In touch | Check-in | Intercessions
In touch
Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues
Knowing by heart
Jeremiah 31:31ff describes a new, internalised way of knowing God.
Context
Ideas for sermons or interactive talks
- For Christians, God’s prophecy through the prophet Jeremiah (31:31ff) foreshadows what we have come to know as the ‘New Testament’ (Testament being another term for covenant). Read verses 31-34 slowly, several times. How close is the Christian church to believing and behaving as though God’s law is written upon our hearts?
- What is the meaning of a biblical ‘covenant’? (Explore some examples: Gen. 9:8ff; Gen. 17:2ff) What does it mean to live under a ‘new covenant/testament’? As Christians, what covenants have we made (e.g. baptismal and marriage vows) — and what do they mean to us today? Does this biblical institution play any active part in our church life today?
Questions for discussion
- What was the first thing you memorised by heart that has stuck with you and why? What does it mean to you to know something ‘by heart’? How would you describe it?
- Use the article in the fourth bullet point above. Then discuss the following questions: When has your heart told you to do or not to do something? How did it feel? How long did it take your head/brain to catch up with your heart knowledge? When have you ever ignored your heart’s intuition? What was the result?
- Intuition used to be dismissed (by men!) as a ‘female thing’. How do you respond to that? Those who are familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or Jung’s psychology of type know differently. Brain scans and other scientific advances are now confirming that our intuition is something we ignore at our peril. Share your experience (if any) of MBTI and how that has confirmed knowledge of yourself. Or share any experience of learning styles which help show that there is no one exact way to learn, particularly when it comes to intuition.
Revd Dr Jack Lawson is a freelance writer and novelist. His newest novel Joab (Wipf & Stock) is based on the life of King David.
Check-in
Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people
Over the past year or so, we’ve had baby V in our house under a ‘Fostering for Adoption’ placement. Next week, God willing, we’ll be in court to hear the judge say, ‘You are no longer V’s foster carers; you are now his adoptive parents.’
We will have a new relationship – a new covenant – with him. Once the judge has made that ruling, nothing, no-one, will be able to change it.
It’s brought home to us the new covenantal relationship God made with us, his people. V will be our son, our child; we are God’s sons and daughters, his children. We love V just because he’s him; God loves us just because we’re us. We may choose to walk away from God; we may choose to ignore him or not respond to his nudgings or longings for us. But there’s nothing we can do to stop that covenantal relationship being in place.
How will we respond to that today? Are we going to remain open to God’s love and relationship with us, or walk away? Either way, God will still be there, wooing us back into relationship with him.
For more information on fostering or adoption, visit www.homeforgood.org.uk.
Jonathan Buckley is Youth Development Worker for YMCA Rotherham.
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