NON-AFFLICTING LOVE (28 OF 49)
Scripture: Lamentations 3:22-33
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Non-Afflicting Love (28 of 49)
Lectionary Year B, Proper 08
Christopher B. Harbin
Lamentations 3:22-33
On a recent trip out, Karen and I had opportunity to speak with some bikers. Amid the conversation, questions were raised on predestination, free will, and God's actions in the world around us. One concern had to do with how much control God exerts on the world and in our lives. It is a common enough issue. I hear it raised time and again with responses as varied as ''everything happens for a reason'' and ''it's God's will,'' to ''where is God amid the chaos of life?'' It is one thing for us to declare that God is not like one of the Greek Fates, sitting around weaving the details of our lives into some magical loom. It is quite another to wrestle with God's place and role amid life's more difficult circumstances. Is it more than hope with which we claim God's goodness and love amid life's struggles?
Today's passage flowed from a dark place. Perhaps we hear comfort in these words, but the reality on the ground was not comforting at all. This text associated with Jeremiah responds to a critical time in the life of Judah, corresponding to exile upon the destruction of Jerusalem. Life, as it had been known, was no more and would never again be as it had been. Jerusalem's fall and deportation were understood as a consequence of the nation's unwillingness to embrace Yahweh's demands for justice. Amid this awareness come the words we read today, words about Yahweh's steadfast love.
So many of the Psalms offer lament and lay out a nation's pleading with Yahweh for solutions to all sorts of national calamity. These words of lament offer a perhaps more complex perspective. Somehow, amid crying over the just discipline of Yahweh, the writer describes hope. Despite the prevailing calamity, he finds hope in attributing Yahweh's discipline to the steadfastness of Yahweh's mercy and love.
Life was difficult. Life was chaotic. Life was turned upside down. Yahweh ...
Lectionary Year B, Proper 08
Christopher B. Harbin
Lamentations 3:22-33
On a recent trip out, Karen and I had opportunity to speak with some bikers. Amid the conversation, questions were raised on predestination, free will, and God's actions in the world around us. One concern had to do with how much control God exerts on the world and in our lives. It is a common enough issue. I hear it raised time and again with responses as varied as ''everything happens for a reason'' and ''it's God's will,'' to ''where is God amid the chaos of life?'' It is one thing for us to declare that God is not like one of the Greek Fates, sitting around weaving the details of our lives into some magical loom. It is quite another to wrestle with God's place and role amid life's more difficult circumstances. Is it more than hope with which we claim God's goodness and love amid life's struggles?
Today's passage flowed from a dark place. Perhaps we hear comfort in these words, but the reality on the ground was not comforting at all. This text associated with Jeremiah responds to a critical time in the life of Judah, corresponding to exile upon the destruction of Jerusalem. Life, as it had been known, was no more and would never again be as it had been. Jerusalem's fall and deportation were understood as a consequence of the nation's unwillingness to embrace Yahweh's demands for justice. Amid this awareness come the words we read today, words about Yahweh's steadfast love.
So many of the Psalms offer lament and lay out a nation's pleading with Yahweh for solutions to all sorts of national calamity. These words of lament offer a perhaps more complex perspective. Somehow, amid crying over the just discipline of Yahweh, the writer describes hope. Despite the prevailing calamity, he finds hope in attributing Yahweh's discipline to the steadfastness of Yahweh's mercy and love.
Life was difficult. Life was chaotic. Life was turned upside down. Yahweh ...
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