Thoughts for Sunday

This was the prophet Jeremiah speaking against Jerusalem thousands of years ago, but sometimes it sounds a little bit like us. 

To whom can I speak and give warning?

    Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed
    so they cannot hear.
The word of the Lord is offensive to them;
    they find no pleasure in it.
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord,
    and I cannot hold it in.

“Pour it out on the children in the street
    and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
    and the old, those weighed down with years.
Their houses will be turned over to others,
    together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
    against those who live in the land,”
declares the Lord.
“From the least to the greatest,
    all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
    all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
    when there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
    No, they have no shame at all;
    they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
    they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.

--Jeremiah 6:10-15 

I love scripture's use of language and imagery. It's remarkable that it sounds this good after translation. "They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace." So biting, so heavy and hard-hitting and beautiful all at once. We're living it now.