“Inquire now of the LORD for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the LORD will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us.” – Jeremiah 21:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 15, 2017) Jeremiah 21

We seem to have established a pattern – we act as we want to act and then ask God to perform a wonder. It is an old pattern. Jeremiah speaks of the same practice almost six centuries before Christ. Israel had set itself on a path that would ultimately carry them away from God. But when trouble came, then they went running to Jeremiah (they didn’t have to go far, after all, they had imprisoned him in the courtyard) and asked him to inquire of God – maybe then God will move.

We saw the same reaction during the Crusades – one of the darkest blots on Christianity’s record. We ran ahead of God in declaring war against all who disbelieved in the Christian God. We were bound that we would tear from the hands of the infidels the city of Jerusalem. The cry of the Crusaders was a simple one - God wills it. But it doesn’t appear that anyone actually asked. Instead, we routinely killed people – some of the victims were even Christians that just happened to be in our path. 

More recently in Canada, we have been involved in the fiasco of Native Residential Schools – the last federally funded Residential School was not closed until 1996. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Christian Church meant well, that we even believed that we were following the will of God. But instead of helping the Native Canadians, the church contributed to spreading disease which created an unacceptably high death rate in the schools. We weakened the native Canadian families and their connection with their culture. The church caused irreparable damage, and we continue to suffer the effects of the damage we created. And all of this because we moved ahead of God – and we tried to dress our selfish will up as if it was the will of God.

And so we pray – “God move in this situation, even though we haven’t listened to you, haven’t asked the questions of you that we should have asked.” And sometimes, God moves. But other times his response to us is much the same as it was to Jeremiah – “Now I am moving in a different direction. It didn’t have to be this way, but this is the path that you have chosen, and I am willing to walk it in my way.” Whenever we move ahead of God, destruction is always the result. History has shown it over and over again. And God wants us – needs us to understand that we need to hear his will before we embark on some personal project crying out that “God wills it.”

Maybe the church needs to join with Archbishop Michael Peers in his apology from the Anglican Church to the survivors of the Residential Schools.

I accept, and I confess before God and you, our failures in the residential schools. We failed you. We failed ourselves. We failed God.

I am sorry, more than I can say, that we were part of a system which took you and your children from home and family.

I am sorry, more than I can say, that we tried to remake you in our image, taking from you your language and the signs of your identity.

I am sorry, more than I can say, that in our schools so many were abused physically, sexually, culturally and emotionally.

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada, I present our apology.

We are all sorry for the destruction that results whenever we move ahead of God. We are sorry for proclaiming that “God wills it” when God has done no such thing. And we are sorry for asking God to bail us out when all we needed to do was to listen to God in the first place. To the world, we seek your forgiveness for misrepresenting God.

And we promise to listen better in the future.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 22