The Coming of Enemies and Ruin Jeremiah 4.11-28 | September 11, 2016 The images contained in this PowerPoint were accessed on 7 September 2016 at www.bing.com

The Coming Crisis for the People of God Background – Israel’s Despair & Anxiety (“The Un-grieved Grief”) The “Santa Ana Winds” Blow with the Destructive Force of Judgment, vv11-18 The Anguish of the Prophet, vv19-22 The Appalling Ruin (lit., “un- creation”, cf. Genesis 1) of the Broken Covenant, vv23-28

Facing the Coming Crisis… The call to pay attention to our covenant promise… The importance of acknowledging the pain of brokenness… The linkage between broken covenants with God and the destruction of creation…

For Further Reflection… What sort of spiritual “early warning system” ought we to develop as individuals and as a church to guard our covenant with God? How honest are we willing to be with our pain? With the pain of others? With God’s pain? Can we reimagine a Creation renewed from our faithfulness to God? How might the Eucharist be a means to guard our covenant, heal our brokenness, and guide us in restoring Creation?

One More Thing… “…Christianity (with its stories, teachings, prayers and rituals) offers a kind of alchemy, a process by which the despairing heart, the anxious mind, the downcast spirit might be brought into the loving Presence and transformed. In this new place we find ourselves slowly made into the loving and creative people we have longed to be.” -- Mike Yaconelli, The Gift of Hard Things, InterVarsity, 2016, p. 12