Yahoo! Let’s celebrate. The future is bright and promising.
It would be great in one sense as a new incoming pastor, to start with a sermon series filled with enthusiasm, optimism and fireworks. Yet, to do so would be to ignore the existential reality of where many of us are and the experiences of life in the present or past. We long to be in a better circumstance, certainly. Yet, this pandemic (and for some, life in general) has been a gut punch in so many ways. So, how can we cope with our longings and our pandemic emotions?
We can make the mistake of jumping quickly to optimistic passages like “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,” from Jeremiah. But to do so circumvents the context of that passage and dismisses what so many of us are going through right now.
The Lord has a particular posture and response to our longing and lament, which is as shocking as it is encouraging, making it ultimately hope-filled. Jeremiah will be our trail guide through a few chapters in the book of Lamentations and then on to a few chapters in the book of Jeremiah, as we learn more about the Lord and our relationship with Him, in this remarkable time of longing and lament.
