This week feels like a bit of a “Take 2.” I didn’t quite get back on track here at Christendom Reborn, though I did post my two major essays, so that’s not total failure. This week I want to tie last week’s reflections on political conservatism back into my broader narrative about Christendom. How does the political project of conservatism relate back to “the realm that Christ judges”? I certainly don’t promise to produce a crystal-clear, fully-formed answer to that question, but we can at least talk about it.
For today, though, a very interesting set of readings, beginning with this rather jarring passage from the Prophet Jeremiah:
You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.
—Jeremiah 20:7
Wow. Okay. So that doesn’t sound good.
Jeremiah got a hard assignment in life. If he sometimes comes across as a bit of a hot mess, it wouldn’t seem fair to judge him. I don’t imagine anyone would choose for themselves such a bleak life, marked by brutal isolation and rejection, intense public mockery, and the strong impression that his message wasn’t having any real effect. He’s called “the weeping prophet” for a reason.
Nevertheless he ends here. Note that the “him” in this sentence refers to God:
I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.
The phenomenology of it is fascinating. He wants to quit, and sometimes even resolves to, but the Holy Spirit won’t let go of him.
I think of the Prophet Jeremiah as a particularly powerful example of how there’s really no guarantee that accepting your life “assignment” will work out well for you here in this life. It’s relevant to my “Sex is Not Safe” post from a couple of months ago. Do I believe that religious faith correlates positively with this-worldly thriving? I’d say so, yes, as a general rule. But it’s also perfectly true that God can have some hard asks, and sometimes they may just break you.
I’m not trying to compete with the Prophet Jeremiah, but there have certainly been a few times as a parent when it felt to me like the ask was just objectively more than I could do. “This is too much, Lord. I can’t do it.”
I think of those as the “Jesus take the wheel” moments. If you are going to wreck, try to crash into the Lord. The stone that the builders rejected.
It’s a perfect message for the week when I plan to talk about godless and God-fearing conservatives.
Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”