KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Reading: : Jeremiah 12: 1-6

With any vocation, with any mission to which we have committed ourselves, with any vision that has seized us, there do come periods of great weariness. Perhaps we see little happening, not much changing. It can seem at times as if those who haven’t committed themselves to anything other than their own self-centred pursuits prosper. They appear to land on their feet, while others with pilgrim hearts who have really been trying to remain faithful and keep on keeping on with what has been entrusted to them stumble, difficult things happen to them and it would be so easy for disillusionment to set in. Jeremiah is a case in point. He brings his complaint to God. “Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?” God doesn’t answer him in the way that Jeremiah, in all his weariness, might have liked. He doesn’t commiserate with him. Instead he responds with what, at very least, is a pep talk, but more like yet another challenge. “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?” He’s not letting Jeremiah off the hook. In essence he’s telling him that it is his task to simply keep on keeping on with his calling. It’s God’s business to deal with those who flout his ways. Centuries later the writer to the Hebrews was to give a struggling Christian community the same challenge. “Take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.”

Endurance or perseverance or ‘keeping on keeping on’ was the hallmark of the early Christians and, indeed, has been one of the chief characteristics of the many faithful people committed to reconciliation, to peace, to making a difference in our community over the last long years. We still have a long way to go – and endurance isn’t a glory word. There is no kudos attached to it, but it’s a vital ingredient in any peace making process. In fact it is vital for all those who have pilgrim hearts, those who seek to align themselves with a pilgrim God who kept on keeping on to the end and beyond in order that a new day would dawn for all of humankind. Endurance is a commitment word, a costly word, a hard decision-making word, a stretching word, an often hidden but essential word for those who would number themselves among the friends and followers of Jesus. In fact, it’s a Jesus word! It is a definitive quality for all who seek to walk the Lenten road of hard choices with an unquenchable hope in their hearts and a conviction that the best is yet to be. In this kairos time for our community, for the Church and for the world, perhaps we need to nurture and encourage the spirit of endurance and pray that it might be accompanied by at least a small measure of joy!

Reflections in this series