Inscribing the Text: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

On Reading Jeremiah 3

On Reading Jeremiah 3 You evoke in us responses to your hidden rule: We sing your praises, We worship and adore you, We give our lives over to you in gratitude— and in obedience as we are able. You evoke in us responses toward our neighbor; Your great care for us causes us to care for the world, and we resolve to talk the talk, to speak the news of your goodness, to speak the good news of your mercy, to speak the bad news of your impatience in the face of mockery. You evoke in us response toward our neighbor, and we resolve to walk the walk: not to petition your work before we have done our own work not to ask you for what we may do among ourselves ... can do ... of mercy, of compassion, of forgiveness, of peace andjustice. We mark these resolves in troubled circumstance, because our talk is double-tongued, because our walk is double-minded ... 198 one step toward you, two steps back in fear, one utterance toward you, two utterances reneging in duplicity. Given all of that—We sing your praise— We worship and adore you— We give our lives over to you in gratitude— and in obedience as we are able. Amen. June 19, 2002 (Montreal) 199 ...