Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NRSV)
Read Jeremiah 17:7-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. Verse 8They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
Devotion
“What are our ‘hot buttons’ in the church?” I asked at an adult forum. The response? Sex, of course. But from the view of a synod bishop, there are several other issues far higher on the anxiety scale. The number one hot button is “Will our children have faith?” We’re losing our youth, sometimes for good reason. Perhaps youth haven’t found from us a more thoughtful, open, compassionate faith-life that relates to them, wrestles with their questions and their world-view and is open to the new expressions that can be meaningful.
In this rapidly changing world, we’re always in transition, and always needing to trust God and look ahead to where God is calling us to go. It is crucial for congregations to have a clear statement of who they are and what God is calling them to be. It is neither a soft nor foreboding path ahead of us. We are, after all, churches of the Reformation, convinced that God is constantly working to reform and renew us in every new age.