Imagine-We WILL Get Through This; Jeremiah 36:1-3

 

Rev. George Miller

Nov 22, 2020

Jeremiah 36:1-3

 

Imagine: 2022.  A cruise, perhaps to some place like Alaska.

 

Smooth jazz; fresh salmon

Shrimp cocktail

Sunsets like you’ve never seen before.

 

Breathing in the Breath of Creation.

 

Imagine: 2021.  A Christmas gathering

 

Children, grandbabies, nieces, nephews

Sweet potato pie; sparkling cider

Fresh bread

Presents, thoughtfully, purposely purchased to say “Christ is born!”

 

Imagine: Being Alive in

-4 years to see another election

-3 years to see brand new political ads

-2 years to welcome in 2022 with funky glasses with “2” on each lens

-I year to celebrate Disney World’s 50^th Anniversary.

 

But 1^st…1^st we got to get there.

 

To make it through today

Make it through next week

Make it through next month

Make it through this year.

 

To make it through this uneasiness

This sadness; this disappointment

This…EXILE.

 

Yes, we are scared

Yes, we are mad

Yes, we want to worship together

Face to face

Shoulder to shoulder

Hand to hand

 

But by us not meeting in person we are doing the right thing; we are choosing life, just as Moses commanded in Deuteronomy 30.

 

That’s what we as Emmanuel UCC have collectively decided.  By halting our in person worship we are choosing God, we are choosing life.

 

We are doing our part to love and protect one another, so that we can all live to see another day.  To live another year in God’s beautiful nahalah being blessed and blessing others.

 

 

To see Disney World turn 50

To see the Class of 2022 graduate

To go out and vote in the next election

 

Sadly, that’s not the case in today’s reading.

 

Here we have a story that involved a prophet, a people, and a politician.

 

Jeremiah lived over 2,800 years ago.  He was an emotional empath who saw how faith, politics, economics, and the environment were all tied together.

 

Jeremiah is in tune with international events and he knows that if the powers-that-be don’t act soon the country will be overthrown.

 

The Lord gives Jeremiah a direct message to share with the nation, just like God did with Jonah.  If they don’t wise up, change their ways, and face their wrongs, then they will face harsh consequences.

 

This message is yet another attempt of God showing merciful, womb-love.

 

God wants the nation to turn around; God wants the people to see a new day. 

 

God is using every possible resource to get the message out that God is ready to show them merciful, motherly love.

 

Jeremiah has these words written down, sends his Head Administrator Baruch to share this message in the Temple, and the people take the news seriously.

 

Baruch shares the message with local officials; they take it seriously.

 

Baruch shares this message with the King.  And the King…

 

…the person who is single handily responsible for the health and welfare of the kingdom…

 

Sits smugly in his chair.  

 

Takes out a pocketknife, cuts the message into tiny pieces, tosses them into the fire, gets mad at the messenger.

 

As a result, God’s merciful love manifests into another form of Parental Love- consequences for unjust, unethical behavior.

 

If only the King of Judah had acted like the King of Nineveh, he could have saved the people, save the land, and save the animals from enemy attack.

 

Instead, the King sets into motion events that will lead to the downfall of the nation, the destruction of the Temple, the death of countless citizens, and the closing of locally owned stores.

 

For more than 50 years, the people, the animals, the economy, and God’s beautiful nahalah will suffer unspeakable pain, suffering, and loss.

 

God’s Prophet offered the nation’s leader a chance to do the right thing and accept God’s womb love.

 

And the King said “No.”

 

He clearly did not understand dominion really meant.

 

The King clearly forgot the legacy God had established through Sarah’s family.

 

Clearly the King could give a flip about what folk like Hannah did to make his life possible.

 

He chose to forget Moses’s words to “Choose Life; Choose God.”

 

It appears we are living a similar experience now.

 

An administration that would rather get mad at the medical professional.

 

A state governor who’d rather dismiss what all his peers suggest.

 

County Commissioners who’d rather tell concerned citizens to “sit down” that to make a mandate to “mask up.”

 

But here’s the thing- As Christians,

as followers of Christ

Believers in the Truth

The descendants of

Deborah, Micah, and Esther

 

We answer to more than County Commissioners; we answer to more than State Governor.

 

We answer to the Holy Spirit

We answer to Jesus Christ

We answer to God.

 

And what does the Lord want?

 

To do justice, Love Kindness, to walk humbly, ethically with God.

 

Since Emmanuel UCC has a passion for God and compassion for all, WE are not dismissing the severity of what is happening.

 

We are not placing YOU in harm’s way.

 

We are not dismissing the prophetic work of our Council and our Preparation As Stewardship Team.

 

Instead, we are boldly, mercifully, motherly choosing life, we are choosing God.

 

We will continue to find ways to praise God.  We will continue to find ways to worship God through the ministry of our hearts and the ministry of our mind.

 

So, in closing, Beloved Community-

 

DO. NOT. BE. LIKE. THE. KING.

 

Don’t toss the message into the fire.

Don’t be mad at the messengers.

 

Instead, trust in God.

Look towards the future.

 

Save for that cruise.

Stock up on supplies for your 2021 Christmas dinner.

 

Hold onto hope for the world.

 

For after all, when we have hope, we are hoping with God.

 

Amen and amen.

 

*Today’s message would be impossible without a conversation with Steve Wills, head of The Shepherd’s Pantry at Emmanuel UCC.