There’s a problem with the English language. We don’t have a personal pronoun to refer to someone without saying that they’re male or female. Other languages have a word that can mean “he,” “she,” or “it” depending on the circumstances. We don’t. Normally, this isn’t an issue because we generally know the gender of the person we’re talking about, and we pick “he” or “she.” (“It” refers to stuff that isn’t a person, so that one doesn’t count.) Until about a generation ago, “he” could be used on those rare occasions when we didn’t know if it was a male or female that we were talking about. As the feminist movement helped us to become sensitive to how this can be a problem for some people, we’ve started to use the somewhat awkward “he/she” construction.
So what pronoun do we use for God? God is a person, so “it” just doesn’t cut it. We know that God is neither male nor female, so calling God “He” or “She” is equally inaccurate. Some people try to avoid the entire issue by never using a pronoun for God. But this can sometimes be ridiculous: imagine reciting John 3:16 by saying “For God so loved the world that God gave God's only Child…”. So I, and many people, use the male pronoun for God. I do it for two reasons. First, it’s the traditional and customary way to do it. Referring to God as anything other than “He” would take some of us a lot of getting used to. And the strangeness of calling God “She” would interfere with people’s ability to hear what’s actually being said. However, some people would argue that there is a good reason for breaking with tradition at this point, because calling God “He” reinforces the dominance of men over women in our society which has so often been unhealthy.
My second reason for calling God “He” is a better one. While we know that God is neither male nor female, Jesus instructed us to call the first Person of the Trinity “Father.” And when the second Person of the Trinity became incarnate, he came as the male Jesus. So two of the three Persons of the Trinity have been revealed to us through male-oriented language. It doesn’t make God a man, but it tips the scales for us to refer to God with male pronouns.
However, when it comes to the third Person of the Trinity, things are a bit different. The Holy Spirit is a person, just as the Father and Son are. But have you ever noticed how we sometimes refer to the Spirit as “It”? That’s just plain wrong. Imagine how demeaning it would be for you to say something like “I talked to my neighbor yesterday. It told me about its new car.” If you wouldn’t talk about another human that way, why in the world would you talk about God that way?
So, do we call the Spirit “He” or “She”? If I’m correct in thinking that many of us refer to the Spirit as “It,” then our traditional and customary language is wrong, and wrong enough that it needs to be changed. Calling the Spirit “He” would reinforce the wrong notion that God is male. So I suggest that we refer to the Holy Spirit as “She.” It may sound odd, but it’s no more incorrect than calling the Spirit “He.” In fact, there’s some Biblical justification for this, if we accept that Proverbs’ personification of Wisdom as a woman is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and if we take Jesus’ message to Nicodemus seriously that we must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8), since women have exclusive birthing rights.
Calling the Holy Spirit “She” isn’t a radical claim about the nature of God. It’s simply the best that we can do until the English language gives us better choices.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Semper Ref
Presbyterians call themselves “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda.” This is typically translated as “The Church Reformed and Always Reforming.” But for reasons that I’ll explain in a bit, there’s a crucial error in this mis-translation. We recognize that as individuals and as a church, we’re never quite where God wants us to be. For us, the life of faith is an adventurous journey, as we seek to change ourselves into what God wants us to be. Because of the sin that is a part of human nature, the journey starts far from God. And even while we seek to draw closer to Him, we continually swerve off in other directions and need to get our bearings straight over and over again. What this means is that we never sit back on our accomplishments and congratulate ourselves that we’ve “made it” and are all squared away with God. There’s always more work to do, and there’s always errors in our lives that we need to correct. It’s true for us individually, and it’s true for us as a church.
A tremendous change has just taken place at Old Union Church. The character and purpose of our congregation remains the same, but with our new building, the possibilities for what we are able to do in God’s name, and the witness which we carry into the community, is very different. It’s going to take us a while to sort through it all and figure out what we can now do. In the midst of all this newness at Old Union, it would be easy for us to wish for the way things used to be. Change makes us uncomfortable, especially for something as important to us as our church. Weren’t things good enough before? Why do we have to change? The answer is simple: we are the Reformed church that is always reforming. Change, growth, and development is in our very nature. As our motto indicates, we are a future-looking church, eager to discover how we can change to be more faithful to God. Traditions are wonderful, but they are the foundation for our journey, not the final destination.
But what kind of change are we talking about? Not all change is good, and we can all think of plenty of examples in which change made things worse. This is where the accurate translation of our motto makes all the difference. “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda” does not mean “The Church Reformed, Always Reforming,” but “The Church Reformed, Always Being Reformed.” Change isn’t something we do; it’s something God does to us. We do not undertake our journey of faith blindly. God leads us and works in us to make us the people and the church that He wants. We depend upon the work of His Spirit to reform and change us according to His purposes. From the very beginning, we have sought for this building project to be God’s plan for the direction of our church, and not just something we thought of by ourselves.
