SermonStudio

Appropriate Day: Independence Day, any Sunday

Summary: A prophet is a person who is not afraid to tell the nation when it has stopped trusting in God.

Props: The clay pot previously made in "How Will We Turn Out?"



This morning I have two things I would like you to look at. The first one is a certain phrase that is inscribed on our coins. If anyone has a penny, nickel, a dime, or a quarter, take it out and see if you can find the words "In God We Trust" on it. You'll have to look hard, because the print is small, but it's there.

Our nation, like the ancient nation of Israel, was formed at a time when its leaders and its people had put their trust in God. And the American people are like the Hebrew people in another important way. We both came into a promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey - in other words, a land that was good enough to give us enough food so that no one would go hungry. The pilgrims came across the ocean and the Hebrews crossed the Jordan River, and both nations began by believing that God could be trusted. And that is why you will find inscribed on our coins the phrase "In God We Trust."

The other thing I brought with me is this pot. Some of you may remember it as the pot I started to make as I was talking about the prophet Jeremiah. It's finished now, as you can see. (Show to children.) It has also become hard and brittle, which means that it will break easily. I hope you also remember that Jeremiah wanted the Hebrew nation of Judah to be like soft clay so that God could continue to shape her. But Yahweh was afraid that the people of Judah had become so hard and so brittle that they no longer trusted in God. They began to worship gods they made with their hands - called graven images - and they began to say to themselves, "We will do whatever we want. We don't need God anymore. We don't need God's commandments, and we don't need God's forgiveness. If we want to depend upon our own strength to fight our enemies, we will do just that."

I would like you to think with me for a moment about this question: Does America still trust in God? Do our leaders, do the people of ____________ (name your city), do you and I forget God? Do we say to ourselves in so many words, "We will do whatever we think is right. We don't need God anymore; we can get along very well without God. We're strong enough to defend ourselves." (Pause to give the children time to reflect on these questions.)

Jeremiah believed he knew the answer to these questions for his country of Judah. You might say that he was more than unhappy with the people and their leaders - he was angry!

I want you to keep in mind that a prophet is someone who is not afraid to stand up and speak out when he knows a sacred agreement with God has been broken. This is what a prophet does, regardless of the time in which he lives. Jeremiah spoke and he preached, but no one would listen to his words. And so Jeremiah took a clay pot - a pot like this one that's hard and can no longer be reshaped - and he said to the people of Judah, "Since you will not hear my words, I give you this sign of warning. Either you trust in God or, like this pot, you will be broken into pieces and scattered across the land." (Break your pot. It might be best to use a hammer.)

(Now that you have everyone's attention, don't moralize.) Breaking an agreement with God is serious business. Have we broken our covenant with God?

Reflection Note: Be alert to the danger of identifying America with Israel. We are a nation of Christians but not necessarily heirs to the Covenant (the Church is, but not the United States). Prophets must speak to the nation as well as to the Church, but not always from the same assumption or claims. Being a nation in which Christians are a majority does not make us a Christian nation. Thus in many cases the prophet will speak the same imperative to nation and Church but not always from the same indicative.