Jeremiah 7-8; Psalm 96, 97, 98
Over 100 years ago Eleanor Porter wrote the children’s novel, Pollyanna. I like the version Disney did in the 1960’s starring Haley Mills as Pollyanna Whittier, a young girl, the daughter of missionary parents who both died. She moved to a new town to live with her rich but stern Aunt Polly (Fun Fact, in the Disney Movie Aunt Polly is played by Jane Wyman, an actress who was President Ronald Reagan’s first wife- I have a lot of trivial information in my head, sorry).
Pollyanna’s minister/missionary father had taught Pollyanna to play the “glad game” as a way of coping with life’s challenges. Essentially, she learned that no matter what happens, you should always look on the bright side. Essentially, it’s a way of life that is exceedingly optimistic in every situation. Throughout the story Pollyanna met neighbors in challenging situations and preached her gospel of positivity and as a result changed lives and made her town a much more positive place to live.
In a particularly memorable scene Pollyanna brought her positivity message to the local pastor who, at her dour Aunt Polly’s behest, had been giving his congregation a steady diet of fire and brimstone, anti-positivity. Pollyanna encouraged him to notice and begin preaching the “glad texts” of the Bible. He, listened to her counsel, changed his preaching to become more positive, and everyone in the Church became much happier. There’s more to the story, but that’s the part that is relevant to our conversation.
During the last 30 years there has been a revolution in psychology. In the past, psychologists and counselors focused on psychological pathology, all the things that are wrong: anxiety, depression, shame, anger, addiction, poor relationships etc… From Freud onwards psychiatrists were trained to dig into a person’s past to find the cause of their neurotic thoughts and behaviors. But positive psychology introduced the benefits of focusing on positive thoughts and behaviors like gratitude, hope and other glad things. This corresponds historically with a more positive oriented approach to preaching. Many pastors traded in fire and brimstone sermons warning people against sin and judgement for more positive messages. Norman Vincent Peale, founder of Guidepost magazine, wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Robert Schuller, famous TV preacher of the 70’s-90’s, preached a gospel of positive thinking. Many preachers began preaching a prosperity gospel. Joel Osteen is popular today because of Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller and others like them.
So the question at hand is, which is more biblical, the hellfire and brimstone preacher who speaks against sin and calls people to repent, or the positive thinking pastor who focuses on preaching all of the “glad texts” in the Bible and ignores icky verses that talk about sin and judgment? I think the answer is both, or better yet, neither.
I like the old expression that says that the preacher’s job is to “comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.” Solomon said it pretty well in Ecclesiastes 3- there’s a time and a season for everything. Sometimes preachers need to say hard things and issue dire warnings to their hearers. Sometimes preachers need to give words of comfort and encouragement. Jesus gives examples of this. Sometimes Jesus got angry and called his listeners, a.k.a. the Pharisees, a “brood of vipers”. Another time Jesus told a woman caught in adultery that he did not condemn her, while telling her also to not sin anymore. Jesus showed that one can be both firm and compassionate as they speak for God.
Today’s reading in Jeremiah 7-8 has a clear absence of the “happy texts” that Pollyanna was so fond of noticing:
“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!’ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.”
“‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.” -Jeremiah 7:3-11.
God criticized their priests:
“They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.”- Jeremiah 8:11
I love Pollyanna and her innocent joyful optimism. We all need a good dose of Pollyanna to get us through hard times. But at the same time, we need to balance that with a good dose of reality and hard truth as well. We need to hear how important it is to be grateful and have hope, we need to hear how forgiving and merciful God is. And… we need to be reminded that God absolutely hates certain things and is going to bring an end to sinful actions and that those who do not repent and turn away from pursuing a life in rebellion against God will face judgment. Some of the priests in the time of Jeremiah were giving false assurance to the people. They were wrongly assuring them that because they were God’s chosen people who worshipped at the right place, the temple, and came from the right family, descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac, that it really didn’t matter how they lived their lives, they were okay with God. They were giving false hope and false assurance. “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” –Jeremiah 8:11.
Part of my ministry is in the hospital. Sometimes people who are in the hospital are sick and will probably get better. Sometimes people who are in the hospital are sick and will probably NOT get better. Sometimes the doctor has to tell people hard things like, “if you don’t quit your… smoking, drinking, injecting heroin, allowing your diabetes to go uncontrolled, etc… you will probably die sooner than later.” Do people like hearing those things? Nope. But if the doctor simply said to them- “You’ll be fine, just keep doing what you’re doing” that would be malpractice. Doctors need to tell people the truth. So do pastors. So do all Christians.
So as you read through your Bible, I hope you will notice all of the “glad texts” like today’s Psalm 97:1 “The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad”.
And also pay attention to the “not so glad texts” like “So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.”-Jeremiah 7:32-34
Thank you for reading both the glad and not so glad texts of the Bible with me this week. I hope that God will use all of it to help you grow as a faithful disciple of Jesus.
Jeff Fletcher
You can read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Jeremiah 7-8 and Psalm 96-98
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