Lead Me, Lord…

” For thus says the LORD: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel.’ See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” (Jeremiah 31:7-9)

Tomorrow’s reading from Jeremiah really has me thinking about beginnings and ways forward for us as a people of God as we think about the journey of Joseph, Mary & Jesus. Even though it has only been nine days since we commemorated his birth on Christmas Eve, we have already moved on from the birth narrative to the Temple dedication of last Sunday and next week will be the Epiphany followed by his baptism. in the midst of all that, Joseph will have another angelic visitation where he will be warned to take his family and flee to Egypt.

One of the stories that we seem to overlook in the Revised Common Lectionary is the massacre of the innocents by order of Herod the Great. You see, when the Wise Men returned home by another way, Herod had no idea how to find the newborn King he said he wanted to “worship”. So with no way to discover who this baby was and where he was, Herod hatched a devious plot to massacre all male children two years and younger. He hoped to eliminate any contenders to his throne by any means necessary. Thus, the Lord would lead Joseph, Mary, and Jesus into exile until Herod’s threat had passed.

How many journeys must we take, they must have wondered. They would go first to Bethlehem, next to Jerusalem, and then to Egypt. Yet in all of this, Joseph and Mary humbly obeyed and trusted the Lord to reveal the path they must take. “With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble….” These words of Jeremiah could well have been on their hearts as they journeyed back and forth with the Lord leading them. I will let them walk by brooks of water. I can almost hear Mary say, Lord, lead us by the gentle streams that David told of in the Shepherd’s Psalm. We have heard the news of great massacres and weeping in the land. Lord, guide your children as they walk through the horror of Herod’s madness. And Lord, if it be possible, may the path through this wilderness be straight. Yes Mary, remember the words of Zachariah at the Temple on the day Jesus was dedicated? A sword will pierce your own soul too. For the straight path would lead to the cross where your son would suffer and die a horrendous death.

For today, though, we look forward in this journey of faith and life. In the midst of the horrors of this world with warfare, greed, and selfishness, it is easy to lose hope. As we hear of a young girl taking her life because people of faith turned their backs on her because of her gender identity struggle; as we read about massacres of innocent children in Pakistan or beheadings and horrific murders in the mid-East; we can lose hope. My prayer for all is the prayer and hope which Jeremiah shares with us. “With consolation, I will lead them back. I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble…”

And as John’s Gospel reminds us; “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” As we look forward into the new year, may the Lord indeed lead us in a straight path where we might not stumble. And may we be guides along that path for those who are struggling in the darkness. The picture was taken on a prayer walk I took at St Bernard’s Abbey in Cullman, Alabama. It was a beautiful path by a quiet stream.