This week’s theme: Committing to God
This week we continue to explore thanksgiving. There are times in life when we can feel as if there is no reason to be thankful – times when things get steady and unchanging. We might even get stuck in a rut and feel like we have been forgotten. That is an ideal time to examine how we commit to things and find ways to see our blessings in a new light.
This week’s Scripture passage – Jeremiah 31:27-34
Jeremiah 31:27-34
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. “In those days people will no longer say,
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Questions to guide your reading of this passage that focusses on themes of judgment, restoration, and the new covenant.
- How does the promise of “sowing with man and beast” change the traditional, negative prophetic theme of a harvest of destruction?
- How does this promise of future restoration, despite the current devastation, reflect God’s faithfulness and character?
- What are the practical implications of having God’s law “written on our hearts” instead of on stone tablets?
- How does God’s promise of a new covenant affect your understanding of forgiveness and spiritual renewal
- How can this message of future hope encourage you during difficult or challenging times?
This week’s bulletin