The book of Jeremiah has been on my mind a lot lately. Now, that isn't all that unusual for me to think about Jeremiah. I've felt strangley attracted to Jeremiah for about ten years at this point, and I took a whole class on Jeremiah in seminary. But right now I have two sermons left in a ten-week series on Jeremiah, and I recently finished spending about two months in Jeremiah during my personal devotions. So for the past eight weeks or so I've been thinking a lot about Jeremiah even by my standards.
Last week I came to a conclusion about Jeremiah that I think is worth sharing. But first, a couple disclaimers. I've done some study, but I am by no means an expert on the book of Jeremiah. Also, almost everything I know about the book I owe to Professor Michael Williams, so, while I don't think the following idea is something he specifically said, I've probably pulled the general idea from him.
I think the whole book of Jeremiah can arguably be boiled down to ten words: "I will be your God; you will be my people." This expression, or one close to it, appears several times in the book. (I found seven occurrences with some quick Bible Gateway searches: "I will be your God and you will be my people" [7:23]; "you will be my people and I will be your God" [11:4, 30:22]; "They will be my people and I will be their God" [24:7, 32:38]; "I will be their God and they will be my people" [31:33] "I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they will be my people" [31:1]) That expression describes God's covenant, His special and formal relationship, with His people. When Jeremiah accuses God's people of sin—which he does A LOT in this book—his accusations really boil down to charging the people with being unfaithful to God's covenant. They haven't been living like they are God's people and He is their God. When God brings judgment on His people, that's because those were the agreed upon consequences to their unfaithfulness to the covenant. God uses the judgment to show the people that He is their God and they are His people. He has the right to discipline and even punish them. The false gods the people have been worshiping can't stop the LORD's plans because He is the only true God and His people's only proper God. Then God in His incredible mercy promises a new covenant with His people after all the judgment is complete. They are still His people and He is still their God, and He will make a new, unbreakable, everlasting covenant to ensure that they will always remain that way. I think God's deep desire to be in relationship with His chosen and beloved people underlies everything He says and does in the book of Jeremiah. God's plan, God's purpose is simple: "I will be your God; you will be my people."
I think my argument can be taken even further. I think "I will be your God; you will be my people" is a decent summary of the Bible as a whole. Why does God create the world? The heart of His plan is to create a people to be His own while He is their God. Why does God continue to put up with humanity after our fall into sin? Why does He promise redemption and restoration? Because He wants us to be His people and He wants to be our God. What does God say to Abraham, the man He chooses for the purpose of blessing all nations? "I will establish my covenant…to be your God and the God of your descendants after you" (Gen 17:7). What's God doing when He delivers the people of Israel from Egypt? "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God" (Ex 6:7) "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people" (Lev 26:12). What does David see at the heart of God's purposes for his own family and for all of God's people? "You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, LORD, have become their God" (2 Sam 7:24). Why does Jesus come? Jesus describes His climactic work in His death and resurrection, which we celebrate in the Lord's Supper, as establishing a new covenant. He intends, as Jeremiah said, to make us His people and Himself our God. How do Paul and the author of Hebrews describe God's work in the church? "I will be their God, and they will be my people" (2 Cor 6:16, Heb 8:10). How does God describe the end result of His plan for all creation and all history? "They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God…. 'I will be their God and they will be my children.'" (Rev 21:3, 7). What God wants, what God is doing is bringing us into an intimate, exclusive, loving relationship with Him. Certainly there's more to it than that. God is complex; He is working out things that are more and greater than we can understand. But let's not forget this simple truth: He is our God; we are His people.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, October 29, 2018
Monday, October 22, 2018
#105 A Conversation with Lanie
Lately Lanie has been all about playing with her baby dolls. She feeds them bottles, swaddles them, tucks them in, reads them books, and kisses them good night. Honestly, it's adorable.
One day while Lanie was playing with her baby, the following conversation took place:
Tess: Lanie, do you think Mommy and Daddy should have another baby?
