Batter my heart, three person'd God - John Donne.

74. Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you. John Donne. Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the 17th c.:

"BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee."

Prayer and the Word (Proper C24)

I meet Thursdays with the local ministerial association, ecumenicalism at its finest, perhaps a rare thing. Of the many things we discuss weekly the lectionary is usually where we wind up. Glen the Moravian minister prints off the readings from Vanderbilt for us and we all share our thoughts. Coming to this group is the main reason I became a lectionary preacher. The lectionary is not common in our tradition; my dad tried it for six months once. But being a postmodern Christian concerned with a vintage faith I was eager to learn from my brothers. I’m new to all of this and have been exploring what it means to be a lectionary preacher for some months now.

Today it interested me that this week’s reading has two threads that run dependant on the variant Old Testament readings. If you preach the Genesis and corresponding Psalm you wind up in the gospel talking about prayer. If your one of the few who has the Jeremiah reading (I picked that so I could run a series from Jeremiah, not knowing only my Methodist friends were accompanying me) you wind up in the Epistle talking about the Word: covenant, evangel, and law.

What does all this mean? I see the threads intersecting in Jeremiah 31:34.

“for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
says the LORD.
"For I will forgive their iniquity,
and remember their sin no more."

The greatest prayer of importunity that I can think of is “Lord let me know you!” Like Jacob crying out in the wrestling “bless me!” As my friend Cliff Randall prayed this morning, “God throw us to the ground and make us cry uncle.” The mystery of prayer is that in wrestling we submit. Jeremiah speaks of a day coming when we will all know the Lord with dearest intimacy. That day has not yet come; those with faith and valor will seek him. The new covenant gives us access. “Let us approach the throne of Grace boldly.”

Ah but I get away from the text. Jeremiah tells us that day comes to our lives when God forgives. His children know him! May our importunate cry be, “Lord have mercy!”

Sour Grapes

It seems prophets are often calling for a corporate response. Jeremiah here contrasts corporate spiritual identity with individual spirituality. Israel relied on their corporate identity as Jews and the chosen of God for their protection and salvation. The import and value of their corporate experience is lost to us in our time of individualism.

Can you imagine what it was like to be a part of the masses being led by the cloud and fire? Or what it was like to dance before the ark? There must have been a mystical element to this community. When it went right it was the most beautiful expression of what it was to be the people of God. When it went wrong, the covenant became nothing more than a statement of national sentiment.

The need for Jeremiah’s time was a turn of each heart to the God of the covenant. We hear that call today, may we heed it.

“No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his
brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know
me,
from the least of them to the
greatest,”
declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:34 (NIV)

O to know Him! These are the terms of intimacy. Sexy and tender they speak to a depth of knowledge that should make each heart burn. As we individually turn to him and search His depths, we need to hear another call-to the community.

Again Tozer! The hound dog of the faith writes that as we each fix our gaze upon Christ, we will be in better unity, as 100 pianos all tuned to the same fork. (As I read this chapter to my two-year-old girl, she loved how excited I got.)

Just as the need for Jeremiah’s time was individual knowledge, the great need for our time is recapturing a community of experience.

The Voice of God (Proper C24)

A day is coming, says Jeremiah, when people will die for their own sins.

“whoever eats sour grapes--his own teeth will be set on edge.”

Again, a time is coming when God will make a new covenant-one that will be written on the tablets of the heart. And no one will tell their neighbor to know the Lord, because everyone will.

The first day looks for the end of judgment on future generations in exile for the sins of their fathers. But a day is coming that will be greater still, a day when the word of the Lord will be spoken and marked in the flesh of human hearts--a day of brotherhood and forgiveness, a day when God will again take his people and they will take him as their God.

O beautiful day!

The Psalmist echoes this poetry,

“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey
to my mouth!

I gain understanding from your
precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.”

Paul too picks up the Joyful strain:

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of,
because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have
known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Tozer too! –The Speaking Voice of God rolls down through all eternity. Lord may the words of your lips truly resonate in our hearts. How I love your voice, O God of eternity and the new day.