MONDAY, March 21

Jeremiah 1:11-19. Then the Lord said to me: Disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

Called by the Lord to speak a word of judgment to a people who saw no reason to change their ways, Jeremiah was scorned, mocked, and shunned. But Jeremiah was an outgoing person who longed for the fellowship and camaraderie of friends. In his “Confessions,” scattered through the biblical Book of Jeremiah, he writhes with loneliness, disillusionment, and confusion.

The life of a true prophet is often like that, because to a profligate people, the word of God can be hard and unwelcome. That’s why faithless times produce false prophets. It is always easier to talk about God’s love (and there is truth in that) than to speak of God’s judgment (there is truth in that, too). The preacher who tells people only what they want to hear usually gets the plum job. Jeremiah wasn’t even considered for the plum job.

When a prophet is rejected for speaking the truth, the prophet is tempted (and Jeremiah grappled with this temptation) to become self-righteous and self-pitying, brittle and angry, assuming the worst of everyone with a different view. When that happens, the prophet may speak the truth, but he speaks it with a false heart.

PRAY for the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation and its mission to resource and communicate liturgical issues across the Anglican Communion.

Ps 56, 57, [58] * 64, 65; Romans 1:1-15; John 4:27-42

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com or Oremus Bible browser.

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Mar 21, 2011 at 8:28 am

Written by Paulletta Garoutte-Aldridge,

The words "speaking from a false heart" struck a familiar chord in me--not one that I particularly wish to admit... when you speak the truth out of bitterness and anger and frustration the "truth" is not from God but being used for our own desires and needs. I ask God for forgiveness today and the wisdom to only speak the truth with God's intent in mind

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Mar 21, 2011 at 8:41 am

Written by Lois B,

People don't want to hear the truth. I am trying to keep things in my heart so not to be hurtful. To show God's love in a kind and understanding way. People that lie and are mean will eventuallly get theirs.

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Mar 21, 2011 at 8:57 am

Written by Andrea,

I think faithless and difficult times are EXACTLY when people need to hear about God's love the most. In the lectionary, we just read John 3:16-17: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." I don't think it's being a false prophet to proclaim God's love rather than to condemn people. And I guess I would rather err on the side of showing and talking about God's love than speak the so-called "truth" in bitterness and anger, with intent to bully people into a more faithful life.

but if it doesn't lead to repentence

Mar 21, 2011 at 9:56 am

Written by Sarah,

yet it is not God's love if it doesn't ask us to transform our lives... and that requires hard truths that are not easily digested or heard or welcomed. god's love isn't a magic wand that fixes everything immediately... you reap its fruit through wrestling with the effects of sin, of your sin, and repenting and understanding the need for grace and how Christ gave you that grace... the process of sanctification is a refinement often through fire and I don't know if anyone comes out of it without a few scars and without any painfree memories... Christ surely didn't.

there's a middle ground between condemnation and only hearing God loves you... and that's where the holy spirit works

? condemnation ?

Mar 21, 2011 at 11:02 am

Written by cherie,

maybe better words to use in place of "condemnation" are discipline or judgment.

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Mar 21, 2011 at 11:35 am

Written by E.Linda Cushner,

Jeremiah is from the old testament and in reading through the old testament, it seems to me that there is a lot of condemnation going on.
Don't forget that Christ came to establish a new covenant, a whole new way of thinking. People are not moved by curses and condemnation but through love and understanding. Our Christ says to pray for our enemy which is considerably harder to do than to give in to our disappointment and anger. In doing so, we are giving that person or incident to the Lord and letting God take over. I think that it takes a very sincere person to do this. And in doing so we are also changing and becoming the child that God wants us to be.

As God Sees It

Mar 21, 2011 at 3:03 pm

Written by Alecia,

I keep a quote from an unknown source on the whiteboard in my office. It reads: "Those who provide spiritual oversight must be able to see the broad picture - as God sees it." Of course, we can never really know if we see things the way God sees them or just the way we want God to see them. But through the grace of the Holy Spirit and with humility on our part, we can do our best to come as close as possible.

It may be there are times when we are called to be prophets, to speak truths that others do not want to hear. However, those words should always be spoken from a place of love rather than judgment. How much sooner would the Prodigal Son have returned to his father if he knew the reception he would receive? The father did not diminish the truth of what the Prodigal Son did (after all, he told the older son "all I have is yours"), but he received his son with open arms and an open heart first.

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