The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put= my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. —Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSV)
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What does it mean to “know the LORD”? I confess that I often struggle to know my own self. Following the example of Adam and Eve, I clothe myself with accomplishment, skill or useful service. I have even donned the filthy rags of flawed adherence to a moral code or to correct belief. Ashamed of my naked self, I hide.
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In Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Kierkegaard asked this question:
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“On which side is there the most truth? The side of the one who seeks the true God objectively and pursues the approximate truth of the God-idea; or on the side of one who, driven by the infinite passion of his need of God, feels infinite concern for his own relationship to God in truth?”
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Or consider the hymn “Come, Ye Sinners Poor and Needy:”
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“Let not conscience let you linger,
nNor of fitness fondly dream;
nAll the fitness he requireth
nIs to feel your need of him.”
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In this time of Advent preparation, I will find joy in worshiping at St. John’s with you who inspire me with your faith and good works. May this help me look within myself for those places where the LORD is known—where we welcome each other in.
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Heavenly Father, I pray for grace to be in more honest relationship with self and you. Amen.
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Ray Halliburton