God at work

I found myself affirming two of the themes form our readings this week in my sermon -- the role of community and God to support us -- but, I ignored the theme of self-forgiveness and found myself attracted to the theme of God as initiator when I explored the Jeremiah 31 passage.

The first two themes may be obvious. We know the need for community. We can point to numerous biblical examples (God creating Eve to be in community with Adam; God calling Israel, a group of people, into being; Jesus calling disciples and sending them out in pairs; and the desperate need of the early church to be in community together) that remind us that God always calls God's people into community. Can you remember a time when community played a powerful role in your life?

The discussion of community made me wonder how differently communities are being formed these days with so much technology at hand. Would this blog qualify as some form of community? If not, what would we need to change about how we use blog technology to become a community?

As I played with the importance of community in the biblical text, I was struck by the loneliness and forsakenness Jesus chose. Why did he choose that? Or why did God let it be thrust upon him? So that he would overcome even loneliness and forsakenness for our sake.

We also know that God loves us and find comfort in that, even in the face of our failings. I have often thought that if everyone truly believed that they had value simply because they were a child of God and claimed by God, we would have a lot less problems in our world that grow out of people needing to prove themselves or claim value for themselves (often at the expense of others).

I'm not sure why self-forgiveness never made it to the sermon (perhaps I should forgive myself for that!). Perhaps it was a Freudian slip on my part. On the other hand, I remember reading that section and wondering how to distinguish self-forgiveness from rationalization. Sometimes I think we live in a world that too readily lets people off the hook and denies them the chance to grow through a challenge and learn from the experience. Maybe part of the role community should play is to hold us accountable and help us discern if we need to forgive ourselves in that particular moment, or if we need to persevere and work through the challenge.

Although the chapter did not address this, I found it compelling to think that God would "write the law" on our hearts. In other words, God will initiate in us what we need to change. Wow! It has me wondering if I do not see change as often as I would like because I have consciously, or unconsciously, subverted God's attempt to change me. I also found it freeing to think that God joins with me in my effort to change, rather than it being all up to me. Can you see ways in which God is at work in your life? Or ways in which you have resisted God's attempt to change you?

I am reminded that Lent leads us to Holy Week and the empty tomb. Is there a better way of for God to define, "I will be their God and they will be my people" than to welcome us at the empty tomb?

Peace,

Richard