Being Human

Jeremiah 10:1-11:23

Colossians 3:18-4:18

Psalm 78:56-72

Proverbs 24:28-29

23 I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.

      We are not able to plan our own course.

 24 So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.

      Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

I love the gentleness of Jeremiah that comes across in these words there is a real awareness in his writings of being a simple human being caught up in a huge storm of historical events.  There have been so many times over the last months that I have heard people say, “I’ve stopped listening to the news or reading the papers, it’s all got too depressing.”  We feel that same sense that Jeremiah had that our lives are not our own, we are unable to plan our own courses.

His prayer that follows this is simple but heartfelt.  Please God correct me and help me to be right in this mess that we are in but when you do it be gentle.  I can cope with that sort of faith.  God make me a better person but please do it gently as I am weak and I am afraid that I might break in the process.  It reminds me of Psalm 103 that says –

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

       so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

 14 for he knows how we are formed,

       he remembers that we are dust.

 15 As for man, his days are like grass,

       he flourishes like a flower of the field;

 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,

       and its place remembers it no more.

God's advice to NAMA, the banks and the speculators

Jeremiah 8:8-9:26

Colossians 3:1-17

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 24:27

The reading today from the Book of Proverbs should be put above the door to the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) and its equivalent in other countries around the world. In fact it should be incorporated into the logo of every bank in the world.

"Develop your business first - then build your house" Proverbs 24:27

Keeping it simple

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7
Colossians 2:8-23
Psalm 78:1-31
Proverbs 24:26

In the Colossians reading today Paul says, "Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ."  This is a passionate call from Paul to keep our Christian faith simple and focused on Jesus. For most of us this is difficult and a constant struggle.

Just as we all struggle with the more  obviously "moral" commandments about lying, taking time to rest, not lusting after things or people, not envying, always telling the truth, etc. so we also struggle with the first two "spiritual ones." The first commands are to have no gods but God and never to worship idols (ie objects or even ideas that take the place of God).

Today we cleaned the front of the church in Tullamore and put a load of compost and some plants into the huge planter in the new back garden. Three ladies from Mountmellick church did great work clearing out the weeds from the stony areas at the front of the building.  The weeds are gone for a little while but they'll be back soon.

Weeds keep coming back with boring inevitability and so do new forms of idolatry or dependence on things or people who are not God. Sometimes those new forms are really just old ones revamped. In the mid 20th century Pope Pius XII affirmed the doctrine of Mary as Queen of Heaven, a title and an idea denounced in the Jeremiah reading above as being idolatrous.  The Queen of Heaven mentioned in this chapter as Astarte but the styles of veneration are almost indistinguishable from modern methods used to “honour” Mary the mother of Jesus.

Poor Mary, I always feel sorry for her when I see this kind of thing happening.  Her entire life was dedicated to pointing people in the direction of Jesus and then all of a sudden people start to worship her, putting her on a pedestal (quite literally) and honouring her almost as equal with God.  It is as though someone spent their entire lives promoting sobriety and then we honour them by getting drunk.

But this kind of idolatry isn’t only a Roman Catholic thing.  In Reformed churches it can be the great martyrs of yesteryear whose words are treated as more sound than scripture who become our “Mary”, in liberal Protestant circles it is the next big iconoclastic scholar or the next big god-swamping idea, and in modern Evangelical or Charismatic circles it can be the famous speaker or Christian artist that we all run to and whose every word we hang. 

Idolatry is something that exists in every part of the church.  We break it just like we break the other commandments of God.  Does this mean it’s OK?  No.  Does this mean we need to keep working at it?  Yes.  OK, How do we do that?  I would suggest we do that by keeping things really, really simple.  Is it about Jesus?  Does it point to him and honour him?  Then it’s good.  Does it distract from Jesus and point away from him or cause us to spend silly amounts of time honouring someone or something that is not him?  Then it’s bad and we should ignore it.  Keep it simple and keep the weeds down!

Honest Words Honest Worship

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

Colossians 1:18-2:7

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 24:23-25

The Book of Psalms was the worship book of the Jewish Temple, a kind of Hymns Ancient and Modern from 400BC. It contains poems and songs that stretch over a period of about a thousand years. It was also the hymnbook of the early church who used it along with some other "hymns and spiritual songs" quoted by Paul and other authors such as the songs in Philipians chapter 2 (a song about Jesus) and 1 Corinthians 12 (a song about love).

They are so popular that even now, some 3500 years since the first one was written there are.some churches that sing only psalms in their worship services.

I think one of the reasons for their popularity is their honesty. I really couldn't see a modern hymn writer composing lines like this...

 4 You don’t let me sleep.

      I am too distressed even to pray!

 5 I think of the good old days,

      long since ended,

 6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.

      I search my soul and ponder the difference now.

 7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?

      Will he never again be kind to me?

