Bible Week – Book of Jeremiah a call to confession, redirection and hope
We’re very much looking forward to wrestling with the Book of Jeremiah with David Parker at this year’s Bible Week in Shankill Parish Church from 1–4 September.
David is a speaker not to be missed – rooted in scripture and described by Bishop Harold as, “a humble and gifted communicator who brings to his preaching pastoral experience among some of the most broken people in society.”
He shares some observations below about his forthcoming teaching, ‘How do you mend a broken heart?’
“The challenge of Jeremiah is like the challenge of sifting through the wreckage of a crash site of a commercial airliner, looking at all the pieces, trying to figure out what happened, why it happened, but all the while realising that you’re standing in the midst of catastrophe; that you’re standing in the midst of so much brokenness, so much loss, so much grief.
“There’s broken heartedness on every page of the book – the broken heart of God, the broken heart of Jeremiah the prophet, the broken heart of the people of Judah; our broken hearts as we read it. That’s why this series is entitled, ‘How do you mend a broken heart?’ because we’re not just sifting through the pieces of this brokenness to look for a few answers about what and why, we’re really trying to figure out how to prevent it from happening again.
“The book of Jeremiah is challenging, not because it’s obscure or unfamiliar; it’s challenging because it’s clear and it’s unrelentingly confrontational and condemning of Judah’s failure as a kingdom – their failure in their relationship with God and their idolatry and unfaithfulness from the mid part of the 7th Century BC forward. It’s unrelentingly clear about, not only that failure, but the consequences of it.
“The Book of Jeremiah is a call to confession, to redirection and to hope. I hope that people will hear and answer and share this call with me.”
David Parker