Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
September 2, 2007 – 14th Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14

But Will It Hold Water?

How many times have you said something like, “They just don’t make things the way they used to!” I read this week that cell phones are programmed to have a two-year life expectancy. The logic is that before two years is up, we will want the newer model with all the bells and whistles and gadgets and capabilities. That being said, mine is 4 or 5 years old … and obviously antiquated – but made before the decision to make cell phones with planned obsolescence.

Our passage from Jeremiah is about another kind of obsolescence … or a spiritual kind. This isn’t so much planned by the manufacturer as much as it is driven by the consumer.

Here we have Jeremiah saying, “My people have changed their glory for something that does not profit … they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:11,13).

This is a powerful indictment of the Israelites. If you remember the story, the Israelites had been captured by the Assyrians and taken to Iraqi – except then it was called Babylon. While there, instead of continuing to be faithful to the God who of their forbears, they began to act like Iraqis … or Assyrians.

They started worshipping the local gods – not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … not the God who had led them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. The folks lost their anchor … and instead of even asking the question, “Where is God?” in the midst of these circumstances, they just capitulated … and became like the folks around them.

The critical issue that Jeremiah brings before us has to do with what God we worship … and whether we are worshipping the God who created us … or the god(s) we have created to fit the kind of lives we want to live.
Are we worshipping the God who created ALL people, and loves ALL God’s creatures … or do we worship a tribal god who is only as big as we are … who is only interested in what interests us?

That’s the issue isn’t it: that we want a God who is interested in what we’re interested in. We want a God who helps our side win … a god who helps us be prosperous without asking us to look at the cost of our prosperity.
When our agendas are not getting met as quickly as – or the way – we want them to, then we look for a God who will help us with our agendas.

Jeremiah says that living like this is like trying to catch water in a cracked cistern. It doesn’t matter how much we catch, when we come to draw on our resources, there is nothing there. We’ve invested our energy into something hollow.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that true success is measured by three things: the ability to recognize and appreciate true beauty, the ability to see the best in others and a commitment to leaving the world a better place. (Retrieved from Esermons.com, 8/30/07). This might also be the definition of worshipping the God who created us and calls us to follow Jesus … instead of the god of the marketplace – that calls us to spend and get and have.

This morning, as we are invited by God to come to this Holy Meal, let us examine our own lives to see who / what it really is that we worship. Is it the God whose promises and presence is real … or is it one of the gods of the Cracked Cisterns?

NOTE: Much of today’s sermon is credited to The Clergy Journal, April 2007, pp. 41-42.