"I will write my law on their hearts"
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Proper 24C, October 21, 2007
A Sermon by Fr. James Haney V
I've been looking forward to preaching on Jeremiah 31 p 721. I've never preached on it before, but I love the passage. It's one of the great passages of Good News in the Old Testament. And after slogging through some very tough and depressing parts of Jeremiah these past 8 weeks, on the 9th week, I'm ready to hear the full expression of Jeremiah's good news. And it comes in v31:
"The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."
A new covenant. Those words appear together several times in the New Testament. But this is the only time in the entire Old Testament where God talks about making a new covenant with his people.
v32 "(The new covenant) will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD."
The new covenant, the new type of relationship with God will be different from the old one, God is saying. The old covenant was one that the people rejected again and again.
God wants relationship with his people. His people turn away again and again. Their sin gets in the way. Remember sin is not about breaking laws. Sin is fundamentally about wanting to do things your way, rather than God's way.
Sin has been getting in the way, sin has been driving a wedge between the people and God. God won't ignore their sin, the breach, the tear in relationship. God will do something about it. God will actually do two things.
We'll take them out of order. For thing number 2, skip to the end of v34: "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." God takes sin seriously, so seriously that he'd rather forgive it than ignore it. God, the aggrieved party in a broken relationship, reaches out to heal the breach.
How? Thing number 1, v33: "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD."
God will give his people a change of heart. We don't have a change of heart. It's not about us deciding to have a change of heart. It's about God giving us a change of heart.
God will provide inner transformation at the very core. A change of heart, which for the Jewish people meant not just emotions, but also will. A change in the way you feel. A change in the way you do things.
"I will write (my law) on their hearts." It's God's initiative. It's God's action. It's about what God does for us. A new covenant, a new relationship, one that heals the breach, one that's written on our hearts.
In the New Testament, Jesus only speaks of new covenant in only one context. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."
Christians believe that Jesus brings us transformation, forgiveness of sins, a change of heart, through his death and resurrection. When we eat the bread and share the cup of the new covenant, we proclaim and share in the benefits of his death and new life.
So what does it mean to be God's people, to live in the new covenant? First of all, it we need to remember it's a new covenant with people, not persons. It's not just about your own personal faith, though that's important. It's about being a Christian community.
When we partake of the cup of the new covenant at this altar rail, we do it together. God calls us to his table together. It's called communion, literally "union with," union with God, and union with each other.
By giving us a change of heart, God gives us the capacity to begin to live in new way. God gives us the capacity to begin to relate to one another in a new way.
When I first came here almost a decade ago, it was VERY clear to me that worship, the union with God part, was very important to Good Shepherd. That was a part of your DNA. Drawing closer to God, learning more about God, teaching our children about God were important things to this congregation.
It's no accident that our mission statement begins with, "Vibrant worship, centered in Christ." I think that's a big part of what we value and focus on as a congregation.
Five years back when we developed our mission statement, we also knew we were missing something else. We had a hunger to do more than just focus on ourselves, and our relationship with God. We wanted to begin to open our hands, to widen our embrace, to look more and more outside our doors. Thus we concluded our mission statement with, "Carrying God's love from the altar to those we meet." And we've begun to do good work in this area. We haven't arrived, but we've come a long way with increasing our outreach ministry and our outlook beyond ourselves.
But I think we're missing something. I think there's a big gap in our mission statement. God has really laid it on my heart this summer and early fall, and the more I think and pray about it, the more I believe it's true.
I mentioned this in my newsletter article from August. As the clergy and vestry have been planning and dreaming about the next phase at Good Shepherd, a word that kept coming up again and again was relationships. People may come because of the worship or sermons or Christian education program. But they stay because of the relationships they form with each other.
I'll repeat my words from the newsletter: "I believe the vision and work for our next phase will need to center on, or at least include the following word: RELATIONSHIPS. I firmly believe that the vibrancy of Good Shepherd in our next phase will depend upon the ways we seek to deepen our relationships with each other, and with newcomers who join us."
As your leader for almost the past decade, I have to admit, we've dropped the ball at times. Yes we're doing some very good things. But there are gaps.
<<Living sermon illustration: get 12 people from congregation to come up and stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder. Have a ball of yarn--hold one end, and pass or toss it to another person, having them hold onto the yarn, and then pass the ball on, thus forming a web. When web is partially formed, stop the ball.>>
This is where I think we are now at Good Shepherd. We have some good connections with each other. But there are some pretty big holes as well. And there are some people who are not connected at all. It's partial. It's hit or miss, it's incomplete.
And I suspect that this is part of the reason we've shrunk the past four years. It's not all of the reason, but I believe it's part of the reason.
As your leader, I'll take full responsibility for the times I've dropped the ball. And I don't want to seem to harsh in what I'm about to say. We're all in this together.
But I can speak from my personal experience about the joys and pains of being part of this community. When my grandparents died several years back, I got lots of notes and words of condolences. When my friend Herb Cochran died almost two years ago, as I was trying to minister to the Cochran family, I was so touched at the number of people who reached out to me in my grief. At times, you can be a wonderful, loving community.
At the same time, I have to share that when Renee was in the hospital a number of years ago, only two people from Good Shepherd came to visit her. Another clergy staff person reported something similar when their spouse was in the hospital. Another staff person recently lost a parent, and the funeral was at Good Shepherd. A few of you were there, but there weren't very many.
It's hit and miss. I hear from one person who went through a divorce about how supportive the people of Good Shepherd were. I hear from another person who went through a divorce about how they didn't feel very supported at all. I hear from one person who was temporarily homebound about how kind everyone was. I hear from another person who was temporarily homebound that only one person called to see how they were doing. Our web of relationships needs strengthening.
<<Move back to circle.>>
Of course, individuals need to take some responsibility. If X is left out, he needs to say, "Throw me the ball." <<have them throw him the ball>> But if a new person joins the circle <<act it out>>, they may not be brave enough to ask for the ball. We might need to be more intentional about reaching out and throwing the ball to them.
<<start ball again>>
I have been pleased with some growth I've seen recently. I do watch you. I notice that people are hanging out longer after the service talking to each other. That ties us together.
I've been so pleased with the new relationships that have been formed by the Spiral groups.
Last week I overheard one mother tell another mother whose child was sick, "Call me if you need anything. Really. I really mean it." And I believe she did.
A note. A visit to someone in the hospital. A phone call. A casserole. Seeking out the newcomer. Praying for someone. Contacting someone you haven't seen in a while. Going to the funeral of someone you don't even know, just because you do know one of their relatives who is a fellow member of Good Shepherd. I believe God is calling us in these ways and many others to strengthen our ties to each other.
In 2 weeks, on Saturday November 3, we're having our morning of visioning, looking at ways we can strengthen our ties together. I hope you can join us.
I do believe we're missing a piece of our mission statement:
Yes "Vibrant worship, centered in Christ"
But also adding, "Strengthening our relationships"
or perhaps, "Supporting one another"
or "Caring for each other."
And then, "carrying God's love from the altar to those we meet."
May God write it on our hearts, and give us the will to live into it.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev. James P. Haney V
Good Shepherd, Wichita
October 21, 2007
