January 28th Reflection by Bill Lynch

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,

says the Lord.’
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’

Reflection
Jeremiah meets God in the Word. The Word springs to life and comes to Jeremiah. God unites with Jeremiah in Jeremiah's call. The Word unites with Jeremiah and it is not about Jeremiah at all. It's about the Word coming to Jeremiah even before Jeremiah could be aware of anything, even before his birth.

God chooses us and prepares us. God chose Jeremiah and prepared him for just this moment. God sends us as God chooses, not as we choose. This passage is such an expression of putting yourself behind yourself and realizing what God has planned and prepared for you to do in this situation. God meets us in his Word. The Word made flesh in Jesus. God comes to us in Jesus and prepares us, not because of anything we have done, but because God can.

Deliver the Word on God's terms not my own. When we put ourselves and our pride and our ego away, God uses us to deliver his Word on God's terms not our own. God has something to say and uses us to say it. God presents us with lives in our life and gives us the Word to say. It's not our special wisdom, but rather what is profound is that it doesn't involve anything special about us. It's what is special about God. God cherishes us for sure, but it's when we give in to God that God delivers his Word to us and through us. We give our lives over to God out of the love God has shown us in our Word. We give ourselves joyfully and willingly.

It's God's Word. It's about God, not my mouth. So in this giving of God to us and God's coming to us in Word we give all the glory to God.

Prayer
God, when I think of what you said and did with Jeremiah, I am humbled. I am humbled that you come to us with your Word. You come to us in Jesus as flesh and blood. You come to us in the bread and the wine. You come to us and prepare us for something special. You love each one of us as something unique and special that you choose to work through us and in us. Take my will and do with it what you would choose. Place your Word in me that I may joyfully shout it out to all the world... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen