“God Calling: Jeremiah”
Jeremiah 1:4-10
We have a hate problem in our country.
This past week at least 10 people were shot in Chattanooga, 4 people died, 3 were homicides.
Our nation watched in horror as graphic videos showed the killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling.
Thursday night we witnessed a horrible tragedy in Dallas as snipers gunned down police officers during a peaceful demonstration.
There can be no doubt that hate is alive and well.
For the past year, the Presidential campaign has brought out the worst in us as hatred and racial tensions intensify and are being used for political gain by some of the very people who aim to lead this country.
Terrorism is becoming homegrown.
We have black pitted against white, white against black, Christians against Muslims, angry whites against Mexicans, Democrats against Republicans and Republicans against Democrats.
Conservatives make progressives out to be “devils” while progressives do the same to conservatives.
People are living as if “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” were their favorite Bible passage—when Jesus made it clear that the fulfillment of the law is to “turn the other cheek.”
In one way or another, I suppose this is the way it has always been—ever since the Fall--and because of that, Jesus came and died.
Jesus came and died in order to bring us together in love.
Jesus came and died in order to make us a “a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
We are called by God; all of us.
We are called to love those who love us as well as those who hate us.
We are called to be the “salt of the earth;” “the light of the world.”
We are called to be ONE just as Jesus and the Father are ONE.
We are called to heal, to share, to sow peace, to spread the Good News by our words and our actions.
We are called not to “see” color lines, class differences, racial divides.
As Paul puts it in Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
How are we doing at living into this promise?
How are we doing at getting “this word” out?
In a world filled with hate, there is no more important message!!!
There is no other hope.
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning we are told that “the word of the Lord came to [Jeremiah],” and it was during a terribly turbulent and volatile political time in Judah’s history.
There was a lot of violence, upheaval, instability, hatred.
But the Lord speaks to Jeremiah, as the Lord speaks to all of us, if we could only hear.
And the Lord says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”
I believe that what God is saying to Jeremiah, and to all of us is this—“Before I even began to create the world I knew you, I set you apart.”
In Psalm 139, which we read together earlier, it says: “My bones weren’t hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened.”
In the Creation story we are told that “God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them…” “[we] were formed from the [soil] of the fertile land…” and God “blew life’s breath into [our] nostrils.”
And that is the beginning of the love story of God for human beings.
That is the beginning of the love story of God for you and for me.
That is the beginning of the love story of God for the police who gunned down the black men this past week, and for the snipers who gunned down the police.
That is the beginning of the love story of God for the immigrant, the hateful, the terrorist, the Republican, the Democrat, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump!!!
God knows when we stand up and when we sit down.
He is familiar with all our ways.
He knit us, lovingly, together in our mother’s womb.
He is with us at all times.
He weeps when we weep.
He rejoices when we rejoice in His love and salvation—when we come home to Him like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable in Luke Chapter 15.
And He has great plans for us—for each and every one of us.
Do you believe that God has great plans for your life?
This is what brings us hope and meaning.
This is what gives our lives “sacred worth.”
We live in a world where human life is so often treated as if it were expendable—as if it doesn’t matter much.
So often, the poor and homeless are overlooked or looked down upon while the rich, the well-feed are lifted up and given even more to eat, drink, wear, spend.
So often people are judged by the color of their skin or what country they were born in.
But it doesn’t have to be this way!!!
We live in a lost and broken world, but Jesus Christ has come to fix it.
He calls each of us, just like Jeremiah was called.
He informs each one of us how important we are in His sight, and how well He knows us and loves us.
But of course, we are, in so many ways—no different than Jeremiah.
Our first reaction to God’s call is to resist.
When God goes to kiss us
on the lips, we often turn our heads.
When God comes to give us a hug, we often push God away.
When God offers us His Kingdom, we often choose the dung of the devil and hell instead!!!
When God calls Jeremiah, Jeremiah’s first response is—the first words out of his mouth are: “Ah, Lord God.”
If we were to look up the word for “ah” in a Hebrew Dictionary we would see that Jeremiah’s “ah” was more like “awwww!!!”
It was a sigh of pain and agony.
It was kind of like the sound you hear when you ask a child to clean their room, do the dishes, or turn off the t-v.
“Awww, mom…dad…just a few more minutes…”
Or
“Awww…I don’t want to do that.”
And so, Jeremiah was saying that to God’s call on his life.
“Please leave me alone.
I don’t want to do that.
I want to do my own thing.
Ask someone else; not me.”
Have you ever done that when God has called you?
Most of us have.
And then we might start to make excuses, such as, “I’ve got other plans for my life.
I want to make money.
I want to do this; I want to do that.”
Or
“I’m not good at that sort of thing.”
Or like Jeremiah, we might say: “I’m only a child.”
But look at how the Lord responded to Jeremiah’s “Awww, Lord God”:
“Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’
Where I send you, you must go; what I tell you, you must say.
Don’t be afraid…I am with you…
…I’m putting my words in your mouth...”
When God calls us; we are never expected to go it alone.
God goes with us; God leads the way.
What did Jesus say to those He called?
He said, “Come, follow me.”
We are to go where God goes, we are to do what God does.
We are to be the hands and feet of Christ in a lost and broken and hate filled world.
Jesus said, in Matthew Chapter 5: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Are you a peacemaker?
Are you sowing love and reconciliation between peoples?
Are you seeking to bring folks together?
Are you staying above the fray when others demonize people of other races, nationalities, political persuasions, religions—you name it?
Now, I’m not trying to imply that we don’t speak what we believe.
I’m not saying that we remain silent in the face of injustice.
I am saying that God calls us to speak the language of love and reconciliation in the face of hostility and anger.
And that is the most challenging thing anyone could ever do.
That’s what it means to be a prophet.
That’s what it means to be a Christian…
…whether we do this by words or by actions.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a modern day prophet.
He was a peacemaker.
And he did it through peaceful resistance.
And he did it through the power of God working in and through him.
Of course, like all the prophets of biblical times, he was killed.
And we must die as well, if we are going to fulfill God’s call on our lives.
We must die to selfishness and a “me, me, me” lifestyle and way of thinking.
We must die to sin, hatred, discord, and be raised to the new life of love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We must turn away from hate and speak only the language of love in a world that is so filled with hatred, violence, fear and strife.
And we can do it…I mean, it can be done through our lives—if only we allow God to put His Words in our mouths, go where He sends us, and say what He says we must say.
Do you trust God enough to do this?
Do I?
Do you believe God’s Words when He says: “Before I created you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart…”?
We have a hate problem in our country and in our world.
But our God is the God of Love; in Him there is no darkness at all.
We live in a world of hate but we are called not to hate, but to love.
We are to be the salt and light for a lost and broken world.
Even though, when we watch the news or read the paper it may seem that we live in hopeless times--we don’t.
And the only reason is that God is with us.
We are not alone.
We have been created in love to love and be loved.
And if we heed this call, then it’s not all darkness, is it?
It’s not all hate.
There is salt; there is light.
There is you; there is me.
And God is with us; we need not be afraid.
