We read again of adultery, prostitution and lust. God describes his own people as ‘utterly faithless’ (verse 11) and decries them as ‘O foolish and senseless people’ (verse 21), as people with ‘a stubborn and rebellious heart’ (verse 23). The people basically stand accused of not believing the threats they’ve heard, of ignoring the prophecies spoken over them.

The future does not look bright (and it definitely doesn’t look orange!). God is going to bring in foreign conquerors to eat up everything (verse 15) and, because they have forsaken the Lord, they will find themselves serving strangers in the future (verse 19).

So what might God be saying into my life today through these tough words in this chapter? Again, I sense the key message is what we learn of God’s nature. He longs for his people to hear and obey his voice, but constant rebelliousness has to be reigned in. And yet God is ever-loving, just, but also merciful. His mercy is one of the greatest gifts for wayward humanity, always intent on doing its own thing and refusing to see or hear what God is doing or saying.  I think there’s a call for me in all of this to repent of the times I have not heard (perhaps wilfully chosen not to hear) and to ask God to draw me back to himself and to his ways. And I need to play my part in that too.