Funk and Faith; Sermon on Jeremiah 33 14-18

Rev. George Miller
Dec 1, 2019
Jeremiah 33:14-18

Today we enter the Season of Advent; a time of waiting.

The Macy’s Parade is a memory, the Thanksgiving leftovers are ready to be tossed away, and shopping is in full swing.

But if we are to be honest, for a lot of people this is a stressful time, a sad time, a dark time.

Last week was not an easy one. My car is still in the shop; Mom’s 100 days of Medicare is running out. Due to the shortened work week, the mechanic and social worker were on an abridged schedule, prolonging everything.

I know I’m not the only one feeling the Holiday funk. A professional shared with me that their clients are coming in complaining about how all they want to do is eat and sleep.

Someone in the medical field shared the level of anxiety that people are having, commenting that the other day he walked into a store and just had to leave, overwhelmed with all the stuff.

This is a season of great stress that we often place open ourselves; a stress to perform.

To make the perfect meal.
To buy the perfect gift.
To host the perfect gathering.
To have the perfect smile
To show the right amount of cheer.

If anyone feels this way- know that you are not alone. In fact, if we were to conduct a poll, we would find:

-there are those who dread the holidays because of painful memories attached to them

-there are those who dread the holidays because of a loss or change of life

-there are those who are numb to the whole thing

-those who’d prefer to skip the whole holiday thing and get to January 2 so they don’t have to pretend, perform...

…which is the very reason why we need Christmas.

Right now we are living day to day in which each night is literally getting darker and darker and hopelessness can feel greater and great.

But if we just hold on, Christmas comes along, and we discover that through the birth of Jesus there is indeed hope for the world and the darkness literally becomes less and less.

Today’s prophet, Jeremiah, knew a thing about dread, despair and hopelessness.

Jeremiah was a fascinating fellow. He was an empath; someone who could feel the energy around him.

While everyone else was acting all festive and as if there was not a care in the world, Jeremiah was in-tune with the current political and spiritual reality.

He knew they were living through a difficult time. The north and south were torn apart. Foreign enemies had infiltrated the nation. The Temple is a sham. People were not living as they ought to.

In today’s terms, Jeremiah would be considered “too sensitive.” He was always crying, claiming to literally feel the pain God felt.

He cried for the people, he cried for the land, he cried for the animals that suffered due to human choices.

The people refused to listen to him; they brushed him off; even tossed him into jail.

But when the events he predicted took place, when the struggle became real, and life as they knew it came to a jarring end, Jeremiah switched gears.

Because he had already dealt with his own grief, Jeremiah was able to become a beacon of hope and a cheerleader to the nation.

As we discussed a few months back, in chapter 32, Jeremiah performs a public act of faith and trust in the Lord.

In a dying economy, besieged by foreign enemies and everyone living in fear, Jeremiah does the unthinkable- he purchases a plot of barren land.

He does this in the town square, where everyone can see. He lays out the money, he signs and submits the deed.

Even though he knows he will not live long enough to see the land produce good grapes and grow shade producing-trees, he does so as a reminder, a sign of hope to the people,

that no matter what people see, no matter how they feel, God will indeed restore their fortunes, bring mercy upon them, and life will go on.

In today’s reading Jeremiah’s words of hope continues.

Like the Apostle Paul, Jeremiah is writing from a jail cell. Like Paul, he writes to give the people hope, and to offer then healing.

Everything they knew is gone but Jeremiah reminds them of the covenant that God had made to the people of David.

Though it seems like all hope is lost, Jeremiah reminds the people that there is still that branch of David that exists, and from that branch there will grow justice and righteousness, mercy and new beginnings.

Just like Mr. Twiggy.

If you were here two weeks ago, you’ll recall the story I gave of pruning back my hibiscus plant so much I thought I killed it, as nothing but a stick was left jutting out of the ground.

But over the weeks it began to bud and grow and produce leaves.

Today it’s crept up a few more inches and its leaves are growing fuller. Perhaps by spring it’ll even bloom.

That’s the hope that Jeremiah is giving the people; a hope that is challenging their current reality.

From his jail cell he is writing to them that though days are dark, things feel difficult and overwhelming, God has not forgotten the covenant.

God is already at work to bring restoration in which their personal, public, and spiritual lives will bloom once more.

Back then the people wondered just who Jeremiah meant when he referred to this Branch of David.

But for us, as Christians, we like to believe that he is referring to Jesus.

That Jesus, born of Mary, son of Joseph, is the righteous branch that springs from the tribe of David.

Just Genesis 2 shows God creating by being hands on, getting dirty in the mud, breathing life into our beings,

God will once again become intimately involved in our lives in the most fantastic way-

by slipping into our skin, entering the world as one of us, to show us just who God is and how much we matter.

That’s what Christmas is about.

No matter how we are feeling, no matter the loss we’ve experienced or the change we’re anticipating,

no matter what the signs may say or tumult the world is going through,

God has not forgotten.

God has not forgotten us, nor has God forgotten the covenant that was made so long with the branch of David about US and WE, for always and forever, flesh and bone.

Not only has God not forgotten, but our tenacious, Impossibly Possible God has taken the covenant to heart.

Christmas is God saying “Listen- I take the covenant so seriously that I am willing to slip into your flesh and bone and live just as you do

Beside you
With you
Joys, pains, trials, tribulations.

And I am willing to show you my grace and mercy, my love and my righteousness, my passion and compassion.”

And that’s who Jesus was, and that’s how Jesus lived.

As the season continues, many of us will focus on what we lost, what we’re losing, what we’re going through, and memories of years gone past.

That is normal.

If you do feel the funk, if you feel the anxiety, if you feel weight of the world, know that you are not alone.

And that you do not have to go through it alone.

You have a church you can turn to. There are people you can talk to.

Also know that this season is designed to be a time of active waiting.

Waiting with our woes and our worry, our anxiety and our sadness.

Waiting for how the glory of God will be revealed in the birth of a baby.

And waiting to rediscover that in Christ we have a Savior you can look to, because he knows; he knows.

Because he was once like you, like I, like us.

And in some ways that can provide great comfort during uncomfortable times.

For that, we can say “Amen.”