It’s exciting to begin a new chapter of our church’s history. Let’s continue to seek God’s guidance to ensure that we are being reformed by Him.
A tremendous change has just taken place at Old Union Church. The character and purpose of our congregation remains the same, but with our new building, the possibilities for what we are able to do in God’s name, and the witness which we carry into the community, is very different. It’s going to take us a while to sort through it all and figure out what we can now do. In the midst of all this newness at Old Union, it would be easy for us to wish for the way things used to be. Change makes us uncomfortable, especially for something as important to us as our church. Weren’t things good enough before? Why do we have to change? The answer is simple: we are the Reformed church that is always reforming. Change, growth, and development is in our very nature. As our motto indicates, we are a future-looking church, eager to discover how we can change to be more faithful to God. Traditions are wonderful, but they are the foundation for our journey, not the final destination.
But what kind of change are we talking about? Not all change is good, and we can all think of plenty of examples in which change made things worse. This is where the accurate translation of our motto makes all the difference. “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda” does not mean “The Church Reformed, Always Reforming,” but “The Church Reformed, Always Being Reformed.” Change isn’t something we do; it’s something God does to us. We do not undertake our journey of faith blindly. God leads us and works in us to make us the people and the church that He wants. We depend upon the work of His Spirit to reform and change us according to His purposes. From the very beginning, we have sought for this building project to be God’s plan for the direction of our church, and not just something we thought of by ourselves.
It’s exciting to begin a new chapter of our church’s history. Let’s continue to seek God’s guidance to ensure that we are being reformed by Him.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
What Are You Doing for Lent?
Lent is the forty day long season of the church that began on Ash Wednesday and will continue until our Easter celebration on April 12. It can be a valuable resource to deepen their relationship with God. So what are you doing for Lent this year?
Traditionally, Lent is a time of year for people to increase their devotion to God for a relatively short period of time. It’s an opportunity to take up an extra faith challenge that you may not be able to maintain for an extended period of time. But maybe for a month and a half you can handle it. And who knows? Perhaps when Easter rolls around you find out that your Lenten discipline wasn’t so bad after all and that you can make it a part of your ongoing walk with God. And if you can’t, at the very least you will have benefitted from forty days of a deeper immersion into your faith.
Most people typically consider these Lenten disciplines to be something negative. In other words, you “give something up” for Lent. It may be a vice or a bad habit, or something that you wish wasn’t part of your life. When viewed this way, Lenten disciplines are reduced to something like a churchy version of new year’s resolutions. And they’re not much more spiritually uplifting. The only real reason to “give something up” for Lent is to open up space in your life for God to be more present. For example, if you decide to give up television for Lent but end up surfing the internet instead, you haven’t really gotten much closer to God in the process.
Here are some suggestions for how you can have a “positive” Lenten discipline. That is, instead of getting rid of something, try do something new and different to spice up your faith and challenge you to lead a more Christ-like life. It may mean that you have to quit doing something else, but the emphasis is on what you’re doing for God, not on what you’re giving up. Here are a few ideas to get your imagination stirring:
• Spend ten minutes a day reading the Bible, and five minutes talking with God about what you’ve read.
• Select five issues or people (one for each finger on your hand, to make it easier to remember) to pray about every day during Lent.
• Give a portion of your spending money to a worthwhile charity, like the One Great Hour of Sharing.
• Make a point of befriending someone at school or work who is ignored or ridiculed by others.
• Turn off the radio when you’re driving, or take off your IPod, so that you can be more aware of God’s presence with you.
• Demonstrate your love for someone in your family by taking over one of their household chores for them.
Who knows? Maybe by the time Easter arrives, your Lenten discipline will be a part of your everyday life. Happy Lent!
Traditionally, Lent is a time of year for people to increase their devotion to God for a relatively short period of time. It’s an opportunity to take up an extra faith challenge that you may not be able to maintain for an extended period of time. But maybe for a month and a half you can handle it. And who knows? Perhaps when Easter rolls around you find out that your Lenten discipline wasn’t so bad after all and that you can make it a part of your ongoing walk with God. And if you can’t, at the very least you will have benefitted from forty days of a deeper immersion into your faith.
Most people typically consider these Lenten disciplines to be something negative. In other words, you “give something up” for Lent. It may be a vice or a bad habit, or something that you wish wasn’t part of your life. When viewed this way, Lenten disciplines are reduced to something like a churchy version of new year’s resolutions. And they’re not much more spiritually uplifting. The only real reason to “give something up” for Lent is to open up space in your life for God to be more present. For example, if you decide to give up television for Lent but end up surfing the internet instead, you haven’t really gotten much closer to God in the process.
Here are some suggestions for how you can have a “positive” Lenten discipline. That is, instead of getting rid of something, try do something new and different to spice up your faith and challenge you to lead a more Christ-like life. It may mean that you have to quit doing something else, but the emphasis is on what you’re doing for God, not on what you’re giving up. Here are a few ideas to get your imagination stirring:
• Spend ten minutes a day reading the Bible, and five minutes talking with God about what you’ve read.
• Select five issues or people (one for each finger on your hand, to make it easier to remember) to pray about every day during Lent.
• Give a portion of your spending money to a worthwhile charity, like the One Great Hour of Sharing.
• Make a point of befriending someone at school or work who is ignored or ridiculed by others.
• Turn off the radio when you’re driving, or take off your IPod, so that you can be more aware of God’s presence with you.
• Demonstrate your love for someone in your family by taking over one of their household chores for them.
Who knows? Maybe by the time Easter arrives, your Lenten discipline will be a part of your everyday life. Happy Lent!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Do You Have a Dinosaur Brain?
Are you a dinosaur? I’m not referring to how old you are, or how big you might be. I’m asking about the way that you think. The human brain has evolved quite a bit from the days that T. Rex and his friends roamed the earth. But at times we can allow our more primitive instincts to take over and control the way that we act and think, and we ignore the higher thought processes that we’re capable of. Or, to word it more spiritually (this is a church message, after all), at times we allow our worldly nature to control us, instead of conforming to the spiritual nature that Christ has won for us.
The session and I are spending this year in spiritual development, in order to become better faith leaders for the congregation. As part of our time at January’s session meeting, we used material by Dave Derby of Gospel Recordings to think about how we can overcome our “dinosaur brains.” He outlined seven rules that control how dinosaurs think. For each rule, we discussed examples of when we’ve seen it at work, and we read Scripture passages which describe the kind of thinking that God calls us to instead. Then we thought about what life in our church would look like if we gave up dinosaur thinking for the mind of Christ. This month, I invite you to do the same thing. Here are the seven rules of dinosaur brains. Think about times when you’ve seen people (maybe yourself!) act according to them. Then read the Scripture passages to learn about what God calls us to instead. Finally, think about how your life would be different if you overcame your own dinosaur brain.
1. Be Dominant: Win at all costs, and be sure to get the last word.
Matthew 20:25-28, James 1:19, Genesis 11:1-8
2. Defend the Territory: Hold on to what is yours and what is important to you.
Genesis 12:1-3, Mark 12:13-17, John 11:45-57
3. Get It Now: Act impulsively for instant gratification, instead of long-term rewards.
Genesis 45:1-7, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, James 4:1-3, 13-17, Proverbs 6:6-11
4. If It Hurts, Hiss: Blame someone else if things go wrong.
Numbers 14:1-4, Proverbs 19:3, Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 2:1-4
5. Get the Mate: Do what it takes to make yourself as impressive or attractive as possible.
Acts 5:1-11, 1 Samuel 16:1-12, Matthew 23:1-12, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 14:7-11
6. Like Me = Good, Not Like Me = Bad: Only trust people who are like you.
Luke 9:49-50, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
7. Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Protect yourself from danger, ridicule, or rejection.
Matthew 6:25-33, Luke 9:22-26, John 15:9-17
The session and I are spending this year in spiritual development, in order to become better faith leaders for the congregation. As part of our time at January’s session meeting, we used material by Dave Derby of Gospel Recordings to think about how we can overcome our “dinosaur brains.” He outlined seven rules that control how dinosaurs think. For each rule, we discussed examples of when we’ve seen it at work, and we read Scripture passages which describe the kind of thinking that God calls us to instead. Then we thought about what life in our church would look like if we gave up dinosaur thinking for the mind of Christ. This month, I invite you to do the same thing. Here are the seven rules of dinosaur brains. Think about times when you’ve seen people (maybe yourself!) act according to them. Then read the Scripture passages to learn about what God calls us to instead. Finally, think about how your life would be different if you overcame your own dinosaur brain.
1. Be Dominant: Win at all costs, and be sure to get the last word.
Matthew 20:25-28, James 1:19, Genesis 11:1-8
2. Defend the Territory: Hold on to what is yours and what is important to you.
Genesis 12:1-3, Mark 12:13-17, John 11:45-57
3. Get It Now: Act impulsively for instant gratification, instead of long-term rewards.
Genesis 45:1-7, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, James 4:1-3, 13-17, Proverbs 6:6-11
4. If It Hurts, Hiss: Blame someone else if things go wrong.
Numbers 14:1-4, Proverbs 19:3, Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 2:1-4
5. Get the Mate: Do what it takes to make yourself as impressive or attractive as possible.
Acts 5:1-11, 1 Samuel 16:1-12, Matthew 23:1-12, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 14:7-11
6. Like Me = Good, Not Like Me = Bad: Only trust people who are like you.
Luke 9:49-50, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
7. Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Protect yourself from danger, ridicule, or rejection.
