I had another topic planned for today -- and maybe I'll even get to it later -- but I got back from church awhile ago and one of our pastors preached such a terrific sermon* that I thought some of it bore repeating.
The passage from Scripture on which the sermon was based is Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. Jeremiah was a prophet to the Jewish people shortly before they were carried off into exile by the Baylonians in 587 BCE. Many of Jeremiah's words warn what will befall the people who fail to follow God, but at the same time he insists upon the necessity of a restored relationship between God and God's people.
Preaching with reference to Hiroshima, the Holocaust, September 11, and the Russian horror of the past week, our sermon today focused on the meaning of the words "justice" and "repentance."
We tend to think of justice in terms of punishment, said our pastor but, in the Bible, the meaning of justice is found in the word "restoration." Justice means returning what rightfully needs to be returned, and restoring that which needs to be restored.
Repentance, he went on, means to get outside of ourselves and see beyond ourselves. We are called to see "with God's imaginative eyes and compassionate heart."
We have gotten increasingly fearful since September 11; apparently at least one survey indicates that 40% of Americans fear becoming victims of the next terrorist attack. But, our pastor insisted, fear and hatred are not the vocabulary of God.
Good words for the beginning of a week. Did anyone else hear from a pulpit in the last three days something that bears repeating?
*I'm trusting that he won't mind my paraphrasing without attribution, since I'm not inclined to provide identifying details online.
2 comments:
The new priest at our church gave an amazing sermon today focussing on forgiveness. The gospel reading was the story of the shepherd looking for the sheep that was lost and the story of the prodigal son. He talked about how true inner peace and healing cannot happen until there is forgiveness. He spoke of the fact that forgiveness is a difficult road which can take a long time, possibly require counseling/therapy, and isn't easy but is the path to peace. God is mercy was an overriding theme but he also talked about some of the more difficult parts of christianity -- "forgive us our trespasses as we are willing to forgive those who trespass against us" -- and also how often forgiveness and mercy are part of our service. He is truly amazing - my 9yo was even mesmerized and when the priest later apologized that the mass was so long. My son looked at me and said "but Mom, it wasn't very long at all"; we were there for an hour and a half.
He did not specifically mention 9/11 which surprised me. The female pastoral associate would have if she gave the homily. She was amazing in the aftermath of 9/11 in preaching about it. I wonder if he thought it might be too painful for some if he directly mentioned it.
Yes. Our topic today was that, "If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat." That's also the title of a book that apparently we are going to be studying in small groups. I'm not much of a Bible literalist but I do agree with the underlying message that if you want to accomplish something great, you have to take a risk.
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