Vocation and Spiritual Maturity, Part I

Above:  Jeremiah

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970

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Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities,

and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 119

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Jeremiah 1:4-12

Romans 12:1-13

Luke 5:1-11

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One of the themes that repeats in the Bible is that God qualifies the called; God does not call the qualified.  In the readings for today Jeremiah and St. Simon Peter were not qualified; they said so.  They knew who they were, what they were, and what they were not.  God transformed them into far more than they were originally.  Both men also made lasting contributions and met terrible fates.

The passage from Romans encourages various virtues, including humility.  Another virtue in Romans 12 is perseverance during hardship, something Jeremiah and St. Simon Peter did.  If we keep reading, we find the following order:

Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.

–Romans 12:14, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

Jeremiah cursed his persecutors repeatedly, as I would have done in his place.  I, having suffered much less than he, have cursed my enemies repeatedly.

I do not condemn Jeremiah for his anger.  If I were to do so, I would have to condemn myself, too.  No, I try to leave matters of judgment in such cases to God, whose property is also mercy.  I like that Jeremiah was honest with God about his frustrations and anger.  Such openness with God is a sign of spiritual maturity.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 13, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MILTON SMITH LITTLEFIELD, JR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN AND CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR

THE FEAST OF SIGISMUND VON BIRKEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, U.S. POET, JOURNALIST, AND HYMN WRITER

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