Matthew 6:25-33, Luke 9:22-26, John 15:9-17
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Facing a Gideon Moment
The congregation that I serve has been affected by the financial crisis that our nation is dealing with. A significant amount of money that we raised for our building project has disappeared because of the downturn in the stock market. If we want construction to continue, we will have to increase our loan from $300,000 to $450,000. As we deal with this unpleasant situation, it would be easy for us to respond with despair, frustration, anxiety, or anger. We may want to look for someone to blame for this situation, or we may give up on trying to complete this goal.
Instead, I encourage you to consider this to be a “Gideon moment,” as we trust and work with God. In Judges 6 and 7, God told Gideon that He was sending him to defeat the army that was occupying the land of Israel. In response to God’s call, Gideon assembled an army of 32,000 soldiers to attack a much bigger enemy force. Anyone in their right mind would say that Gideon needed every warrior he could find to join him in the battle. But God told Gideon that he had too many men. Too many! What general who was ever preparing for battle thought that he had too many soldiers? But God wanted Gideon to know that when he defeated them, the victory would come because of God’s power and not his army. So with God’s guidance, Gideon whittled down his forces until he only had 300 soldiers. And with those 300, he defeated the enemy.
When we first started preparations for this building project, we knew that it would only succeed if it was God’s will. At every step, we did our best to ensure that we were following where God was guiding. And by every conventional measure, things seemed to be going well. In four years we raised an incredible amount of money, and we secured a loan with excellent terms from church-related institution to pay for the rest of the construction. Based on what we had been able to raise in the past, we had every reason to believe that we would be able to pay off the loan in three years.
Gideon thought his army of 32,000 could defeat the Midianites, and we thought that we would be able to complete our building project. But God wanted Gideon to know that it was His power, not Gideon’s, that won the victory. And now, perhaps God wants us to know that this building project will not succeed because of our efforts, but because of His power at work in us. A sign in the back of our sanctuary defines faith as “Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him.” This latest situation is part of the adventure that comes from trusting God. If we could complete this building project on our own, where would the faith be? But if we are brought to our knees and realize that the project will indeed succeed only with God’s blessing, then we are well on our way to living out our faith.
Does this mean that we should sit back quietly and do nothing, because God will take care of it all? By no means! Gideon and his band of 300 men had an army to face, and we have a project to complete. We have work to do together, but we must remember that we are playing our role in the plan that God has for us.
We share this crisis with countless families and institutions across our nation. May the way that we face it as a church be a witness to those around us of what is possible when we trust and follow God.
Instead, I encourage you to consider this to be a “Gideon moment,” as we trust and work with God. In Judges 6 and 7, God told Gideon that He was sending him to defeat the army that was occupying the land of Israel. In response to God’s call, Gideon assembled an army of 32,000 soldiers to attack a much bigger enemy force. Anyone in their right mind would say that Gideon needed every warrior he could find to join him in the battle. But God told Gideon that he had too many men. Too many! What general who was ever preparing for battle thought that he had too many soldiers? But God wanted Gideon to know that when he defeated them, the victory would come because of God’s power and not his army. So with God’s guidance, Gideon whittled down his forces until he only had 300 soldiers. And with those 300, he defeated the enemy.
When we first started preparations for this building project, we knew that it would only succeed if it was God’s will. At every step, we did our best to ensure that we were following where God was guiding. And by every conventional measure, things seemed to be going well. In four years we raised an incredible amount of money, and we secured a loan with excellent terms from church-related institution to pay for the rest of the construction. Based on what we had been able to raise in the past, we had every reason to believe that we would be able to pay off the loan in three years.
Gideon thought his army of 32,000 could defeat the Midianites, and we thought that we would be able to complete our building project. But God wanted Gideon to know that it was His power, not Gideon’s, that won the victory. And now, perhaps God wants us to know that this building project will not succeed because of our efforts, but because of His power at work in us. A sign in the back of our sanctuary defines faith as “Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him.” This latest situation is part of the adventure that comes from trusting God. If we could complete this building project on our own, where would the faith be? But if we are brought to our knees and realize that the project will indeed succeed only with God’s blessing, then we are well on our way to living out our faith.
Does this mean that we should sit back quietly and do nothing, because God will take care of it all? By no means! Gideon and his band of 300 men had an army to face, and we have a project to complete. We have work to do together, but we must remember that we are playing our role in the plan that God has for us.
We share this crisis with countless families and institutions across our nation. May the way that we face it as a church be a witness to those around us of what is possible when we trust and follow God.