Lanie: [shakes her head no]
Me: Lanie, do you want to be an only child?
Lanie: [shakes her head no]
Me: Then Mommy and Daddy need to have another baby. Do you want Mommy and Daddy to have another baby?
Lanie: [pauses, thinks for a little bit]
Lanie: [nods her head yes]
Good thing Tess and I aren't putting Lanie in charge of our decision-making process when it comes to having another kid. She's pretty unconvinced about the whole thing.
Grace and peace,
BMH
One day while Lanie was playing with her baby, the following conversation took place:
Tess: Lanie, do you think Mommy and Daddy should have another baby?
Lanie: [shakes her head no]
Me: Lanie, do you want to be an only child?
Lanie: [shakes her head no]
Me: Then Mommy and Daddy need to have another baby. Do you want Mommy and Daddy to have another baby?
Lanie: [pauses, thinks for a little bit]
Lanie: [nods her head yes]
Good thing Tess and I aren't putting Lanie in charge of our decision-making process when it comes to having another kid. She's pretty unconvinced about the whole thing.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, October 15, 2018
#104 Sin Is NEVER "Okay"
I've heard quite a bit of discussion about sexual harrassment and sexual assault over the past couple of years. This came up again with the allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. I heard some comments along the lines of "It was a stupid mistake made years ago. Who didn't do something stupid as a kid?" and "Boys will be boys." I don't want to assume too much about what the people who made those comments meant, but those comments sound like, "It's okay." Here's my response to that: "No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! NOOOOOOOO! You CAN'T say that!"
Let me explain. First, sexual assault is NOT okay. It's not. As Christians, we CANNOT give the impression that it is. Look at all the trouble the Roman Catholic branch of the church has gotten in because of sexual assault. Someone in the U.S. is sexaully assaulted every 98 seconds. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Survivors of sexual assault are everywhere, and this trauma often affects the rest of their lives. We can't act like these survivors should just be able to forget their assault or let it go. I can't imagine sexual assault survivors will want to come to our churches if we don't clearly and consistently speak against sexual assault. The church should provide hope for God's healing to sexual assault survivors. (Note: I am well aware that Justice Kavanaugh has not been convicted of sexual assault. I am not assuming his guilt. What I'm saying is we should say that what he is accused of is a horrible thing.)
Second, sin is NOT okay. It is not a minor thing. We should not confuse God's grace with an indifference to sin. Sin is a big deal to God, and it should be to us. For one thing, I don't think there are very many sins that actually don't hurt someone else. For example, it's difficult to have lustful thoughts and not begin to think of and treat other people more like objects. Even sins that don't hurt others still hurt us. They destroy our conscience and pull us away from God. They make us more self-absorbed (especially if we think we can get away with no consequences), which isn't good. And most importantly, all sins offend God. To quote the Heidelberg Catechism (Q&A 11), all sins are "committed against His supreme majesty." When we sin, we essentially flip God the middle finger and say, "We'll decide what's right and wrong for ourselves, thanks. We know better than you." That is a BIG deal. That's such a big deal that the only reason we can be forgiven is because God Himself, without losing His divinity, became a human being and died for our sins. Let me say that again: our sins are so serious that it took the perfect Son of God dying to take care of them. God in His grace doesn't just let sin go; He still justly and rightly punishes it. God in His grace takes our punishment Himself.
