Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.
Jeremiah 1:6
This text may sound familiar as it is part of the call of the prophet Jeremiah. What is immediately apparent is that Jeremiah seems to think that somehow God dialed the wrong number. How can he be a prophet when he is too young and doesn’t even know how to speak?
I wonder how many of us have had the experience of feeling like we are not up to the tasks to which God calls us. I’m guessing that many of us can relate to those feelings.
God doesn’t accept Jeremiah’s protest. It is God who formed him and knew him from before he was born. When Jeremiah begins to protest God’s call, God does not back down, God reassures. “Don’t be afraid…I have put my words in your mouth”, God tells him. In modern language, “Jeremiah, I got ya!”
Jeremiah would have tough words for the people to whom God sends him. It would not be easy. But the God who formed him called him and sent him. How amazing it must have been for Jeremiah to know how God’s eyes saw him. This advent season we are called as well. Called to witness salvation come into the world. Called to tell on the mountain what is being birthed into this weary world.
Called with Mary to sing the song of salvation and to joyfully live that love and mercy in the world.
We might be tempted to say that we don’t know how to speak. We might be tempted to assume the world is not listening so there is no point in sharing the Word. But God knows better. God formed us and gave us the words to speak of the Word made flesh. God, knowing us, calls, sends, and assures us. How amazing to imagine how God sees us. How amazing to be formed and called and sent.
Loving God, teach me to answer your call and to go and tell that Word of salvation over the hills and wherever you send me. Amen.
The Rev. Ghislaine Cotnoir is Director of Pastoral Care at The Artman Home and The Hearth at Drexel.
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