Revelation 2:1-7 – Getting Back to Basics
As we begin to study the letters which John wrote to each of the seven churches, we can notice that the letters follow a specific pattern. Each begins with “These are the words of him who…” and then picks up one of the descriptive phrases for Jesus which we found in Chapter 1. The particular descriptive is frequently something that relates to the particular issue that the church is dealing with. Next, the letter provides an affirmation for how the church has been faithful (except for the notable exception of the church to the Laodiceans). The next element for each letter is a call for reformation: the identification of something that the churches can do to be more faithful (except for the notable exception of the Philadelphians). The letters end with a promise of the reward which the faithful will receive, and the charge “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The regularity of this formula helps us understand the message for each church.
John begins with a letter the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a major seaport and the most important city in the region. It was also the center of worship for the goddess Artemis (or Diana). Acts 19:23-41 describes a riot that the worshipers of Artemis incited in reaction to Paul’s preaching of the gospel there.
The affirmation for the Ephesian church was that they were hard-working and conscientious. They were discerning people and sought to avoid the influence of misleading or false leaders. That’s great: these are values which we’d all admire. There’s something almost instinctive, at least in the American “heartland,” about valuing hard work and quality work. And we respect people with sharp minds who don’t just accept every idea that comes down the pick, but probes and analyzes them to sift out what is valuable and get rid of the dangers and problems.
This is all quite commendable, but in the midst of their hard work and careful thought, the Ephesians had strayed from their “first love.” This can be understood two ways. First, they may have forgotten about the condition of love which is the starting point and grounding of everything we are and do as Christians. Church history is riddled with unfortunate examples of believers who became so caught up in doing the right thing and working hard to do it, that they no longer acted in love. The Spanish Inquisition and the Salem witch trials are two quick examples that come to mind. But they’re safe examples because they’re so removed from us. But it’s a danger we still face. It would be easy for the ongoing debate about the role of homosexuals in the church to dissolve into this, if and when those who hold up the Biblical standard against such conduct fail to do so out of love and respect and begin to demonize and break fellowship not only with homosexuals but with those who support them. Many congregations can find sad localized examples of their own: when a longtime member criticizes a new member because she violated a long-standing tradition about how “things are always done here,” or if a dispute about how to handle a situation in the church dissolves into factionalism and bitterness. In each of these cases, the love from which all discipleship begins has been violated.
But there’s a second way to understand Jesus’ criticism that the Ephesians have “forsaken their first love:” they lost sight of their primary call from God. They forgot how their relationship with God and their identity as God’s people started. In the process of developing and growing in faith, they abandoned their roots instead of building on them. This can happen to us, individually and as a church, when we forget why we are doing what we’re doing and obsess over how to do it. They need to heed the exhortation that Paul offered to the Philippians: “Let us live up to what we have already attained” (3:16).
John begins with a letter the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a major seaport and the most important city in the region. It was also the center of worship for the goddess Artemis (or Diana). Acts 19:23-41 describes a riot that the worshipers of Artemis incited in reaction to Paul’s preaching of the gospel there.
The affirmation for the Ephesian church was that they were hard-working and conscientious. They were discerning people and sought to avoid the influence of misleading or false leaders. That’s great: these are values which we’d all admire. There’s something almost instinctive, at least in the American “heartland,” about valuing hard work and quality work. And we respect people with sharp minds who don’t just accept every idea that comes down the pick, but probes and analyzes them to sift out what is valuable and get rid of the dangers and problems.
This is all quite commendable, but in the midst of their hard work and careful thought, the Ephesians had strayed from their “first love.” This can be understood two ways. First, they may have forgotten about the condition of love which is the starting point and grounding of everything we are and do as Christians. Church history is riddled with unfortunate examples of believers who became so caught up in doing the right thing and working hard to do it, that they no longer acted in love. The Spanish Inquisition and the Salem witch trials are two quick examples that come to mind. But they’re safe examples because they’re so removed from us. But it’s a danger we still face. It would be easy for the ongoing debate about the role of homosexuals in the church to dissolve into this, if and when those who hold up the Biblical standard against such conduct fail to do so out of love and respect and begin to demonize and break fellowship not only with homosexuals but with those who support them. Many congregations can find sad localized examples of their own: when a longtime member criticizes a new member because she violated a long-standing tradition about how “things are always done here,” or if a dispute about how to handle a situation in the church dissolves into factionalism and bitterness. In each of these cases, the love from which all discipleship begins has been violated.
But there’s a second way to understand Jesus’ criticism that the Ephesians have “forsaken their first love:” they lost sight of their primary call from God. They forgot how their relationship with God and their identity as God’s people started. In the process of developing and growing in faith, they abandoned their roots instead of building on them. This can happen to us, individually and as a church, when we forget why we are doing what we’re doing and obsess over how to do it. They need to heed the exhortation that Paul offered to the Philippians: “Let us live up to what we have already attained” (3:16).