 8 Is his unfailing love gone forever?

      Have his promises permanently failed?

 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?

      Has he slammed the door on his compassion?

Can you honestly imagine singing that in church?

But it would be great if we did. If our songs were more honest and not the jingoistic anthems that we often have to deal with on a Sunday then it might help us all be more open about our faith and doubts. 

OK, so where are the poets and musicians to take the words of Psalm 77 and all the other shockingly honest songs in the Book of Psalms and set them to some catchy modern music?

Osmotic Bible Study

Jeremiah 2:31-4:18
Colossians 1:1-17
Psalm 76:1-12
Proverbs 24:21-22

I'm so tired today that I read through the Bible passages above and then thought to myself, "OK, what am I going to write about these?" I then I realised that despite having only just read them I couldn't remember a single word apart from the fact that there was 'something nice' in the Colossians reading. Sometimes Bible reading is more like a passive system of osmosis than an active process of learning.

In the Jeremiah reading God is seen almost bending over backwards trying to bring Israel and Judah back to him after they have run off following other gods. It's almost an embarrassing picture as he pleads with his people, ready to accept even the slightest glimmer of genuine repentance. It is matched by the image of God in the Parable of the Prodigal Son as the insulted father running to welcome back his son without any prior proof that the son has truly repented. Growing up in Northern Ireland the predominant image of God in that country is of an incredibly stern figure ready to start shooting off the thunderbolts at every available opportunity. Jeremiah helps correct that. He still speaks in strong terms about God's judgement but that judgement is strongly tempered by his emphasis on the searching love of God that reaches out to even the most unholy and impure people you could think of, yes even the bankers!

The nice bit in Colossians was this - " This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace."

One of the real privileges of this job is seeing that process in action. Sometimes it's really slow, infuriatingly slow but sometimes it happens incredibly quickly and you see someone who was living in a destructive spiral last year living as a completely new person today. It's not just the dramatic cases either but somehow the ordinary people are the most fulfilling to see change, to watch them find a purpose in life and have their world transformed by encountering God's Grace.

Jeremiah and Isaiah

Jeremiah 1:1-2:30

Philippians 4:1-23

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 24:17-20

Today's readings herald the start of the book of Jeremiah, a prophet for whom many people have a great deal of love and appreciation. We've just finished Isaiah and although he has some of the most beautiful and poetic passages in the Bible you still can't help but come away from reading his prophecy without thinking that there is something of the Ian Paisley's about him.

He sometimes seems just a little too keen to sing about "The day of vengeance of our God" but in Jeremiah we have a prophet who seems to have the heart of a poet as well as the hands of a wordsmith.

The contrast is not just in the writings but in the call of both prophets. Isaiah is a statesman and confidant of kings who is called in the Jerusalem Temple with a vision of glory.  Jeremiah, although a priest, is called in what appears to be a garden or rural setting.

Isaiah declares himself unworthy as his lips are unclean, he has too much experience of lying, too many hurtful words have passed through his lips for them to be used to speak the Word of God. Jeremiah declares himself unworthy because he is too young, he does not have enough experience in life to stand up for God amid the hurly burly of Jerusalem life.

I admire Isaiah, he is brash, bold and unstoppable but I prefer Jeremiah. I love his fragility because it allows you to see that weak people can be used by God as much as the strong. Thankfully God chooses all sorts of people to grow his kingdom and live in his family.

Vive la différence!

Majesty and Mercy

Isaiah's prophecies finish with a vision of the majesty, mercy and justice of God.  His words in the closing verses are powerful, evocative and disturbing.  We get a picture of God as high above the understanding of human beings. He cannot be imprisoned within temples or rituals.

This all-powerful God who could do easily be portrayed as distant is anything but remote. He is intimately involved in the work and life of his creation.  He sees not just the outward actions of people but knows their inward motivation as well.

Another expectation would be that a God who was powerful and holy would side with those in his creation who were like him in being powerful but instead God declares himself to be on the side of the poor and the weak.  He is the God of the humble not the God of the proud. This has me wondering why so many of the men and women who achieve fame and popularity in the life of the church are often the least humble people you can meet.

He opposes these proud and powerful people so much that he compares their perfectly arranged sacrifices in the temple to the horror of human sacrifice or offering up an "unclean" animal like a pig.

The final aspect of God that Isaiah shows us is his justice. This is always the bit that I find most disturbing. We all think that justice is great in an abstract sense or very good for all those bad people out there but when we find out that the God who is all-powerful and all-knowing is also interested in Justice the we are right to get a little nervous.

The imagery is powerful, eternal fire, worms that never die, etc. The conclusion is obvious, don't think that because God is a God of mercy and love that he is somehow a soft touch who will simply overlook the evils in this world. One day God will judge this world and those who do not humble themselves before him will encounter the scrupulously fair side to his personality and receive from him everything that they did to others.