One who is Hurled, Thrown into the Path of a People who are Bent on Self-Destruction Must Be Relevant. He must be Germane to a Grieving Generation. His Applications must be Appropriate for the Aches of His Age. His Preaching must be Pertinent to the Problems of His Parish. His Sermons must be Suited for the Situation, Fit to Function. He must be Apt to Apply the Logic of the Lord to the Discourse of Human Reasonings. One who is Thrown into the Path of his Perplexed People Must Be Relevant!
And that leads me to conclude that Not All who Occupy Pulpits and who carry the Shepherd’s Staff Are Relevant! There are many, wearing the tag and title of Pastor both here and abroad, who have absolutely no clue. I do believe that if they were ever relevant, it would literally scare them. They have no clue as to the Crises and Challenges that are confronting the Flock of God in this present age. They are simply “clouds without water carried about by the winds; trees whose fruit withers-without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” They aren’t relevant! They are “raving waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” They Are NOT Relevant! The Lord God said as much to Jeremiah. For in chapter 23:21-22, the Lord says: “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” The fact of the matter is that they aren’t Relevant to Righteousness. They aren’t Germane to Grace. They aren’t Suited for Salvation. They aren’t Tagged for Truth-Telling. They aren’t Fit to Function as a redemptive Force in the Plan of God. They Just Aren’t Relevant!!!
But I do submit that GOD STILL HAS SOME RELEVANT PASTORS! JEREMIAH WAS A RELEVANT PASTOR! For his name in Hebrew, Yirmeyah, denotes “he who the Lord elevates.” It suggests to us that the Lord raised up Jeremiah for just such an hour and then, hurled him into the path of the people to halt their progression to destruction.
Jeremiah was Relevant in the sense that he possessed the PATHOS, ETHOS and LOGOS of THEOS! He had the Pathos-the Heart-the Compassion of God. For he cared deeply for his people and their plight. That’s why he’s expressing his hurt, pain and concern in our text in that “O! Language. He was gripped by the Ethos-the Ethics-the Righteousness of God. That’s why he pushes God’s standard to the forefront. He was mastered by the Logos of God. For from a child, the Lord had placed His Word in Jeremiah’s mouth and told him to speak it! Thus, any Pastor of modernity who possesses the PATHOS, ETHOS and LOGOS of THEOS IS RELEVANT!! He has a MESSAGE FOR THIS MESS-AGE!!!
Therefore, I thought it would be profitable if we would use this Preaching moment to highlite THE PAINS OF A RELEVANT PASTOR. For I am foolish enough to believe that A RELEVANT PASTOR WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE PAIN THAT IS PAIRED WITH THE TASK OF TENDING THE FLOCK OF GOD. I wonder, Are you Interested?
I. EVERY RELEVANT PASTOR PARTAKES OF HIS SHARE OF PAIN.
1. A Relevant Pastor Must Deal With The PAIN OF HEART FAILURE - 8:18-19. In chapter 8:18-19, Jeremiah seems to be clutching the very heart of his awakened soul when he says:
“When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart faints in me.”
He seems to be describing there an experience which is common to every relevant pastor. He seems to be describing the Heart Condition of a Relevant Pastor. For week after week, month after month, year after year, Sorrows attack the Hearts of Pastors until we have to cry out “OH! My Heart! When I would shout for joy and be glad, Sorrows cause my heart to palpitate!”
Here’s what I mean. More often than not, when the phone rings in his study whether it be a church member or a voice of a stranger, the Voice on the other end of the phone is the Voice of a Cry of Pain and Perplexity. Very rarely do folk, as Stevie Wonder put it, “Just called to say I love you.” But more often than not, it is the Voice of “I’ve fallen and can’t get up!” Or “Pastor, I just don’t know what I’m going to do.” Or “I need prayer and help concerning this situation.” When he wants to rejoice with others, he has to listen to the Voice of Pain, Hurt and Perplexity!
We Keep Hearing this “Voice of the Cry of the Daughter of our people.” One voice cries over a fractured relationship. Another voice cries over the incarceration of a son on drugs. Still other voices cry over the threatened closings of schools in the ‘Hood’ of our Chocolate City. While other voices cry over not having enough money to make ends meet from pay-day to pay-day. No wonder the Relevant Pastor says: “When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people.”
And, hearing this constant Wailing of Crying Voices, challenges his deeply held belief in the Immanence of God. Theoretically, he knows that God is everywhere present at the same time. But, experientially, he questions the very Nearness of God, the very Is-Ness of God, when his ears are filled with the Cries of folk who seem to be experiencing the Awayness of God, the Absence of God. The very Voice of their Cry seems to suggest that the Lord has forsaken His people. Their loud voice and the Silence from Heaven creates a tension in his soul of souls. And so often during the months, he has to ask himself: “Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?”
Hearing the agonizing voice of a marriage that has ended in divorce, he has to ask, “Is not the Lord in Zion?” Seeing that young Black male on the street corner trying to sell something he has stolen to support a drug addiction, he has to ask: “Is not the Lord in Zion?” Looking over his flock Sunday after Sunday beaten, bruised, burdened and broke, he has to ask: “Is not the Lord in Zion?” Listening to the Voice of jealousy, arguing and backbiting among the pews, he has to ask: “Is not the Lord in Zion?” Is not her King in her?”
So, A Relevant Pastor Partakes in the Pain of Permanent Heart-Failure from the Constant Cry of the Voices of Pain which engulfs his every day life!!!
2. Secondly, A Relevant Pastor Must Also Deal With THE PAIN OF UNHARVESTED SOULS - 8:20. Says the Prophet is verse 20:
“The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
It’s very Painful to stare at Unharvested Souls! It’s painful to look upon Human Souls Still Left in the Field. Those who are still left in the field unsaved are those who have divorced themselves from the Spiritual Commodity of Communal Harvest. When a
community renounces the God of their forebears and distance themselves from the Lord of their deliverance, they shall be Left Ungathered in the Field!
