Back from vacation and back into the Word.

The lectionary for this 10^th Sunday after Pentecost gives us the standard fare with the Epistle coming from Hebrews and the Gospel continuing in Luke as it has been since the middle of June.

So, here it is:

Jeremiah 23:23-29
 Psalm 82
 Hebrews 11:29-12:2
 Luke 12:49-56

We don’t get to read from Jeremiah much, though some passages in this book are quoted often throughout the year.  Two points come through upon the first reading of this section, one being the absolute presence of God.  God is near, far, here, there, and completely everywhere.  This section also reminds me of Psalm 139, where the Psalmist says basically that there is nowhere that he can go to flee from God’s presence.  I always consider that we can directly see if our lives are transformed by our response to that…either we are fearful or we are relieved by the knowledge that there is no place where we can “escape” God.

The other point God makes in this reading is the warning about false teachers.  God’s Word is meant to be spoken faithfully and not the dreaming of men who prophesy delusions.

The Psalm this week is just eight short verses.  The first four are the meat of it for me as I look at it this morning.  You could run a bit of a line between verse 2 and God’s warning about false prophets in Jeremiah.  The words of the Bible get bent in many shapes by folks who want to justify certain ways of living.  The words may be bent to make some believe they have been blessed while others have been cursed just because of their station in life.  Those with the higher station need not look down from ivory towers but instead rush down the stairs of those towers to help those who have so much less.   I talked about transformation earlier and sometimes we need to look at the way we live and figure out if some of the things we do oppress others.  People need to be delivered from their weakened state and from false teachers who tell them that not living according to God’s Word is okay.

The end of this Hebrews text should sound familiar; it’s part of the passage that Eric Hinkle preached on for us this past Sunday.  My mind is muddied by music.  As the writer recounts all these people and events, I cannot help but hear the refrain, “Great is thy faithfulness…”  God has been with his people from the beginning and nothing has changed.   Perhaps we do not seek him out as fervently as those mentioned in this passage, perhaps we do not seek to commune with God on such a level. As I read through the names, I am also reminded of how God can use anyone, from those who look the part to those who the church of then and today might shun.  God’s limitations are man-made, those delusions that Jeremiah talked about.   God cannot be contained in the boxes that our humanness cannot get out of.

Hard not to like the beginning of this text, where we see the human side of Jesus talking about the stress he is under.  Truly one of the great things about Jesus is that in Him we have someone who relates to the human condition, but at the same time was able to live without sin.  Homes can be divided by faith and that was very much the fact at the time of Jesus as anyone who followed Jesus would essentially be breaking from their traditional Jewish faith, losing family members and community all at once.  It’s not just the break either, it would be strong feelings and hurt feelings and relationships that may never be repaired.  Are we willing to do that to follow Jesus?  Here in the United States, we pretend there is persecution of Christianity, but the truth is, it is nothing compared to what happens in other countries, including to our Brethren brothers and sisters in Nigeria.  There are others who have to worship underground, who must worship in the shadows, who cannot tell some of their closest friends and family members for fear of real persecution.

These are my first blush thoughts on the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday.  There’s a strong theme running throughout the texts and we’ll see which ones we use in worship.  Join me this week in spending more time with these readings and listening for what it is that God wants us to hear.

Blessings,

-Karl