The texts for this Sunday are:
Jeremiah 31:3-14
Revelation 21:1-4
Here are the verses that caught my attention:
"...He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd. For the Lord will ransom Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion: they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord. ..." (Jeremiah 31:10-12)
"...Now he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4)
Some of my thoughts:
We talked about being thankful for what God has done. "We have been brought up out of Egypt." We talked about being thankful for what God is doing. "Be thankful even for fleas." These are both reason enough to give thanks in all circumstances, but as Christians we have one more reason to give thanks. And that is that this world is not all there is. We can and should give thanks for all that we have. But, we also hold the promise that there is "a louder shout to come." We hold the promise that one day God will come and be our God and death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more. And for this promise, we are thankful.
Questions to ponder:
How does it change your day to day living, knowing that you hold these promises? What part of these passages gives you the most hope?
How do we hold onto the promises we have, without getting too caught up in them? We want to look to the future, without it becoming our only focus. How can we maintain balance?
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1 comment:
I love the image of God wiping my tears; but I have issues with the idea that He WILL be my God in a future time. Doesn't prevening grace mean that He was my God even before I accepted Him?
Prophets spoke the word of God, not predicted the future. If we get too tangled in despairing over a bleak future, aren't we guilty of making judgments? We can anticipate joy in the future, but not predict how it will come. To accept grace we have to remain open and flexible and avoid self fulfilling "prophesies"; if I think joy looks like riches, that is all I'll be looking for, and all I'll be reaching for.
Following God in community helps. We have members who are only focused on the past, those only looking toward the future, and those present in the here and now. To function, the body requires all its members working together; none more important than the other. A body whose parts are not in a state of equilibrium is by definition ill: AIDs; cancer; etc.
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