That must shape how we talk about sin. There is no sin that is not forgivable. Sexual assault is forgivable. Racism is forgivable. Murder is forgivable. But these sins are NOT okay. They, like all sins, are absolutely horrible. They can be forgiven only through the unequalable victory of Christ Jesus' death and resurrection. To treat sin—any sin—like it's not a big deal is too cheapen the sacrifice and triumph of our Lord and Savior. To say that sin is okay is to lie about God. We CAN'T do that. We who have been forgiven must be willing to forgive others when they sin against us. (Important side note: It's not our place to offer forgiveness when someone else has been sinned against. We can still testify about God's forgiveness in Jesus, but those who have been sinned against should offer forgiveness.) But when we do, we should say, "I forgive you," not "It's okay." There's a huge difference between those two statements. Only if we treat sin as seriously as we should, can we truly understand just how amazing God's grace is.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Let me explain. First, sexual assault is NOT okay. It's not. As Christians, we CANNOT give the impression that it is. Look at all the trouble the Roman Catholic branch of the church has gotten in because of sexual assault. Someone in the U.S. is sexaully assaulted every 98 seconds. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Survivors of sexual assault are everywhere, and this trauma often affects the rest of their lives. We can't act like these survivors should just be able to forget their assault or let it go. I can't imagine sexual assault survivors will want to come to our churches if we don't clearly and consistently speak against sexual assault. The church should provide hope for God's healing to sexual assault survivors. (Note: I am well aware that Justice Kavanaugh has not been convicted of sexual assault. I am not assuming his guilt. What I'm saying is we should say that what he is accused of is a horrible thing.)
Second, sin is NOT okay. It is not a minor thing. We should not confuse God's grace with an indifference to sin. Sin is a big deal to God, and it should be to us. For one thing, I don't think there are very many sins that actually don't hurt someone else. For example, it's difficult to have lustful thoughts and not begin to think of and treat other people more like objects. Even sins that don't hurt others still hurt us. They destroy our conscience and pull us away from God. They make us more self-absorbed (especially if we think we can get away with no consequences), which isn't good. And most importantly, all sins offend God. To quote the Heidelberg Catechism (Q&A 11), all sins are "committed against His supreme majesty." When we sin, we essentially flip God the middle finger and say, "We'll decide what's right and wrong for ourselves, thanks. We know better than you." That is a BIG deal. That's such a big deal that the only reason we can be forgiven is because God Himself, without losing His divinity, became a human being and died for our sins. Let me say that again: our sins are so serious that it took the perfect Son of God dying to take care of them. God in His grace doesn't just let sin go; He still justly and rightly punishes it. God in His grace takes our punishment Himself.
That must shape how we talk about sin. There is no sin that is not forgivable. Sexual assault is forgivable. Racism is forgivable. Murder is forgivable. But these sins are NOT okay. They, like all sins, are absolutely horrible. They can be forgiven only through the unequalable victory of Christ Jesus' death and resurrection. To treat sin—any sin—like it's not a big deal is too cheapen the sacrifice and triumph of our Lord and Savior. To say that sin is okay is to lie about God. We CAN'T do that. We who have been forgiven must be willing to forgive others when they sin against us. (Important side note: It's not our place to offer forgiveness when someone else has been sinned against. We can still testify about God's forgiveness in Jesus, but those who have been sinned against should offer forgiveness.) But when we do, we should say, "I forgive you," not "It's okay." There's a huge difference between those two statements. Only if we treat sin as seriously as we should, can we truly understand just how amazing God's grace is.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, October 8, 2018
#103 People Are Complicated
I read a fair amount of comic books. If you read my blog regularly, you might've noticed that I'll make at least a passing reference to comics once or twice a month. A lot of comic characters are pretty clearly good or bad. There are some characters who are a mix of good and bad, and I would say on the whole characters are more complicated now than they were in, say, the 1950s and 1960s. But still, in comics there are heroes and villains, and it often isn't hard to tell the difference.
I think that we like to think the world works that way. We like to assume people are either good or bad—period. Generally that means we think we're good and people we like are good while people we don't like are bad. But flesh-and-blood human beings aren't comic characters. People are complicated, and I think we really need to remember that right now. All of us are a mixture of good and bad. If we lose sight of that, we end up in some pretty unhelpful places.