Monday, September 1, 2008
Jeremiah 20:7-18 – Serving a Dangerous God
Jeremiah was a whiner. Plain and simple. Sure, he was one of the great prophets of Jerusalem, and he proclaimed God’s message faithfully during a difficult and dangerous time. But he complained and whined around all the time. Maybe you know some people like Jeremiah: they’re never satisfied and constantly complain about something or other. In fact, the Dutch have even turned his name into a verb; it mean “to complain.” When a child is fussy or whiny, the frustrated Dutch mother will exclaim, “Jeremiah je niet so!” Or, “Quit your jeremiahing!” I gave my mother plenty of practice with that line.
God should have known what he was getting into with Jeremiah. His whining started at the very beginning of his career, when God called him to be a prophet. Picture the scene: the very presence of the Almighty Lord of the universe enveloped Jeremiah and gave him these profound words of commissioning: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Wouldn’t that just blow you away if the Lord ever said something like that to you? Before Jeremiah had even been born, God had great plans for him: to be his messenger to the world. But how does Jeremiah respond? “Oh, God, you don’t want me to do that. I’m just a kid; I don’t know how to speak well.” So God has to go on for nine more verses to convince Jeremiah that he would fill him with the power and ability to do great things in his name. Instead of receiving his prophet’s commission with gratitude, Jeremiah argued. God had to convince him to take the job.
I wonder if God ever regretted it. Sure, Jeremiah did a great job of being a prophet. All of Jerusalem listened to him. Everyone from the king and the high priest down to the foot soldier in the army and the man in the street listened to him. But Jeremiah hated his job. He kept complaining to God about what he was doing. The Bible records at least five or six of his complaints. Well, when it’s in the Bible we give it a fancy name. They’re called “laments.” Doesn’t that sound so much nicer? Well, don’t let the label fool you. Jeremiah whined, complained, and bellyached his way through the chores that God had in store for him.
Now, maybe I’m not giving Jeremiah enough credit. To be fair, he had a remarkably difficult task in front of him. The nation of Judah had lost its spiritual moorings and had drifted away from faithful devotion to the Lord. Oh, they still went through the rituals at the temple in Jerusalem. But it had become an empty meaningless ritual. The gods and idols of the neighboring nations were so much more interesting, and so the people followed them as well. So at first, Jeremiah’s job was to tell everyone to get back to God, to give him the honor and worship he deserved. But it didn’t take long for it to be obvious that the message wasn’t sinking in. So Jeremiah got a different message. Now, because the people had abandoned God, Jeremiah had to go around telling everyone that God was going to wipe out their nation. The pagan empire of Babylon would conquer them, with God’s blessing. That was bad enough. But then, when the Babylonian army attacked and surrounded Jerusalem, Jeremiah went around telling everyone that they should surrender. If they would surrender to the Babylonians, God would spare their lives and help them rebuild. But if they didn’t, he would wipe them out.
Now, how do you think that message was received?! At the point of greatest crisis in the nation’s entire history, Jeremiah is telling everyone to give up. What do you think Winston Churchill would have done if the preachers of London told everyone that they should lay down their arms and surrender to the Nazis? How do you think Scarlett O’Hare would have reacted if Rhett told her to welcome General Sherman to Atlanta? How would we have responded seven years ago if someone told us to give up, convert to Islam, and hand control of our nation to Osama bin Laden? It’s ludicrous even to imagine doing such a thing, and it’s enough to make your blood boil to think that someone would suggest such a thing. But that’s exactly what Jeremiah did. He marched around the fortifications of Jerusalem, shouting out to the soldiers: “Give up! Put down your weapons! God wants you to let the enemy win.” He went up to the king and demanded that he sign a surrender with the Babylonian general. He stood on the steps of the temple, where everyone was going to ask for God’s deliverance from the enemy, and told them that God had abandoned them and wouldn’t pay any attention to them. To put it mildly, Jeremiah was not a popular fellow. He was arrested, beaten, and thrown into prison. People mocked him and spat on him when he walked down the street. His own family conspired to kill him. Most scholars think that Jeremiah was a relative of the king, partly because that’s the only thing that would have kept him from being executed for treason.
No, maybe Jeremiah had a right to complain. I suspect he had lots of second thoughts about agreeing to become God’s prophet and putting up with all the grief and frustration that it had caused. If we want to understand his prayer of Chapter 20, we need to keep in mind everything that he went through that led to it.
Translation is a funny thing. When we move from one language to another, we can tweak our word choices to make them more acceptable. The opening line of Jeremiah’s prayer is a classic example of translating the teeth out of a message. In the NIV, his prayer begins “O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived.” In the NRSV, Jeremiah complains that God “enticed” him. Other translations say that he overpowered or seduced him. No matter how shocked you may be to hear Jeremiah complain about being deceived, enticed, seduced, or overpowered by God, it’s nowhere near the shock you’d feel if you could read the original Hebrew. Let’s put it this way: the word that Jeremiah used here is the same word that we find in Exodus 22:16, when a man “seduces” a woman and makes her sleep with him. A better translation might be rape. Or, a four-letter word that begins with f. That’s what Jeremiah thinks about being a prophet. He has been violated by God in the most degrading way. In a way that we don’t want to talk about in polite company. So our accommodating Bible translators softened the blow by using nicer words.
