Prayer: God, you are my best friend and trusted companion. Nothing I say, think, or do will ever change that. Thank you for being with me through my greatest trials and my greatest joys. May I never question your faith in me and help me to be more worthy of that love. Amen.
Reading: Jeremiah 11: 18-20 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther’s GROW time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: Friendship – real and enduring friendship – is a gift of relationship. I have a few close friends with whom I share my personal stories, most intimate hopes and fears, joys and sorrow. Together, we’ve endured the loss of parents, births of children, medical tests and diagnoses, promotions, struggles with addiction, new homes, anxiety attacks, and more. We know each other intimately. We can speak openly and honestly with one another. Our opinions differ on many subjects, yet our character and core values are basically the same. The pain that comes from losing a friend – through betrayal, conflict, time, distance – is rivaled only by the shock that such relationships can have an end. When the people we trust and love the most let us down, it’s devastating. We might lash out. We may try to get even. Our other friendships may be expected to take sides. Such a blow tests our faith in humanity. In Jeremiah’s words, I hear that level of hurt. There’s a sense of betrayal and shock at the realization that those he meant to help could want him not just dead - erased. This passage reminds me how much Jeremiah must have cared about these people to feel so blind-sided by their treachery. Yet he moves past that hurt to put his trust in the Lord. He doesn’t lash out. He doesn’t try to get even. He turns to God and trusts in Him to sort it out. He reminds us that the covenant from God is not only with His people; it’s a personal promise, one that truly endures forever. --Heather Wolf
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