Let's take the whole Justice Brett Kavanaugh debate as an example. Here a group of us seemed to believe that if Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Ms. Christine Blasey Ford as she testified, there was no way he could be a good Supreme Court Justice. But nobody is all bad. As a Christian, I believe that the Holy Spirit graciously keeps us and our world from being as wicked as we could be. We'd like to think that the most moral people would be the most skilled and successful people, but things don't always work that way. You could be the kindest and most loving baker in history but still make dry and bland cupcakes. Or you could be the most selfish and bitter author ever to live but still write amazingly beautiful and touching poetry. Now our good qualities may not be redeeming enough to make others want to be around us, but all of us are capable of doing what is right and doing things well.
On the other hand, a group of us seemed to believe that if Kavanaugh is a respectable person as he and others argued, there was no way he could have done something like commit sexual assault. But nobody is all good. As a Christian, I believe that sin and evil infect every single part of our lives. We'd like to think that we or others we look up to could never do something horribly wrong, but that is not the truth. The evil that we hate in others is inside us, too. Every single on us does things that are wrong. What's more, every single one of us is capable of things we would consider monstrous and horrible. I doubt it would take you long to think of a respected religious or political leader who committed sexual assault or who was deeply racist or sexist. By the grace of God, very few of us will go so far as to do something like take another person's life, but every single one of us wishes someone else were dead at some point, and all of us could murder if we had a bad enough week and let go of our restraints.
So we can't just hero-worship others. The very best of us have flaws and faults that are not respectable in the least. But we can't just dismiss others, either. The very worst of us have gifts and capabilities to help others. Nobody's perfect, and nobody's worthless. We need to be honest about ourselves and others. Seeing the good in others is important if we're going to love and care for them as we should. And seeing the bad in others is important to keep us from trusting them too much or allowing them to hurt someone else. We're all complicated people, neither as good nor as bad as we could be. Those who are supposedly the best of us and those who are supposedly the worst of us are much more similar than different. That should make us humble and careful. Most of all that should make us grateful that God offers us forgiveness us in Christ Jesus, that He shows what it means to be good, and that through the Holy Spirit He helps us to be better than we could be on our own.
Grace and peace,
BMH
P.S. I've got more I'd like to say about sin and its effect on our lives, but this is getting long, so I better save that for next week. Thanks for making it this far, complicated readers.
I think that we like to think the world works that way. We like to assume people are either good or bad—period. Generally that means we think we're good and people we like are good while people we don't like are bad. But flesh-and-blood human beings aren't comic characters. People are complicated, and I think we really need to remember that right now. All of us are a mixture of good and bad. If we lose sight of that, we end up in some pretty unhelpful places.
Let's take the whole Justice Brett Kavanaugh debate as an example. Here a group of us seemed to believe that if Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Ms. Christine Blasey Ford as she testified, there was no way he could be a good Supreme Court Justice. But nobody is all bad. As a Christian, I believe that the Holy Spirit graciously keeps us and our world from being as wicked as we could be. We'd like to think that the most moral people would be the most skilled and successful people, but things don't always work that way. You could be the kindest and most loving baker in history but still make dry and bland cupcakes. Or you could be the most selfish and bitter author ever to live but still write amazingly beautiful and touching poetry. Now our good qualities may not be redeeming enough to make others want to be around us, but all of us are capable of doing what is right and doing things well.
On the other hand, a group of us seemed to believe that if Kavanaugh is a respectable person as he and others argued, there was no way he could have done something like commit sexual assault. But nobody is all good. As a Christian, I believe that sin and evil infect every single part of our lives. We'd like to think that we or others we look up to could never do something horribly wrong, but that is not the truth. The evil that we hate in others is inside us, too. Every single on us does things that are wrong. What's more, every single one of us is capable of things we would consider monstrous and horrible. I doubt it would take you long to think of a respected religious or political leader who committed sexual assault or who was deeply racist or sexist. By the grace of God, very few of us will go so far as to do something like take another person's life, but every single one of us wishes someone else were dead at some point, and all of us could murder if we had a bad enough week and let go of our restraints.
