I’m watching the snow flurries fill the gray skies today. “No significant accumulation” is the confident weather advice. I can believe it, the ground is too warm, maybe a small pile on a concrete corner somewhere. But for the most part it seems like the flakes don’t ever reach the ground. They are just dancing around in a haphazard, frenetic kind of dance, falling only to rise again, whipped on the cold winds and air currents still trying to adjust to the roller coaster temperatures over an unusual fall. Then they dance away and leave behind the cold gray day.
I’m finding my thoughts are as scattered as those flakes. My thinking is buffeted by various currents from text to season, from issues local and national, from a need to apologize for misunderstandings - mishearing in my own congregation, to the need to continue to proclaim hope and the longing for a Kingdom promised but not yet realized, even while we point out aspects of our world that are the antithesis of that Kingdom.
We launched our extended Advent observance last week at Aldersgate. The theme is The Who and What of Waiting. And last week the question was “What are you waiting for?” Isaiah calls us to long for a Kingdom of hope and joy, of diversity and acceptance and inclusion. And I called us to stand against that in our world which didn’t reflect that kingdom. It was a rallying cry to stand against hate. But I must not have done a good job of it, because many heard an accusation and a divisive message of which side is on the right and which is on the wrong. They heard blame and finger pointing, not an invitation to show love not hate. Some wanted to applaud, others wanted to tar and feather me. It’s been a difficult week.
Then I turned to the lectionary for this week and read this:
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD. 5 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."
Jeremiah was talking about kings and not priests. The prophet was pointing out that the leaders of the people were charged with not being divisive, that they were called to build up the nation as a people of God. In those days, among those people, there was no division between faith and state. They were supposed to be one, the king was a spiritual leader and not just a political one. Jeremiah is pointing out the failings of those who sat on the throne of God’s people.
There is an interesting textual variant in the second verse of this text. Our version reads that the shepherds “scattered the flock and have driven them away.” In a more Jewish translation the verse reads that the shepherds let them scatter and go astray. They weren’t the cause of the scattering, the cause was the wilfulness, the sinfulness of the people. But the leaders didn’t help them overcome their natural tendency to separate, to follow their own will rather than the will of the One who calls them into community.
Maybe it doesn’t matter that much. Maybe the fault isn’t what is important. Maybe it is simply the result. The effect. That’s why this week has been so difficult. In the end it doesn’t matter that for Jeremiah the shepherds he calls out are kings. It doesn’t matter because we see the word shepherd and we don’t think of political leaders. We think of me and people like me. And I can’t help but feel the weight of that accusation. It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t trying to scatter the flock. It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t driving them away, wasn’t pointing fingers, wasn’t condemning anyone’s choice or side. Neither does it matter that what I was trying to do was galvanize the body of Christ into standing against an evil arising in our nation, and that attending to the words I spoke would reveal that intent. But it doesn’t matter. Because the flock was scattered. And I feel that weight on my soul.
Maybe I’m not worthy of the position I’ve been given, regardless of my intent. No, not maybe. I’m not. Not in the least. Luckily for me, however, I stand on this side of Easter. On this side of the Incarnation. The one who gathers is not me. It is only in Christ that we find our unity.
In most churches this weekend, we will be celebrating - acknowledging, commemorating, observing - Christ the King Sunday. The holy day is the reminder that our unity is not in denomination or in local community, not in preachers we like or don’t like, not in political affiliation or family relationship. Our unity is in Christ. The question for our Second Sunday of this Extended Advent is “Who are you waiting for?”
Jeremiah says the days are coming when “The Lord is Our Righteousness” will reign over us. When judgments will be executed from on high, when faithfulness to relationships will overcome opinions and preferences. When the Anointed One will deal fairly with all God’s people.
Who are you following? Who are you believing in? Who is the bearer of your hope? Who speaks into your hungers and your fears? Who defines what a life of meaning and fullness means? Who are you waiting for?
It’s snowing again. More fiercely, more driven it appears. Beginning to paint the ground a transparent white, not covering, not obscuring, dusting, highlighting. But perhaps with a foretaste of snows to come. A call to get ready. To watch and to wait. And to long for, by living like and loving like and praying like, the One who comes.
Shalom,
Derek
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