Hi friends! Today is the first day while reading Jeremiah that I really felt the "pastoral" voice of the prophet, and really felt the hope in his message for the people. Combined with the sun being out and a warmer spring day, it really felt like a message for me (and you) that COVID's days are limited, herd immunity is on its way, and life as you remember it will be delivered. I felt thankful for God, thankful for our church for being so creative, and beyond thankful for the thousands of scientists that have made this promise of hope feel possible. With that said, let's read this message of hope from Jeremiah.
Scripture to Read
Jeremiah 30 - 32
Psalm 21
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God?
What does this teach me about humanity?
What does this teach me about the relationship between the two?
- My Thoughts -
As mentioned above, I found this text really pretty. It also helps that this text was the one I was assigned to preach on in my intro to homiletics class in seminary. Spending 3 months studying a scripture to deliver a 30 second, 5 minute, and 15 minute sermon on it really makes you affectionate towards it! haha. I wish I could find the video version of that sermon. I think you would enjoy it. Anyways, the thing most important about this text (opinion) is in Jeremiah 31 where he says that God will make a new covenant with us, a covenant not of stone tablets or other physical objects that can be broken, but a covenant that God will inscribe upon our very hearts. The message is two fold: You don't have to have anything tangible to be a sign that God is with you, and secondly, it's a message of universal salvation. For a book that starts off with so much doom and gloom and hellfire and brimstone, Jeremiah says that God's new covenant is for anyone with a heart, and that means you too. It's a teaser to the message that Jesus will bring, and for Lent, that's a wonderful message to read.
Prayer
Our prayer today is inspired by hymn 176 in our United Methodist Hymnal - Majesty, Worship His Majesty. This just screams the 80's haha.
Majesty, Worship His Majesty, Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise.
Majesty, Kingdom, Authority, Flows from His Throne, Unto His Own, His anthem raise.
So exalt, lift up on high The name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King.
Majesty, Worship His Majesty, Jesus who died, Now Glorified, King of all Kings.
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