My reader undergroundpewster — an Episcopal layman — wrote about Jeremiah 23:1-6, one of the readings for the last Sunday of the Church year on November 20, 2016.
‘Did You Preach on Jeremiah’s Prophecy Today?’ is a short and particularly powerful post about bad shepherds of the flock. Please read it in full. Excerpts and a summary follow. Emphases in the original.
These are the relevant verses:
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
The Gospel reading for that day was about the thieves on the Cross (Luke 23:35-43) which includes this important verse. Jesus told the thief who recognised Him as the Son of God:
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Undergroundpewster says that it is much easier to preach on that verse than on Jeremiah’s. The message is positive and redemptive.
However, bad shepherds ignore Jeremiah at their peril. The post explains how and why. Ultimately:
I pray that the false teachers among us will come to the realization that there are some criminal acts, such as driving away God’s flock, which put them in jeopardy of God’s punishment and that they repent before they wind up like the less fortunate criminal who derided our Lord as he hung beside Jesus.
It is up to laypeople to know how to discuss and explain Scripture when clergy do not. We have many bad shepherds in varying degrees, especially in the Episcopal/Anglican Church. I know. That’s my denomination.
This is partly the fault of seminaries, but also of those men and women themselves who rarely look beyond what they are taught. Unfortunately, their bishops encourage spiritual blindness, which extends to their congregations, not unlike the Pharisees of Jesus’s time towards their faithful.
Pray regularly and study the Bible.
7 comments
November 28, 2016 at 11:03 pm
OIKOS™-Redaktion
Hat dies auf Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region! rebloggt.
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November 30, 2016 at 12:01 am
churchmouse
Thank you so much for the reblog. I greatly appreciate your support and am pleased that you and your readers appreciate these blog posts.
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November 28, 2016 at 11:08 pm
oldpoet56
Well, as usual I find myself agreeing with you as I have first hand knowledge of these events also. It is a very sad reality within Christianity that the Demons have preferred seating locations inside of many ‘Houses of God’. Teaching ‘Church Doctrine’ in the Colleges does not mean that the students are receiving the ‘Meat’ of Christ’s teachings. If you do not receive the ‘Meat’ and know the ‘Meat of the teachings of Christ, you are going to be hard pressed to teach the ‘Meat of the Scriptures’ to your Congregation. Also as a Minister of God if you are a Pastor of a large Denomination if you dare to get off script of ‘Church Doctrine’ the Bishops and Elders will make sure you are very soon unemployed and blackballed from getting another job.
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November 30, 2016 at 12:00 am
churchmouse
I agree 110% with every word of what you say. If I could ‘like’ your comment 10 more times, I would!
Churchgoers have such an outdated concept of today’s seminaries. Yes, a watered down ‘Church Doctrine’ is being taught. Often, it is warped teaching. I have had Catholic (I’m an ex) and Anglicans/Episcopalians trying to tell me what denominational doctrine is. Sorry, that’s not what I learned so many decades ago, when few strayed from it to the point that those people who did were newsworthy.
Agree about pastors, bishops and elders. Hmm. Modern day Pharisaism? You bet.
Thanks for the comment. Commiserations on the ‘first hand knowledge’ of pastors leading their flocks astray. I’m sorry to read that, because it brings a lot of heartache.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the late reply.
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November 28, 2016 at 11:08 pm
oldpoet56
Reblogged this on Truth Troubles: Why people hate the truths' of the real world.
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November 29, 2016 at 11:53 pm
churchmouse
Thank you very much for the reblog! I’m delighted that you and your readers found it informative and helpful.
It must have resonated, as so many of us have been experiencing desertion by our shepherds who are physically present but spiritually absent!
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November 29, 2016 at 10:04 pm
Pope seeks to involve Chinese state in Catholic churches | Churchmouse Campanologist
[…] brings to mind the warning from Jeremiah about leading one’s flock astray. The Pope and clergy agreeing with him on this subject might have a lot to answer for one […]
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