"It's going to be OK"
"Give it time"
"You'll find a way"
"Smile, it might never happen"
"You'll get over it"
"They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say when there is no peace" Jeremiah 6:14
This verse came up in the Northumbria Community Daily Readings today. It's nudged me, reminded me, raised up stuff inside me, agitated me, frustrated me, made me itch (although that could be forgetting to take an antihistimine). It reminded me of the empty sentiments we often use to make people feel better - like giving them a little stroke. The McDonalds of sentiments that satisfies for a moment (I'm not saying it's not good to use these sentiments - in fact, in the moment, often it's what you need to hear and an occasional McDonalds (or fast food momentary satisfaction equivalent) can make a difference).
Last night I came across a note I'd written in the middle of a particularly difficult pandemic time when I was struggling to get out of bed each day because I didn't know what I was going to face. It reads like the prophet Jeremiah - he was really fed up with the world around him - people weren't facing up to their problems and were making some very poor decisions and his writing is full of 'we can't carry on like this, something has got to change - you've got to start making some better decisions'. We've all had times like that, I am sure, and some people live most days with the every day dread of what is going to happen next, and these softly softly sentiments don't work, because in reality, they are not going to change anything and often aren't truthful, because things will only get better when we learn how to deal with and even live with the stuff that is making us hurt and groan - it's Ok not to be OK, but we can't sit in this place forever.
On the day of one of the biggest strikes for some time - a strike that most of us, although inconvenienced, understand and support, because we're at a loss of what to do about how the cost of living crisis and an economy that is falling apart for ordinary people - it's affecting us all. We are very much aware of how empty empty sentiments are. It's like when someone tells us to calm down when there is much to be agitated about - it just makes us angrier.
So what do we do with all of this? What do we do when the phrases that are meant to make us feel better don't make us feel better anymore because we know that, at least in the near future, it's only going to get more difficult?
I think we start by acknowledging that yes it is rubbish. When I was finding stuff particularly tough, people who walked with me and said 'yes, that is a really hard thing and I'm finding it hard too' made a difference. Being honest about our feelings, being vulnerable, being open.... it all makes a difference. Times ahead, times now, they will be and are difficult. For some of us it's a long road we've already been travelling. We can't always give people answers and solutions, but sitting in the rubbish together for a short while - it makes a difference. We can't stay there forever though.... so....
We can also encourage and help people on their way and let people do that with us without taking umbrage. Someone said to me the other week - 'you know what you've got to do, you just need to it'. It was very blunt, but perhaps I needed the bluntness. We can far too often label ourselves as a person who sits in the rubbish - but, although, you can find peace in a difficult place, it's still a difficult place. Finding your way out of that difficult place to a different place with new opportunities can be too painful to face because familiar feels easy. Jeremiah reminds us that just because we say things are OK it doesn't mean that they will be - sometimes we've got to do the things we don't want to do to discover what OK really means. We all need people around us who will encourage us to do that, who are truthful about where we need to go next and will help us on our way.
We can keep pointing to what we know to be true, not the 'it'll be OK', but the 'one day it will be glorious'. Jeremiah, whilst full of doom and gloom, is full of hope. His book is full of 'but God'. God is not a God of sitting in the rubbish, he is a God of restoration. The way things are are not the way things have to be, and whilst we acknowledge that there are some seasons of life that are ridiculous, we also know that there is a path that brings a deeper peace than the 'peace peace' equivalent of a fast food fix. It's the path that takes us on the long haul road to better. It's a path that takes us from sitting in the not OK to finding more than OK. It's an ancient path that has been there from the beginning of time. It's a path marked with a cross that is a symbol of deep love and shalom in all of its brokenness as Jesus was hung on it and changed the world. It's a path marked with suffering, but full of life. When you look at Jesus and hear his teaching, you see what a good - the best - way ahead looks like and what life could become.
We can't carry on like this, we've got to start making some better decisions. Our Government has got to start making better decisions. Our communities have got to start making some better decisions. We have to start making some better decisions. Saying 'there, there' isn't going to cut it - we need to seek a peace and a healing that lasts beyond tomorrow - in words, in action, in attitude and by choosing carefully who to follow.
Jeremiah reminds us of a better way....
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls" Jeremiah 6:16a
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