Any Colonized African who denies the unalterable link between Justice and Peace, and who denies that Racism in America is a major factor that contributes to our current social crisis, IS TILL LIFT IN THE FIELD!
Any Americanized African who denies the redemptive hand of God in the struggle for civil and social rights in our past, present and future and who agrees with those who say that “the playing field is now even” and that Affirmative Action should be abolished, IS STILL LEFT IN THE FIELD!
Any Democratized African who denies the redemptive prospect of Unloved, Unnurtured, Undisciplined Youth who out of frustration practice drive-by shootings and walk-in robberies, IS STILL LEFT IN THE FIELD!
Any Capitalistic African who denies the infinite worth of one soul in Black skin over the profIt of crops and bonds, stocks and houses and lands and money, IS STILL LEFT IN THE FIELD!
Any Conservatized African who believes that a return to the ‘Good ole days’ of the 50’s, in which, an African American had to sue the Board of Education for the right to be educated and educated poorly; and pay a poll-tax to vote for a racist candidate; and who had to live on a prescribed across-the-track reservation; and who had to drink water at segregated fountains and eat at the back of cafes while being denied participation in the social, political and economic policies that affect us all under the guise of a return to so-called Judeo-Christian values, IS STILL LEFT IN THE FIELD!! UNHARVESTED. UNGATHERED. UNSAVED!!!
THEY ARE LOST!
Lost to a Loving and Redemptive Relationship with the Lord of Life!
Lost to Membership in the Church in the ‘Hood.’
Lost to the Struggles and Concerns of their own folk.
Lost to a Permanent Commitment to the Institution of Marriage.
Lost to the redemptive Value of work.
Lost to the Penal System.
Lost to the Drug Culture.
LOST! LOST! LOST!
And seeing this continuing condition of Lostness that pervades the community is a source of constant pain to the heart of a relevant pastor. So much so that he questions THE POWER of the Lord TO SAVE. Sometimes he even wonders: “Is the Lord’s hand shortened that it cannot save?”
3. In Addition, Thirdly, A relevant Pastor Has To Deal With THE PAIN OF HURT: DEATH IN THE HOOD. In verse 20 Jeremiah says:
“For the Hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.”
You must understand, then, that a Relevant Pastor is NOT Hurt as much by the Wrongs Done to Him as he is by the Wrongs Done To Others. It is “For the Hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.”
Hurt because his people must reach up just to touch bottom.
Hurt ‘cause gifted children who, like flowers in the wild, are born to blush unseen and waste their sweetness on the desert air.
Hurt ‘cause those with great potential in Black skin see only the ceiling and do not know of the boundless dimensions of the sky, as Deotis Roberts put it.
Hurt ‘cause week in and week out within the inner sanctum of our Chocolate City, he is being forced by compassion to lead an entourage of disconsolate and disillusioned tribal mourners to a hole in the earth to house the dead while reciting the litany: “A tree is fallen in Israel.”
Hurt ‘cause “In these bloody and frightful nights” as Maya Angelou puts it, “when an urban warrior can find no face more despicable than his own, no ammunition more deadly that self-hate and no target more deserving of his true aim than his brother.”
And with all of this Hurt he has to ask: “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” I tell you: THERE ARE PAINS PAIRED WITH THE TASK OF PASTORING!
So then, A Relevant Pastor is forced to deal with this “OH LANGUAGE”:
“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears …
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men …”
Thus I submit there is One More Pain a Relevant Pastor has to deal with.
4. Fourth, He Has To Deal With THE ACHE OF THE WHAT’S THE USE LANGUAGE!
How often does he WISH that His Head and Eyes were instruments to express His Frustration with a seemingly Hopeless Situation! There seems to be no solution to the constant death that stalks our streets. We can’t stop the Black-on-Black Violence. No solution to the epidemic of drug use and drug deaths in our Hood. No halt to the violation of our rights as citizens of this country. No stopping the constant practice of racism and scapegoating of the Black community. And so, sometimes he wonders: WHAT’S THE USE!
For crying and complaining all the time will not solve the problem. Neither will running away from our folk. Yes, sometimes we think seriously about catching that “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Oftentimes, we are tempted with “The Flight of the Bumble Bee.”
We throw our hands up in the air and cry WHAT’S THE USE? Our folk are still dying. Our folk remain unsaved. Our folk are still a company of adulterers and tricky folk. WHAT’S THE USE! I might as well GIVE IT UP! I might as well Leave, Run Away, Get Away From My Folk and be by myself! My Work seems to be in vain; so, WHAT’S THE USE!
Now while I’m on my way to my seat, I want to go with a Word of Encouragement. Remember, my friends, that:
II. FOR EVERY PAIN OF A RELEVANT PASTOR, THERE IS THE POWER OF A REDEMPTIVE PROMISE.
1. For the Pain of Heart Failure, there is the Power of the Redemptive Promise of: “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me,” says Jesus.
2. For the Pain of Unharvested Soul there is the Power of the Redemptive Promise of: “the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call; that you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
3. For the Pain of Hurt, there is the Power of the Redemptive Promise: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
4. For the Ache of the What’s The Use Language, there is the Power of the Redemptive Promise of: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” He can make the crooked straight, the rough places smooth, bring the high down low, lift the low up; can make the leopard change its spot and make the Ethiopian change his skin color!
Yes, the Lord is in Zion! Our King is in our midst!
Yes, there is a Balm in Gilead! There is a Physician in our midst who heals all our hurts, restores our soul, saves us by His outstretched hand and who is able to keep us from falling!!!
