After traveling last week to Georgia and Florida, it was good to come back home.  I like returning to what's familiar, to what's comfortable, to all those things (and people) that make home ... home.  But sometimes that can backfire on us too.  We get so used to the comfortable and familiar we're no longer able to see how that can sometimes harm us as well.  We become blind to what's familiar, simply accepting it as normal.  This is the situation the Israelites in Jeremiah's time have found themselves in.  They are counting on what's become familiar and comfortable to them, and no longer see how it's leading them away from the Lord and into sin.  And they're pretty miffed with Jeremiah for pointing it out.

This week we've come to Jeremiah, chapters 5 and 6, which means we will are going to start looking at Jeremiah in much longer sections, usually doing a chapter or two at a time (sometimes even three).  And that means we need to step back and get a big picture view of what's going on.  And that's what we're going to do this week.  We're going to look at the same situation from a variety of perspectives, and try to understand what God is teaching us in this passage.  There are some very negative verses and some very positive verses here, and they seem to work together in the life of these people.  Of course, that's true for us too.  We have both negative and positive events, conversations, and attitudes come into our lives and sometimes it's hard to figure out how they work together.  So we'll be seeing what that looks like.  Once again, God has given Jeremiah words that are hard to hear.  As we've already seen, Jeremiah, as an Ancient Prophet for Modern Times, could easily be writing about our day and times. And that's been challenging for us, but he also reminds us that there's always hope.  And we are a people who need hope.  See you Sunday, Dr. Dave


P.S. - Hey, just want to say thanks to Paula Palkovic for organizing the Operation Christmas Child packing party last week.  I'm sorry I missed it, but I've heard a lot of good things about it.  Why don't you take the time to thank someone in the church this week?