Jeremiah 1:4-10

I said that I wanted to offer some reflections regarding the lectionary. To start I want to talk about the Jeremiah text. I came across this passage from Feasting on the Word by George Martin.
"Imagine Jeremiah being a candidate to be pastor of your church. If asked for his qualifications to serve as a pastor or preacher, he would say he was chosen in the womb for this opportunity. He would say that he tried as a young boy to make a career change, but that God said he would give him the words he would need, thus explaining his lack of a seminary degree. The interview ends and Jeremiah, as a pastoral candidate, would disappear. Jeremiah might be muttering on his way out the door about plucking up and pulling down, adding the message to destroy and overthrow. The search committee would be thinking that is the last thing we need to hear. They would never even hear Jeremiah talk about building up and planting. Calls from God can be scary (290, Year C vol.1)."

He goes on to state that we did not choose God but God chooses us even when we would rather not be chosen. I think about my call and how I tried to ignore it and even run away from it. One thing that I have learned about my Creator is that God never gives up. So I joke that God wore me down. Even with knowing that God did call me into being a pastor, to actually take the step was scary. It meant that I had to give up some things that I thought was what I wanted. Yet, as I answered the call and put my trust in God, I have found that my priorities changed and what I thought was so important was not really all that important.

The challenge is how has God chosen you? Are you willing to believe that God choose you while you were in the womb to do God's work and will? Accepting that you have been chosen especially for unique work whether pulling up or planting is a life changing event. No wonder whenever one encounters the Divine the first words are "Fear not."