We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror. – Jeremiah 8:15

Today's Scripture Reading (May 14, 2023): Jeremiah 8

It happened one Sunday evening. It is an event I know I have spoken of before, but it deeply impacted me. I was out for a walk when I came across a storefront church. Something was happening inside this place of worship, so I decided to stop and listen. No one could see me from where I stood, and I couldn't see the gathered congregation. But I could hear the worship that was taking place in this spiritual place. Songs were being sung, interspersed with a conversation I couldn't understand (the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues) and times of prophecy. Again, I couldn't see, so I didn't know who was saying what to whom, but from what I heard, I had stumbled into a powerful spiritual space. The church was small, as was the town in which the church resided. But in this place had gathered the rich, the famous, and the powerful. Well, that is if the prophecy I heard was true. One girl was told she would be a famous singer when she grew up. That God would use her voice to change the world. Another boy would be an influential political leader, again one whose faith God would make transformational in this world in which we live. Another young man was going to be a significant business leader. Not bad for a small congregation gathered in a storefront church.

I have thought of that worship service several times over the past thirty-some years since I stopped in for a visit. And I have often wondered what happened to the three people I heard prophesied over that night. Does the girl still sing? Did she become famous? Would I recognize the name of the future politician who received such glowing praise that night? What business was it that the other young man revolutionized? Of course, the fundamental question is, are the prophecies true statements sent from God or the gentle hopes of a congregation that wants to encourage the young who had gathered within it? If I am honest, I would suspect the latter, a belief that, for me, is supported by the fact that I didn't hear anything negative being spoken at the meeting.

Jeremiah had competition in his prophecy. The Weeping Prophet preached a message of repentance. It was a message of hope and healing in that if Judah returned to God, God would bring the healing the nation needed.

But there were also prophets who were bringing a very different message. It was a message that proclaimed that salvation was on its way. There was nothing that Judah needed to do; God would do it. It was a very similar message to the one I heard at that small storefront church. You are going to be famous, powerful, and rich. God has spoken. Jeremiah's message of repentance was lost among the assertions that good was coming. And Jeremiah sadly insisted that the people would look for peace and not find it; they would search for healing, and it would not come without repentance that invited God into their midst.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 9