But the fact remains. Jeremiah agreed to do what God wanted him to do, and now he was paying the price. He felt used by God. His life would have been so much easier if he could have just done what he wanted to. But instead, because of God, he was living in constant torment and ridicule. God had suckered him into a raw deal with all that sweet talk about being called and set apart from before he was born, about all the glorious things he would do in the name of the Lord.
But the worst of it for Jeremiah was that he couldn’t just quit. He was a prophet, whether he wanted to be one or not. The Lord’s message burned inside of him, trying to get out. Jeremiah couldn’t help but to proclaim it, to do exactly what God wanted him to do. He was in a no-win situation. If he acted like a prophet and proclaimed God’s message, even his closest friends would try to kill him. But if he didn’t, the agony of holding in the message was just too much. No wonder Jeremiah ended his prayer by wishing that he had never even been born.
But in the midst of his prayer, even though he was in such turmoil and distress, even though he was so outraged at what God had done to him, Jeremiah blessed the Lord. He praised God for his might and prayed that his enemies would be vanquished. Even though being faithful had cost Jeremiah so dearly, he committed himself once more to God. He didn’t do it with joy and happiness; he was miserable and wished that he could die. But Jeremiah’s faithfulness didn’t depend upon his emotions. His commitment to God had nothing to do with the “goodies” that would come along with it: riches, honor, joy, peace, eternal life, or whatever. Jeremiah the complainer is for us a shining example of faith: following where God leads, no matter how terrible the path will be.
There are those who try to attract people to faith in God with descriptions of how much better life will be for them if they believe. But Jeremiah’s story seems to fly in the face of these promises. Following God may at times be the toughest kind of life of all. But if we’re like Jeremiah, we do it anyway because we recognize that there’s something more important than having a good life. It’s not about us; it’s about God. Our task is to do whatever it takes to glorify him.
So what do we do if we come upon times when we feel like Jeremiah, when it seems like God has duped us, overpowered us, or even worse? How do respond when life just seems to come apart for us, when God seems to let us down, or even turn on us? At such times, Jeremiah continues to be an example for us. His prayer can be our prayer. Don’t worry about being rude to God, or using nasty language. This is God we’re talking about, after all. If he can create the world by saying a word, if he can redeem the human race on a cross, surely his shoulders are big enough to take anything we hand to him.
God should have known what he was getting into with Jeremiah. His whining started at the very beginning of his career, when God called him to be a prophet. Picture the scene: the very presence of the Almighty Lord of the universe enveloped Jeremiah and gave him these profound words of commissioning: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Wouldn’t that just blow you away if the Lord ever said something like that to you? Before Jeremiah had even been born, God had great plans for him: to be his messenger to the world. But how does Jeremiah respond? “Oh, God, you don’t want me to do that. I’m just a kid; I don’t know how to speak well.” So God has to go on for nine more verses to convince Jeremiah that he would fill him with the power and ability to do great things in his name. Instead of receiving his prophet’s commission with gratitude, Jeremiah argued. God had to convince him to take the job.
I wonder if God ever regretted it. Sure, Jeremiah did a great job of being a prophet. All of Jerusalem listened to him. Everyone from the king and the high priest down to the foot soldier in the army and the man in the street listened to him. But Jeremiah hated his job. He kept complaining to God about what he was doing. The Bible records at least five or six of his complaints. Well, when it’s in the Bible we give it a fancy name. They’re called “laments.” Doesn’t that sound so much nicer? Well, don’t let the label fool you. Jeremiah whined, complained, and bellyached his way through the chores that God had in store for him.
Now, maybe I’m not giving Jeremiah enough credit. To be fair, he had a remarkably difficult task in front of him. The nation of Judah had lost its spiritual moorings and had drifted away from faithful devotion to the Lord. Oh, they still went through the rituals at the temple in Jerusalem. But it had become an empty meaningless ritual. The gods and idols of the neighboring nations were so much more interesting, and so the people followed them as well. So at first, Jeremiah’s job was to tell everyone to get back to God, to give him the honor and worship he deserved. But it didn’t take long for it to be obvious that the message wasn’t sinking in. So Jeremiah got a different message. Now, because the people had abandoned God, Jeremiah had to go around telling everyone that God was going to wipe out their nation. The pagan empire of Babylon would conquer them, with God’s blessing. That was bad enough. But then, when the Babylonian army attacked and surrounded Jerusalem, Jeremiah went around telling everyone that they should surrender. If they would surrender to the Babylonians, God would spare their lives and help them rebuild. But if they didn’t, he would wipe them out.
