BARUCH

I have been doing a little reading on a Biblical character lately named Jeremiah. As an Old Testament prophet he is a fascinating character study. He told people what they did not want to hear, so almost no one wanted to be associated with him in any way. He experienced humiliation and agony for trying to make his point to people who were not even listening. All the other "prophets who were around in his day were presenting messages that contradicted his, which really made him look foolish. He was ridiculed, imprisoned, black listed and ignored for his very unpopular messages but for some reason he kept on going. Why??

There was one person who stood by his side - a little known character named Baruch. Baruch was the guy who wrote down Jeremiah's messages. When Jeremiah was in prison Baruch even carried the messages and read them aloud to their intended audience. Baruch is at least partly responsible for giving us the book of Jeremiah. Even though Baruch was just the writer/messenger he, at times, suffered side by side with Jeremiah. He experienced punishment he did not deserve because he chose to be associated with someone who was constantly pushing the envelope; he chose to be associated with someone who dared fierce obedience to God. Jeremiah suffered through some tough times, but he always had Baruch. I dare say that without Baruch, Jeremiah would not have been the prophet that we know today.

Moses had Joshua, Ruth had Naomi, David had Jonathan, Paul had Timothy, Jesus had twelve guys around him. It seems only right that we should not try to do this thing we call life on our own - separated from people who could carry us in those times when we cannot carry ourselves. We all need a Baruch in our lives who is there when no one else is willing to be there. Who do you have??

Just a Meandering Thought...

FIRST

Just a little while ago we had our first snow fall of the new year. I was of course thinking about Christmas time and having a white Christmas. You see, we had about six inches of snow on the ground but the day after Christmas it all melted away. All of it. As the snow disappeared what was left was an unattractive mix of brown sand from sanding the previously icy streets, and dead leaves, just a remnant of the once brilliant colors of Fall. Over the course of about 24 hours the world here on the north shore went from mostly white to browns and muted greens. It was pretty depressing the way a white Christmas on Friday became a brown Saturday afternoon.

Then it happened... a couple of days later little fluffy white flakes began to slowly drift to the ground. Before long there was a gentle white layer of snow covering the cold, dull colors of winter. It was the FIRST snowfall of the new year. What was once quiet and colorless, muted and silent, drab and dull was soon dressed in mystical white. The snowfall is a transformation that is hard to describe to someone who has never experienced a New England winter. There is something about the blanket of white that falls from the sky that somehow makes things seem to have new life. Take a look next time it snows at someone’s back yard before anyone has walked through it. The unbroken snow cover just after a winter storm is a sight to see; part of you wants to dive in, and part can't help but to stand in awe as you take it in.

Haven't you had dull or muted moment in your life at some point? I have. When the choice you made did not work out the way you thought it would, a relationship goes bad, a business partnership turns out to cost you the money you thought it would make you. Maybe you lost the job you thought was stable. Whatever it was it feels like the colors have faded. Everything seems to exist in muted shades, the prospects seem dull and drab.

In the Old Testament of the Bible there was a King whose name was David. This King who was a shepherd as a boy, and the leader of a militia as a young man was also a poet and song writer. He was a pretty intense guy who lived his life somewhat impulsively. One time after making an impulsive decision he realized that he had made a huge mistake. He basically looked after he leaped. Have you ever been there?? If you are breathing on planet earth you have. Maybe you made a quick decision you wish you could unmake; you made a comment you wish you could take back, you commit to something or someone you wish you could get out of or away from; the result?? You lose a job, you burned that bridge, you dropped the straw that broke the camel’s back and now the colors of life are dull and muted.

Well guess what... God controls the weather! He’s the one who sends the fluffy white flakes. This king who was a poet wrote these words: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” - Psalm 51:7. Whiter than snow!! What a metaphor to describe what happens when we allow God into our space. Often we try to keep God at a distance but the reality is that once we allow God into our lives, those places that are dull and muted and seem to have no life at all are somehow covered and made beautiful. Those painful areas, those places where we have been hurt, those places where we have been let down or stabbed in the back., the places where we have royally messed up, the places we hide from everyone else because of fear of what some might say or think when they saw how colorless, how lifeless, how empty we can be. Somehow, God can look at those things and say, “I have something for that. I have love for your lifelessness, your dullness.” God takes those places and covers them with beauty that is whiter than snow. If we will allow him close enough to wash us he will cover us with a brilliant shade of whiter than white snow...

Just a thought...