Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. His joy is gone, his heart sick. He quotes must what have been a proverb, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."
The reality of life has come crashing down upon Jeremiah and the people. The hoped-for future has not come and is not around the corner. Where is the balm, the healing presence? He surveys the wreckage of life all around them and despairs. This week we watched the Colorado flooding and the shooting in D.C. Lives were changed forever in those tragedies. To grieve is to honor what was lost and to recognize the frailty, the precious nature of our lives.
And yet, the important part is the yet; the tragedy, the brokenness. The loss is not the final story. Hope comes slowly but it comes into the wreckage. It's the glimmer of light that shines through the clouds. It's the will to pick up and start again. But, we can't forget the but.....lives were lost and other lives were changed forever. Why, O God, has summer past and we are not saved, restored, made whole?
I wish I had a complete answer, but we see only dimly into the mystery of suffering. We know that God is with us in our despair and is the source of new life and restoration.
May God be with the people in Colorado, the families of those whose lives were lost at the Navy Yard and with all that struggle with lost dreams, broken futures. May we be a people of hope, not a pie in the sky hope, but a hope that tells the story of a God that picks us up and walks with us again and again.
Blessings, Beth
The reality of life has come crashing down upon Jeremiah and the people. The hoped-for future has not come and is not around the corner. Where is the balm, the healing presence? He surveys the wreckage of life all around them and despairs. This week we watched the Colorado flooding and the shooting in D.C. Lives were changed forever in those tragedies. To grieve is to honor what was lost and to recognize the frailty, the precious nature of our lives.
And yet, the important part is the yet; the tragedy, the brokenness. The loss is not the final story. Hope comes slowly but it comes into the wreckage. It's the glimmer of light that shines through the clouds. It's the will to pick up and start again. But, we can't forget the but.....lives were lost and other lives were changed forever. Why, O God, has summer past and we are not saved, restored, made whole?
I wish I had a complete answer, but we see only dimly into the mystery of suffering. We know that God is with us in our despair and is the source of new life and restoration.
May God be with the people in Colorado, the families of those whose lives were lost at the Navy Yard and with all that struggle with lost dreams, broken futures. May we be a people of hope, not a pie in the sky hope, but a hope that tells the story of a God that picks us up and walks with us again and again.
Blessings, Beth
RSS Feed