Now, how do you think that message was received?! At the point of greatest crisis in the nation’s entire history, Jeremiah is telling everyone to give up. What do you think Winston Churchill would have done if the preachers of London told everyone that they should lay down their arms and surrender to the Nazis? How do you think Scarlett O’Hare would have reacted if Rhett told her to welcome General Sherman to Atlanta? How would we have responded seven years ago if someone told us to give up, convert to Islam, and hand control of our nation to Osama bin Laden? It’s ludicrous even to imagine doing such a thing, and it’s enough to make your blood boil to think that someone would suggest such a thing. But that’s exactly what Jeremiah did. He marched around the fortifications of Jerusalem, shouting out to the soldiers: “Give up! Put down your weapons! God wants you to let the enemy win.” He went up to the king and demanded that he sign a surrender with the Babylonian general. He stood on the steps of the temple, where everyone was going to ask for God’s deliverance from the enemy, and told them that God had abandoned them and wouldn’t pay any attention to them. To put it mildly, Jeremiah was not a popular fellow. He was arrested, beaten, and thrown into prison. People mocked him and spat on him when he walked down the street. His own family conspired to kill him. Most scholars think that Jeremiah was a relative of the king, partly because that’s the only thing that would have kept him from being executed for treason.
No, maybe Jeremiah had a right to complain. I suspect he had lots of second thoughts about agreeing to become God’s prophet and putting up with all the grief and frustration that it had caused. If we want to understand his prayer of Chapter 20, we need to keep in mind everything that he went through that led to it.
Translation is a funny thing. When we move from one language to another, we can tweak our word choices to make them more acceptable. The opening line of Jeremiah’s prayer is a classic example of translating the teeth out of a message. In the NIV, his prayer begins “O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived.” In the NRSV, Jeremiah complains that God “enticed” him. Other translations say that he overpowered or seduced him. No matter how shocked you may be to hear Jeremiah complain about being deceived, enticed, seduced, or overpowered by God, it’s nowhere near the shock you’d feel if you could read the original Hebrew. Let’s put it this way: the word that Jeremiah used here is the same word that we find in Exodus 22:16, when a man “seduces” a woman and makes her sleep with him. A better translation might be rape. Or, a four-letter word that begins with f. That’s what Jeremiah thinks about being a prophet. He has been violated by God in the most degrading way. In a way that we don’t want to talk about in polite company. So our accommodating Bible translators softened the blow by using nicer words.
But the fact remains. Jeremiah agreed to do what God wanted him to do, and now he was paying the price. He felt used by God. His life would have been so much easier if he could have just done what he wanted to. But instead, because of God, he was living in constant torment and ridicule. God had suckered him into a raw deal with all that sweet talk about being called and set apart from before he was born, about all the glorious things he would do in the name of the Lord.
But the worst of it for Jeremiah was that he couldn’t just quit. He was a prophet, whether he wanted to be one or not. The Lord’s message burned inside of him, trying to get out. Jeremiah couldn’t help but to proclaim it, to do exactly what God wanted him to do. He was in a no-win situation. If he acted like a prophet and proclaimed God’s message, even his closest friends would try to kill him. But if he didn’t, the agony of holding in the message was just too much. No wonder Jeremiah ended his prayer by wishing that he had never even been born.
But in the midst of his prayer, even though he was in such turmoil and distress, even though he was so outraged at what God had done to him, Jeremiah blessed the Lord. He praised God for his might and prayed that his enemies would be vanquished. Even though being faithful had cost Jeremiah so dearly, he committed himself once more to God. He didn’t do it with joy and happiness; he was miserable and wished that he could die. But Jeremiah’s faithfulness didn’t depend upon his emotions. His commitment to God had nothing to do with the “goodies” that would come along with it: riches, honor, joy, peace, eternal life, or whatever. Jeremiah the complainer is for us a shining example of faith: following where God leads, no matter how terrible the path will be.
There are those who try to attract people to faith in God with descriptions of how much better life will be for them if they believe. But Jeremiah’s story seems to fly in the face of these promises. Following God may at times be the toughest kind of life of all. But if we’re like Jeremiah, we do it anyway because we recognize that there’s something more important than having a good life. It’s not about us; it’s about God. Our task is to do whatever it takes to glorify him.
So what do we do if we come upon times when we feel like Jeremiah, when it seems like God has duped us, overpowered us, or even worse? How do respond when life just seems to come apart for us, when God seems to let us down, or even turn on us? At such times, Jeremiah continues to be an example for us. His prayer can be our prayer. Don’t worry about being rude to God, or using nasty language. This is God we’re talking about, after all. If he can create the world by saying a word, if he can redeem the human race on a cross, surely his shoulders are big enough to take anything we hand to him.
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