SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 5
TEXT: THEME: INTRODUCTION When I got my first computer. There was a setting on it that I was always afraid to press; default. Default was not part of my vocabulary at that time and I wondered what it would do. Now I know if I pressed it. It would erase all of whatever I have done. All of the rabbit holes I have gone through, the discoveries I have made and the system errors that I have caused, not to mention links to viruses. My progression, the evolution of my computer skills, the Simm City I have created on my desk top would be reset, to a sterile past as my default. Steadfast love of the Lord, Never ending mercies, And great faithfulness is our default with God, even predating a time before sin. SCRIPTURE Most of Lamentation 5 is a recap of what has happened to Judah. They want God to know what they have been through. It is a common feeling that we have of being on our own then feeling disconnected from God and yet, we want God to know our misery. This is exactly how Judah behaved with God. They were like children who rebelled against their parents and went their own way until it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Then we wonder where God is and we want God to know our woe. Maybe to have pity on us or do something and to rescue us. Babylon attacked Judah while they behaved independently from God and decimated them. The fame walled city Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was stripped and defiled, many people died; Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. Daughters have been violated; the death of each young person robbed Judah of a different future. Homes were turned to rubble, the orderly utopia in disarray. The ownership the Holy Land was awarded to foreigners. There are no protections from the violence around them. There is a rising criminal elements that makes it dangerous even outside of the city streets. There are no rulers to bring order to things or negotiate on their behalf. There are no prophets to petition God or to give any assurance of spiritual help. Their resources have been torched leaving famine and starvation to those who remain. Their natural resources have been tainted. They had to create a Humanitarian Trade Agreements with Neighbors so that they could pay for food, water, wood, and other supplies. Judah is living the consequences of their ancestors’ folly. The new normal is a harder Life with less to show for it. Survival does not afford time to waste on pleasure, poets, creativity, or Joy. Music is gone, dance is gone, artisans are gone. But… verses 19-22, God’s reigns forever and to all generations. It may feel like God has forgotten Judah in all that they have gone through. And here in the last two verse of the book of Lamentations is a plea to be restored. Hit the default button. Erase the recent disaster and set us up back in the good old days. Unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry beyond measure. Relationship has always been God’s goal for us. Rejection and anger are all part of relationships, but so is Love, mercy and faithfulness, going back to that default. APPLICATION There actually is no going back to past things, no glory days to recreate. It’s gone. How is God setting us up for the future? How do we begin to heal our relationship with God? I got two mantras to take with me into tomorrow: one with steadfast love, unending mercy and great faithfulness, the other is to have Koa (courage), imua (move one foot in front of the other) and Pono (do the right thing). This is not about nationalism but about people becoming the People of God based on relationships of love, mercy and faithfulness. Citizenship beyond boundaries, race, gender and even religions styles. The future is not in the past but in what we can create, consolidate, fuse, invent, hybrid and imagine. Whatever we build we will bring our values, tradition, culture, style, beliefs, and collaborate, discerning the truth, listening, giving space for evolving and creativity form. Lamentation leaves the people of God with the chance to build something new relying on the steadfast love of the Lord, Unending mercies, and Great faithfulness. They are later released from their captivity and are able to return home. What they build with their freedom is seen in the setup of the temple worship when Jesus begins his ministry. A people of God based on righteousness through the adherence to the build with Law of Moses. Relationship with God through ancestry. And a religion based on the payment of sacrifices to make atonements for sins. Last week I spoke with a fellow from Florida who was doing a survey of our buildings for our insurance claim. He made some comment about how we are all immigrants even in Florida, then I said isn’t it interesting how the immigrants took over the host’s land and now they are afraid of new immigrants who might do the same thing to them. The irony was palpable. CONCLUSION Supremacy wants to default and go back to slavery. Putin wants to default and go back to an Old Russia, Big business wants to default and go back to a time when they don’t have to pay workers a fare wage so they can gain more profits at their expense. We see this with coal companies, Briggs and Stratton who moved their lawn mower plant out of the US for cheaper labor and Kaiser who refuses to pay workers here the same cost of living as workers in California. There is no default to go back to, God is always building on the foundations of the past toward something better. Imua I’m wondering if the models of the church need to change to be less about righteousness and more about love, mercy and faithfulness. I wondering if our United States needs to take a different look about what freedom means for all, and how our America can be different in accommodating new immigrants instead of trying to preserve an out-dated demographic. I’m wondering about which political model we want to support, one that advocates for business thinking that profits will flow down to the worker, or one that advocates for checks and balances because businesses are not good at morally doing the right thing. Pono In Lamentations 2, when it talked about prophets who did not talk speak out against Israel’s iniquities. I thought about churches that don’t speak God’s truth about what society is doing. What are we doing if we don’t have the courage to speak God’s truth and keep silent? Koa
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