“Cracked Cisterns or Caring Community”

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday August 29, 2010

Jeremiah 2: 4-13

Psalm 81 (sung)

Hebrews 13: 1-8 and 15-16

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.  Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

With these words, and after lamenting the injustices, the idolatries and the indifference of the people Israel, the prophet Jeremiah articulated God’s displeasure at the state of the community that he had called to be a nation set apart, a light to the nations, a model for the world.  They “have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

These images of water and cracked cisterns are interesting ones to ponder. 

On the one hand, we have the image of the water as a reference to God. “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water”.

And, on the other hand, we have the image of a cistern which was a container that was intended to hold and preserve the water until it needs to be drawn upon.

This image of a cistern is, of course, referring to the community of which Jeremiah was a part.  They were supposed to be a community in which God could dwell, even as water dwelt in a cistern.  They were supposed to be shaped by the guidance and direction of God; they were supposed to be a community known for its moral and ethical integrity, a community in which justice would be done, in which purity of heart and of action would be evident, in which kindness would be demonstrated.  It was supposed to be a community to which the nations of the world could look for inspiration about how to live in peace, in harmony, in holiness and in blessing. 

But, instead, the community had become rife with injustices.

According to this passage, the religious leaders, the political authorities, and the people were all equally to blame.  In turning away from God and God’s guidance, their community had become marred and destroyed.  And the prophet Jeremiah had been called upon to denounce the state of his community, to declare God’s judgement upon it, to summon them back to a state of faithfulness, of integrity, of honour, of justice and of loyalty to God.

As we read these words, it is easy to point the finger at the people of Jeremiah’s day, and lament how far they had swerved from God’s guidance. It is easy to see their situation, and wonder how they could have strayed so far from God’s intentions for them.  It is even easy to sit in judgement on that ancient community of faith, and find some relief in the fact that Jeremiah is talking to ‘them’, not ‘us’.

But rather than point the finger at others, it is probably good for us to see, in this passage, a stern reminder to all of us, of every time and generation, about what God intends and wants for the community of faith.

And, when we do so, we begin to realize that we may not be in any better shape than was the community of which Jeremiah was a part.

So what might this passage have to say to us, to the church in the modern world?

While I love the church and hope to spend my life in its service, I often find it troubling to hear the laments and criticisms that are leveled against the church, both by those who are a part of the church and by those who are not.

Consider, after all, what some of those critical voices reveal about many people’s perspective on the church. 

We hear of priestly scandals, in which leaders who have been entrusted with positions of authority have abused their positions, have abused young people, and whose failings have been covered up by the hierarchies of institutional power.  We hear of the church’s role in the devastating colonization of the aboriginal people both of this country, and of other countries.  We hear stories of exclusion, of sexism, of corruption, of scandal.  We hear people’s anger that the church requires blind allegiance, a silencing of alternative perspectives, and a dogmatic, irrational and often anti-intellectual approach to complex issues.   We hear people lament that the church is irrelevant, that all that it is concerned about is its own power, its own wealth, its own prestige. 

What is intriguing about these critical perspectives on the church is that people expect the church to be better – or they would not find its reality so lamentable.  But it is not only the world that expects the church to be better. 

Consider, after all, what God longs for the church to be.  It is supposed to be a community that is shaped and formed by the great good news of God’s saving love for all people.  It is supposed to be a community in which forgiveness is practiced, where grace is made known, where beauty is cherished, where justice is done, where music and silence, tears and laughter are shared in community, where kindness is encouraged, where hope and inspiration are offered to those in times of despair and challenge.  The church is meant to be a caring, loving community, a vessel, a container for the good news of God’s love to be carried through the ages and to the ends of the earth.  But its brokenness, its failures, sometimes make it seem as if the church has, like the community to which Jeremiah spoke, become like a cracked cistern which no longer has the ability to carry and contain the fountain of living water that is the love of the eternal God.  There are times when the church is better described as a cracked cistern than as a caring community, times when people find it difficult that the love of God is to be found in the church.

