2009 OCT 11 Sermon: "New Love, New Mercy"

     This month we will be reading from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, an Old Testament book with which few of us are familiar.  And not surprisingly.  It’s a description of all the things that have gone wrong.  All things Israel did wrong long ago.  Not all of the things YOU and I have done wrong  - PHEW! – but the things Israel did wrong.  (But we’ll get to you in just a minute!).       

     From the great promise of God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah, the escape from slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea, the giving of the law to Moses on the mountain, the gift of a promised land flowing with milk and honey, the establishment of a mighty kingdom under David, and the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem, Israel had reached the pinnacle of success … and then took a steep plunge and hit bottom.  The temple became corrupt, the kings greedy, morality was forgotten, justice neglected and peace rare.  When Jeremiah wrote the words we find in this book we see what he saw:  Israel had failed, the temple destroyed, the land over run by a conquering army, and the people enslaved.  And so Jeremiah, a prophet of God, in the midst of all this, hears the word of God, and it is not a comfort, it is not good news, it is a lament.  Jeremiah describes how Israel failed in every way.  So you can read what Jeremiah wrote about all of the things that Israel did wrong, and feel relieved because it’s what Israel did wrong, not what you have done wrong.   

     But let’s bring this scripture up to date.  This is how we’ll do it.  Here is a piece of paper for you to write down everything you have ever done wrong, anything you have ever done that disappointed all of those who had high hopes for you, everything you have done to let God down, everything that would go into your personal lament.  OK, let’s get started.  Let me know if you need additional pieces of paper, or if your pen runs out of ink.  And of course, for extra bonus points, you can put it in the form of poetry or music, because that’s how Jeremiah wrote his lamentations!  Here’s an example, a little song I wrote, sung to the tune of “Careless Love”: 

“Hurt, and Sorrow, Death and Pain; 

Hurt and Sorrow, Death and Pain. 

Hurt and Sorrow, Death and pain,

See what sin has done to me”

     Ouch!  Who likes coming to church on a beautiful Sunday morning, surrounded by your wonderful friends and neighbors, to engage in such an ugly exercise?  We come here on Sunday morning to be lifted up in promise and hope, not pounded down by guilt and punishment.  Now you know why the Book of Jeremiah’s Lamentations is not popular reading on Sunday morning.  Ouch!

      But don’t worry, we are still holding firm to our theme for this month of Stewardship:  New Love, New Mercy.   I had you go through this exercise of lamentation so that when you read through all of Jeremiah’s Lamentations you will discover the hidden treasure that is there, instead of passing over it.  I’ll show it to you right now.  I’ll save you the suspense.  It’s in chapter three, verse 22:  “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning;  great is thy faithfulness.”  No matter what you wrote on your paper, today is a new morning, because God is ready to offer New Love and New Mercy to you right now.  This is a treasure to brighten your life.  This is the light we search for when the world darkens around us.  Unlike my house where the flashlights and batteries are hard to find during a power failure, this is a light that we have close at hand by our faith in Jesus Christ. 

     Now, back to that list you’ve been working on.  I once visited an elderly woman whose entire home was filled with old newspapers.  You could barely walk from room to room using narrow walkways between tall stacks of newspapers.  There was no longer much room for her to live in her own home.  I thought of her as I began to fill out my own list.  By the time I am done I will have stacks of paper all around me, and soon I will be buried by it all.   But the treasure of “New Love, New Mercy” we learn from Jeremiah is that even with that long list of everything you have ever done wrong, this is not the last word.  For God begins each day with new love and new mercy to share with the world, to share with you, to build you up, to buildup the world. 

     I am glad to be serving a congregation that works hard on another list – a list of all the things that we can do to join with God in remaking our world.   Our Stewardship Minute highlights just one portion of that list.  These are the places, the people, the opportunities, the offerings and the gifts that demonstrate the power of that verse in Lamentations, that as each day begins God is eager to offer New Love and New Mercy to each one of us, and we are enthusiastic in our desire to share them with the world around us.  Our 2010 Narrative Budget is meant to cause you to walk away from each Sunday service with an enthusiasm for contributing, participating and investing your heart in the treasure of new love and new mercy that Jeremiah found.