Proper 17C, September 1, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of our help, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Once upon a time, in the olden days, according to the prophet Jeremiah, the people of God found fault with God and started following worthless idols. Once upon a time, a long time ago, people forgot how beloved and beautiful they were. In other words, they lost their sense of identity as people made in the image of Love, and they forgot their mandates to love. They started following everything but love. (For anyone who has never heard me preach, I want to start by telling you that one of the best Biblical names for God is Love, and I always appreciate the opportunity to substitute the word Love for the word God.) When the people lost the way of Love, they lost their sense of worth, their sense of glory. When they stopped remembering that they were beloved, they stopped behaving as if they were beloved. There’s a word play in the Hebrew that gets lost in translation: Ba-al means worthless or no profit, and Ya-al means benefit or value or worth.

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, according to the prophet Jeremiah, the people of the Holy One, did not seek the One Who had freed them from slavish work and had led them through the valley of the shadow of death and brought them to a bountiful place. They forgot, and so they polluted the land. They messed up the bountiful place. Once upon a time, the priests did not seek Love. The lawyers did not know Love. The political leaders rebelled against Love. The prophets were in an ecstatic state about things that did not profit at all! Can you imagine? It was appalling. It was horrible.

Because the priests didn’t seek Love and the lawyers didn’t know Love and the political leaders rebelled against Love, and the prophets prophesied about profits, the people forsook the springs of the water of life and built cisterns for water that became stagnant and then leaked out through the cracks. Once upon a time, in the olden days, the people trusted more in military and economic and political might than they did in the power of Love. Can you imagine that? Like it was yesterday?

Can you imagine the feeling of working every day, without taking a day each week for refreshment and rest to remember that you are free and not a slave, and to remember that your worth as a human being doesn’t stem from your productivity? Can you imagine priests who are not more concerned about Love than anything else – I mean, what on earth are we worried about? Can you imagine lawyers who don’t base their work on the rule of Love? Can you imagine a people relying on the power of weapons or the power of money to settle conflicts?

I thought so.

The story of Jeremiah is the story of the unceasing efforts of Love to reconcile and redeem. Jeremiah is calling the people to remember Love and speak Love’s name. Hebrew Bible scholar, Walter Brueggemann writes that it’s interesting and important that the indictment here is not for what the people did not do. They are indicted for what they did not say.¹ They did not say, “Where is the Love Who² brought us up from the place of enslavement?” (the word Egypt is literally “the narrow place” – you know, the spot between a rock and a hard place. They did not say, “where is the Love Who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives, and yet we did?” They didn’t seek Love. They did live. They got to the land of plenty and they forgot Who (that is, Love) brought them there. The priests did not say, “Where is the Love?” It seems that when they stopped seeking Love, when they stopped believing in Love, they lost their way. Can you imagine it?

Perhaps the better question for me to ask is, can you imagine another way? Because the well-being of the world depends on us imagining another way, remembering that there’s another way, and speaking up about it out there. We come here to remember. But speaking up in here is utterly insufficient. What needs to happen is for us to say what we remember of Love out loud, out there. Indeed, lives are at stake. Now when you speak of the way of Love out there, they’ll laugh at you. They will. They will think you’re naïve or simple. If you persist, they will get irritated or worse. And I’m not talking national or international politics – I’m just talking about what will happen in your own family, among your own friends, among your co-workers! I’m speaking from personal experience!

I want to read you a passage from Walter Brueggemann’s book about ancient prophetic texts entitled, Texts that Linger, Words that Explode. He first quotes contemporary American philosopher, John Caputo saying: “The voice of the prophet interrupts the self-assured voices of the powerful…bringing them up short, calling them to account for themselves. That is why the prophets had a habit of getting themselves killed, a most serious occupational hazard. They were perhaps a little mad, mad for justice, mad about injustice, and maybe, just a little, plain mad.” Then Brueggemann concludes, “The prophetic tradition preserves for us these staggering enactments of redemptive madness. The madness lingers in and through the text. That is why the text has been kept until now. When the text is resurfaced, revoiced, reuttered, reexperienced, it sometimes turns out to be the only sanity in town.”³

I love that phrase, “staggering enactments of redemptive madness.” If you need ideas about how and where to speak Love’s name, there are some in our readings from Hebrews and the Gospel of Luke this morning. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. Remember those who are in prison as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor. Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Whenever you have a privileged spot or seat that you think you have earned or that you think you deserve, give it up to someone else who hasn’t earned it or doesn’t deserve it! You know, give it up to someone who hasn’t worked as hard. Give a luncheon or dinner for people who cannot repay you. That’s just for starters. Disable your better than/worse than calculator that is always running in your head. Call upon the name of Love to help you, giving thanks for all that Love has already done for you.

I brought out the two-panel watercolor mural that was created by folks at Emmanuel this past Spring while I was away on sabbatical. It’s a beautiful depiction of the living water that comes from Love, also known as Miriam’s Well. If you need more ideas, read through the latest issue of Voices, the theme of which is “Drinking from Miriam’s Well.” It’s up on our web page in beautiful color and there are also some black and white print copies in the back of the chapel.

While I was writing this sermon, I had a crazy idea for our prayers of the people today. Instead of naming other people who need help, instead of asking God (or Love) to help other people do the right things or even heal the way we hope they will heal, let’s pause to ask Love to help us. When we get to the place of adding petitions, if you want to speak a name out loud today, say only your own name. Make your petition asking that Love help you speak Love’s name wherever you go. I know it is somewhat unusual in this crowd to ask for help for yourselves, so I want you to practice right now. I’m going to count to three and I want you to say your own name out loud – not your full legal name – just the name you go by in casual or familiar conversation. 1-2-3: _____. Good. It was a little quiet. People of Emmanuel! We are calling on Love. Make some noise! 1-2-3: _______. Now try saying our name, Emmanuel. 1-2-3: Emmanuel. You all know, of course, that the word Emmanuel means “Love with us.”

When we get to the portion of the prayers of thanksgiving, say anything you want out loud that gives thanks that Love woke you up this morning and Love brought you to this place. Give thanks that Love has accompanied you through the valley of the shadow of death, that Love calls you out of enslavement, begs your freedom, leads you through the wilderness, to the springs of the water of life. Give thanks that Love makes your cup overflow. Give thanks for Love!

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