So what should we do?  Should we simply highlight the church’s failings and mistakes, wallowing in the brokenness of the vision that God intended for us?  Should we seek to apologize to anyone or anything that the church has ever done that has hurt, silenced, excluded, marginalized or harmed people? 

Without a doubt, there is wisdom in acknowledging the church’s failures as well as its achievements.  There is wisdom in offering sincere apologies for abuses and problems that the church has caused or has participated in, when the time is right for such apologies to be offered.

But knowing the church failures, and apologizing for its mistakes are never enough.

We are called to something far greater, more challenging – and ultimately, more transforming – than acknowledgements and apologies. 

We have all likely heard Mahatma Gandhi’s famous statement that “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  In light of this divine mandate for the church to be a caring community in the world, perhaps we might paraphrase that famous quotation to suggest that “we must be the church that we wish to see in this world” – or perhaps even more accurately, “we must be the church that God wishes to see in this world”.  Such a challenge invites us to rise above the tendency to be paralyzed by past mistakes and present failures, and to accept the responsibility to shape our lives – as individuals, and as a community of people together – in a way that reflects the vision that God has set before us, the vision to be the type of community that Christ calls us to be.

So how might we begin this journey towards transformation?   Today’s suggested reading from Hebrews offers some good starting places --

“Let mutual love continue.  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.  Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.  Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have”.  The passage continues, until its final and compelling words, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

To be a caring community, a community in which the love of God can actually dwell as water dwells within a whole and strong cistern, requires that we not only acknowledge the failures of the church, but also that we accept responsibility for our calling – in our time, and in our place -- to be the church that we believe that God calls us to be. 

But why do we stay?  In light of the church’s obvious failings, why do we persist in our dedication and commitment to this beautiful but flawed organization?  For some of us, life in the church has never been negative, and in fact is a source of great strength, great comfort and great inspiration.  For others of us, being in the church is one of the regular habits, the rhythms, the indispensable dimensions of our life.  For others, we come to the church with questions about the nature of God, the nature of humanity and the ways that we might increase our faith, our hope and our love.  For still others, we remain in the church for the same reasons that those early disciples stayed with Christ when he was faced with controversy and ran afoul of public opinion.  When Christ himself asked them if they were going to stay with him, their response was this – “"Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

And, in light of the fact that we know, deep within our souls, that the call of Christ is a call not only to him, but into the community of his followers, we continue with the church because it is the church which has carried to us, and to the world, the pearl of great price which is good news of the One who has the words of eternal life, the One who is the holy One of God.  We strive to build a church, a community, that is worthy of the One who has called us.

But the good news is that we do not have to create this caring community by ourselves.  The church is not called to create itself, or improve itself, any more than the people of Jeremiah’s time were called to dig their own cisterns.

The issue, for the people of Jeremiah’s time, was not that they had suddenly become any better or any worse than they had ever been; the issue was that they had turned away from God and had tried to do things on their own, by themselves, relying on their own power. 

So it is with us.  God wants to fashion the church as a caring community, even more than we do.  Yes, we are called to take responsibility for those dimensions of our lives that will contribute to the formation of such a community, but we are also called to remember that it is not our responsibility to build the church, any more than it was the responsibility of the people of Jeremiah’s time to dig their own cisterns.  Jeremiah’s lament was that the people had stopped seeking God, and had turned to fashioning a community in their own image – while, all the while, it was in their seeking of God, and in their obedient response to God’s direction, that their community was to be formed, established, and preserved.

Our calling, as we seek to be the church that we wish to see in this world, is to constantly keep ourselves open to, and turned towards, and seeking the direction and guidance of the Spirit of God, who longs to build the church as a place of sanctuary, a model of hope, a community of love, a kingdom of peace and of justice in this world.  In order to do so, we must each individually seek to keep our lives open to the presence and guidance of God, so that together we might be formed and shaped into the kind of community that we long to see in this world.

May it be our prayer, therefore, that we will allow ourselves to be fashioned and shaped into such a community – and in so doing become a cistern that can hold and maintain the fountain of living water so that the saving love of the living God can be shared with the whole world.

Amen.