Jeremiah 8.18-9.1 22nd September 2019. Jeremiah is awesome. He is the Eeyore of the bible. He lived at a time of massive uncertainty, the economy was on the brink of collapse, the enemy were closing in, many had already been taken off into slavery and the received wisdom of the day was Keep Calm and Carry on as Normal as if everything was fine. After all we’re God’s people. If you’ve got a smug enough view of yourself then everything will be fine and anything bad that happens you can blame it on other people – the rich people, the poor people, the people who make the decisions, the parliament, the people who voted differently to you. Prophets in the bible start off as being called Seers – they see things that others don’t. So they can tell you that your donkey has been found and you can go home now. They can advise you on whether you should go to war or not. You can see how that’s a jolly useful person to have around you, so Kings started to have professional prophets and they would grow up to be a prophet, there would be schools of them. But every now and then God would make a mess and a muddle of things by sending someone along who wasn’t part of the professionally trained team. And he would throw a spanner in your works. These prophets would sometimes be powerful people – Elijah, Elisha – they didn’t need an army, they had a vast divine army of angels, they didn’t need water, they could summon the rain, or worse they could withhold the rain. Powerful prophets, jolly annoying if they were not doing what you wanted them to do. But over the years the Prophets started to share what was on God’s heart. There were less miracles, less powerful displays of the almighty, and more a passionate call to hear what’s on God’s heart. And from there the prophets start to feel what was on God’s heart. Isaiah – excellent example of a prophet who could tell you what God was thinking and feeling. But there’s really only one maybe two miracles that goes with him. But Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel are excellent examples of prophets where they are made to really feel what God is feeling. And Jeremiah is given a message that judgement is coming on Jerusalem and alas he will live long enough to see its destruction.586bc. In the reading that you heard, Jeremiah simply expresses his hurt, his depression and disappointment in God. “I am crushed, I mourn, horror grips me” I cry and I cry and I cry like a fountain of tears, like a tap that cant be turned off. Its good that we get this raw emotion here. As White English Christians we’re not good with emotions, we like our religion to be nicely liturgically laid out. But here is just awful and Jeremiah is able to just vent. Mostly here he vents sorrow and tears, but elsewhere he gets really really angry with God. A little while back there was a piece of news on Fb in which a vicar had killed himself. And lots of people had written kind thoughts underneath, but one had written – well it shows that his faith didn’t save him. Wow, that’s really dumb as well as cruel. This idea that Christians cannot get overwhelmed with Sorrow, unable to see hope in the darkness – this ignorance of how sometimes our internal chemicals just get messed up with and we too need tablets. This idea that all the things that happen to normal people don’t also happen to Christians. So point 1 if you like is its quite normal for Christians to get depressed. As St John of the Cross put it, the Long Dark Night of the Soul, from 16C. The idea of Christians being overwhelmed with sorrow, with silence and where is God? This isn’t a new one. Point 2 if you like is about the importance of expressing this. It’s not easy to find a safe person, a counsellor, a confidant, a confessor – someone that you can just go to and say My life is just awful, and cry with and not get advice just get heard, deeply heard. So Jeremiah goes to God. And for some of us that works and for many of us we need someone a bit more visible, tangible. Jeremiah at this point just finds himself overwhelmed with how bad the whole state of his society has got. And God has given him a message that says It will get worse before it gets better. At this point in Jeremiah’s message there’s still sometimes glimpses of hope – it doesn’t have to be like this, it’s not too late – if we were to start to treat the orphans, the widows, the foreigners, - If we were to worship the Lord God instead of those worthless idols that in turn make us feel worthless – IF … then maybe there’s hope. But there comes a point as you read Jeremiah where the balance and the tone changes. And it changes from, ok, to doom and destruction is going to happen, but I want you to know that you’re not forgotten and now the message turns into one of How are we going to pick up the pieces afterwards, disaster is going to happen, but hang in there and afterwards we will get back to God’s plan of being a blessing to each other. This is heavy stuff. Normally I feel that a sermon should say: God loves you and yes life is hard but he’s here to help you, encourage you, and keep you going! Something positive. But with Jeremiah, it’s like having Eeyore over to tea. My favourite bit in Jeremiah comes towards the end. When the people finally start to listen to Jeremiah and they say OK so it looks like you were right all along, what should we do? And Jeremiah tells them, and they do the opposite. And then, here’s the best bit. Jeremiah goes with them. This is what makes Jeremiah the most amazing prophet. Jeremiah is bizarrely an encouraging message that God is with you, and travels with you and doesn’t give up on you. Point 1 is Christians, people of all faiths and none, get depressed. It might be chemical, it might not be. It might have a cure, it might not. It happens. We need to be able to say that. And Point 2 we need someone we can just talk to about it. And say my life is just so unbelievably awful. And express the Dark night that your soul is going through. I hope you might find that person in this Church, maybe Newick Church, maybe in a Home Group – for some of you its me. that’s kind. I’m here for you. And Point 3 is that God has not given up on you, and your prayers, on our life and society and He comes with us, often in the shape of people like Jeremiah, into the choices good or bad that we make, God comes with us. We’re not forgotten. As we come to prayer shortly – lets include people in our prayers struggling with sorrow, depression, the black dog, the dark night of the soul. As we come to communion, come and receive a reminder, a token, of God’s love and His commitment to you. And stick around for coffee afterwards, it’s always easier to nip off and I know but it’s worth a moment or two of human interaction, and you might find in listening to another that God has sent you here to be that help to another. Amen. .