For those who want a change from the Gospel

Trinity 3 – Jeremiah 20:7-13 (Related)

Every now and then, on a bad day, I find myself in a dilemma. In retirement I’m still involved in teaching theological students, training clergy and Readers for ministry. I love my work (that’s why I’m still doing it even after I’m supposed to have retired), but there are days when I feel like a complete hypocrite, because actually I wouldn’t wish ministry in the C of E on my worst enemies. Nobody had told me, as a bright-eyed bushy-tailed ordinand in the 70s just how heart breaking it was going to be (or maybe they did tell me but I just didn’t hear it). I feel that I know, in small measure, how Jeremiah was feeling.

This text is the final of six personal laments in his book, and it is by far the strongest in its language. Jeremiah knows what it is to have a hard message to deliver, and to be mocked for it. He knows the awful feeling of believing that God is going to act in judgement, but then to see him doing nothing while evil continues to prevail. He knows personal attack from those who don’t want their comfortable worlds rocked with bad news, and who don’t want to be called to account for their wrongdoing. But above all he feels deceived by God. You called me to this ministry, and I just can’t withstand that call, yet all it brings me is misery. I try to avoid my calling and to disobey you, but something within me just won’t let me do that. The word ‘deceived’ is that used often in the Bible for sexual seduction: the difference here is that God has seduced him into obedience, not sin. And it hurts.

No doubt we’ve all heard sermons about how it’s OK to get angry with God, and to express our true feelings rather than pretending everything is nice, and this passage certainly validates that. But the liturgist in me wants to read this text from a different point of view. It is a great example of a liturgical form called ‘Lament’, and as such it is intended to contain and express those negative feelings we so often have, but also to move us on to a more positive place. Lamenting is not the same as whingeing.

So what is really interesting about this passage is the way in which Jeremiah’s relationship with God changes through it. In v.7 God is without doubt the enemy, the deceiver who has tricked Jeremiah into working for him in such a painful job. But by the time we get to v.11 things have changed, and God has become an ally against his attackers. And by the end of our text (v.13) a song of praise to God springs to his lips. As in any good liturgy there is a journey here, a progression from where we are now to a different place, and Lament form follows this well-trodden path, allowing us to express with raw emotion what it is we’re upset about, but not leaving us there. You can see this journey in many of the Psalms: Ps 13 is a good example, but there are several others. Note too that part of the Lament process is often imprecation, calling down curses on the heads of those who have hurt us. I know we’re supposed to forgive people this side of the cross, but so much ‘forgiveness’ is cheap and shallow because it doesn’t take seriously what we would actually like to do to our enemies. My favourite definition of forgiveness is ‘choosing to leave it up to God to punish my enemies, rather than trying to do it myself’, and this certainly doesn’t mean that things are going to be nice from now on. I may forgive someone, but it might be impossible ever to trust them again, and often the most sensible course is simply to keep away from them.

There are two more important things to say about Lament. The first is that if you’re feeling that this is all a bit quick and neat, that you can deal with your feelings in around six verses, you’re right. That’s what liturgy does: it expresses concisely a journey which may take us years to travel. When we say the Creed in church it takes a few minutes, but for us to have come to the point where we can say ‘I believe …’ may have taken considerably longer. Indeed we may still be on that journey, working through our doubts and uncertainties. In the same way a liturgical text expresses what ought to be going on, what we hope will be going on, even if we’re not entirely there yet. The level of pain Jeremiah is feeling cannot be dealt with lightly, but Lament is a good start, a roadmap for the journey if you like.

The second point lies beyond our passage, but note that after the song of praise in v.13 he is straight back to moaning again. The benefits of using Lament seriously are not instant and permanent, not least if people are still hurting us. It is a resource to be used over and over as needed, but every time we do so we remember to make that shift from God being our enemy to our saviour.