Living in the Spirit
September 6, 2016

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
   and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
   and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
   and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
   and all its cities were laid in ruins
   before the Lord, before his fierce anger. –Jeremiah 4:23-26

If we think we are mad, how angry is God? People called to be God’s partners in creating God’s kingdom on earth are nowhere to be seen in Jeremiah’s vision. We are playing roulette with our fingers pointing blame on others while remaining isolated in our cocoons of self-righteousness.

What we usually presume are Jeremiah’s allegories have very real outcomes for some. This weekend at 7:02 am Saturday morning Oklahoma experienced a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, which also impacted surrounding states. One of our politicians quickly announced that we do not know what causes this swarm of quakes while the Oklahoma Corporation Commission ordered the shutdown of injection wells in the vicinity of the quake’s epicenter. Oklahoma does face very difficult decisions having its major source of economic wellbeing correlating with the increase of earthquakes, but denying reality does not change it.

Some take positive steps. Cities work hard at diversifying their economies. Some oil companies have reverted to using drilling methods that do not require the use of injection wells. Some explore less harmful ways of dealing with wastewater and become savvier at identifying problem spots for drilling.

This scenario plays out in other places with other problems. Poor economies exist in states that have lost major manufacturing jobs. Service industry jobs have increased, but most do not pay a living wage, resulting in people working more and more for less. Such circumstances build resentment against immigrants, documented or not. Our economy would surely tank, if we gathered all undocumented immigrants and sent them back to their homelands. Immigrants do not work in vacuums. Someone is hiring them and profiting from their fragile status.

No easy answers exist. We can stay on the bandwagon of distractions via innuendos and personal attacks and gridlock based on inserting wedge issues in every piece of legislation created. Or we can all, every citizen including every member of the Body of Christ, roll up our sleeves and go about the business of finding common ground for the Common Good.

Prayer: All Powerful and Ever Present God, open our cocoons of self-righteousness and send us forth as stalwart servants. Forgive us for being cowed by fear. Help us hold on to the power of love. Show us your justice. Order our lives to serve you more productively. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.