So we can't just hero-worship others. The very best of us have flaws and faults that are not respectable in the least. But we can't just dismiss others, either. The very worst of us have gifts and capabilities to help others. Nobody's perfect, and nobody's worthless. We need to be honest about ourselves and others. Seeing the good in others is important if we're going to love and care for them as we should. And seeing the bad in others is important to keep us from trusting them too much or allowing them to hurt someone else. We're all complicated people, neither as good nor as bad as we could be. Those who are supposedly the best of us and those who are supposedly the worst of us are much more similar than different. That should make us humble and careful. Most of all that should make us grateful that God offers us forgiveness us in Christ Jesus, that He shows what it means to be good, and that through the Holy Spirit He helps us to be better than we could be on our own.
Grace and peace,
BMH
P.S. I've got more I'd like to say about sin and its effect on our lives, but this is getting long, so I better save that for next week. Thanks for making it this far, complicated readers.
Monday, October 1, 2018
#102 Game 163
The Milwaukee Brewers are my team. I'm a fan of the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Wisconsin Badgers (both football and men's basketball). I follow and try to cheer for the Winnipeg Jets (not sure I quite count as a hockey fan yet). But my heart lies with the Brewers. An MLB regular season is 162 games spread over six months. From April to September, I check the Brewers score and stats pretty much without fail every single game. The Packers and Badgers have been much more successful in my lifetime, and the Bucks have had a lot more buzz over the past couple seasons, but no team brings me anywhere near as much joy as the Brewers do.
I'm not sure when my affection for the Brewers began overtaking my interest in other teams, but I know it solidified during the magical 2011 season. That year the Brewers went 96-66, winning their division (the NL Central) for the first time in my life. They won their first playoff series before losing to [*shudder*] the St. Louis Cardinals. With so many home baseball games each season, tickets to see the Brewers at Miller Park are normally pretty cheaply available, especially when the Brewers aren't very good (which is most years). In 2011, even as the Brew Crew soared, I went a personal record six times, including attending the first playoff game with my dad and sister. The Brewers won every time. By sheer chance (on our end, at least) we were at Miller Park the night the Brewers clinched the division title. The stadium went nuts. I hugged my family and high-fived strangers. It's one of the greatest experiences of my life. After that, I knew I would never enjoy another franchise as much as the Brewers.
This year the Brewers came back. There were a few rough patches, but for the most part, the Crew played good ball all season long. After an incredible six weeks to close the season, we ended yesterday 95-67, tied with the Chicago Cubs for the division lead. Because baseball can be played mutiple days in a row without much trouble, and because the folks at MLB are good to us, there are no tiebreakers for determining division titles. The tied teams simply play an extra regular season game: Game 163. Today, on my day of rest, the Brewers traveled to Chicago to determine who would claim the division. To my great delight, I could watch the whole game. Lanie napped until the 8th inning while I experienced a frenzy of emotions: anxiety, hope, depression, elation, fear, relief. I retrieved Lanie from her room just as the Brewers rallied to break the tie and regain their lead. I placed her in her high chair for her late lunch and paced back and forth while the Cubs batted. She looked at me like I was crazy, but she gave me a high five after great plays. When the Brewers recorded the last out to win the division, I jumped up and down and screamed with joy, nearly scaring my poor daughter to death. But when Lanie saw me smiling, she started to smile, too. Lanie doesn't know what happened today, but she knows it made her daddy very happy. Someday, when she can understand, I'll have to tell her about this day, a day I'll never forget. I hope the Brewers continue to play well in the postseason. I would love for them to go to the World Series for the first time in my life and win for the first time in franchise history. But no matter what happens after today, I'll always look back on 2018 as another magical season, a year when my team achieved something worth celebrating. As they've been saying in Milwaukee, "Let's gooooooo!"
Grace and peace,
BMH
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