Aug. 25, 2019, Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalms 71:1-6, Luke 13:10-17
“Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak. I am only a boy.” – Jeremiah 1:4-10
Jeremiah
A Greek Catholic icon depicts the prophet Jeremiah praying and begging towards the skies to save Jerusalem. The icon was painted in the end of the 18th century as part of the iconostasis of the Greek Catholic Cathedral of Hajdúdorog, Hungary. Jeremiah's icon is placed on the third tier of the iconostasis, the so called Prophets tier. (Wikimedia Commons CC3 License)
I have a friend who resisted the call to ministry, until he discovered that most of the great prophets, like Jeremiah, had also resisted and made excuses. Once I was told by a teacher that if I could possibly stay out of the ministry, I should do so. The call needs to be irresistible. Later my excuse was that it took seven years to complete the educational process, I would be 29. The person I was complaining to responded by asking, “Well, how old will you be in seven years if you don’t choose ministry?” I chose ministry.
Paul, in the letter to the Romans, speaks of our being set apart for the Gospel of God. For a long time, I didn’t know what that really meant. Then I discovered that when I entered the local coffee shop, or other public places where I was known, the public conversation seemed to change. I didn’t like that, until a farmer told me that he believed that he was called to plant corn, to work the farm—and perhaps I was called to help him understand why planting the seed and caring for the earth were important beyond making a living.
I think about that conversation these days when I see our national leaders willing to turn back the progress we have made in saving the earth simply for larger profits to the few.
Years ago the theologian Paul Tillich spoke of a time when we would turn the green world into a world of plastic. Have you visited a garbage landfill lately?
These days our church is caught in a great struggle regarding our identity as a church. What we are known for as Methodists —our gift to the world, a deep appreciation for the natural world, and the insistence on applying the Gospel to the care of the earth. This is now being forgotten along with so much more. And as we destroy this great Church, will we also lose the voice of the prophet in the land?
So much hangs in the balance. Our gift to the larger church has been Mr. Wesley’s insistence that the world is indeed our parish. For him, the spreading of holiness across the land took the form of hospitals, homes for the orphans, food for the hungry, care for widows and orphans, great universities, ending the trafficking in slavery, and so much more.
So on this Sunday, we find a young Jeremiah who first resisted the call. Then he took up the mantle and set the example for each of us who wonders if the church will have a future. It still depends upon you and me. I have not a clue as to what will happen when we meet for the next General Conference. What I do know is that in our local congregation, we will be about the business of being the church.
Am I correct to note that Jeremiah, upon learning that the enemy was at the gate, went to the bank and bought the family farm as if to say, “Later, when this tragic time is over, we will still be here, a light unto the nation”? So it will be, if some of us keep a watchful eye. I think of Wesley’s great hymn, “A Charge to Keep I Have.” That hymn speaks of serving the present age. And that is what we are called to do.
The Rev. Bill Cotton of Des Moines is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. Along with friends and colleagues, he produces the weekly "MEMO for Those Who Preach," which appears on United Methodist Insight with his permission.