Reflection on Jeremiah 20:1-9,

A few weeks ago, Galloway United Methodist Church held what they called “Homelessness 101” and invited Pat Morgan, the executive director of Partners for the Homeless, to come and speak about homelessness. Morgan gave her usual talk that promotes all of the wonderful services available for homeless people in Memphis that are part of a continuum of care. Her view is that there are plenty of opportunities for any homeless person to get off the streets.
As I sat listening to her, a fire burned in me, a fire of anger. So, when the time came for questions I began by asking her why she has publicly opposed having a free shelter for homeless persons in Memphis. Her initial response was to lie, saying she did not oppose a free shelter. I said that she was lying, since I know that she has told the Center City Commission that a free shelter is not needed and would only encourage people to remain homeless. She then admitted she has opposed a free shelter and that she doesn’t want anything to be done for homeless persons that would make being homeless easier or comfortable. I also challenged her on her position regarding panhandling. Catherine also asked some hard questions. The facilitator of the meeting, not liking this flow of questions, moved to end the meeting and Morgan fled the scene.
I talked with several people afterwards, including the pastor of the church, urging him to have the church reflect on God’s call to hospitality. I even sent him a two page bibliography about hospitality and offered to come and speak on the topic. I never heard anymore from him. A few days later I heard from one of my colleagues at MTS who attends Galloway that I had disrupted the meeting. People were upset that Morgan had not been treated with more respect. I tried to explain to my colleague that I had been polite but insistent.
This is not the first time I have been chastised for being disruptive. After Robert Coe was executed a few of us held a demonstration downtown that moved from the federal building to 201 Poplar. We carried a symbolic black casket, and our hands were painted red. We marched silently and then stopped in front of 201 Poplar. I was among those who spoke. I felt God’s spirit in me in a way I have never felt before and I loudly denounced the execution as contrary to God’s will, and that those Christians who support executions are heretical, falsely claiming to follow Jesus yet joining in executing him. I was angry, and my words expressed an angry rejection of this and all executions. Afterwards I was criticized for not being polite.
So, Jeremiah’s words about a fire burning him with God’s word that must be spoken is something I feel when I see injustice, when I see people being harmed, exploited, beaten down, and then I hear that they deserve what they are getting.
But I also feel with Jeremiah the tension, the dissonance, between God’s call into the joyful work of serving persons on the streets and in prison, and the hardness of the rejection that comes with that work when I along with others tell the truth to those in power that their actions are hateful, unjust, and murderous. When I point out the violence and destruction of the Center City Commission, of Pat Morgan, of the State of Tennessee when it executes, there is public mocking, ridicule, and rejection.
I did a little research and found that the Hebrew word translated here as “deceived” is pittitani, which literally means “to entice, to deceive, to persuade.” Further, when the Hebrew verb is used with the idea of enticement, the word appears in the context of a seduction or rape (Exodus 22:15). Seduced or raped by God, in either case Jeremiah describes a sense of God doing violence to him. And Jeremiah felt this way because his call had begun with an assurance from God that he would be protected; that God would be with him as he lived out his call. But what has happened to Jeremiah? He spoke out and he was punished, beaten and put in the stocks for public ridicule (Jeremiah 20:1-2).
So, I’m going to continue to live with this hard reality: God’s call into hospitality for homeless and imprisoned persons, and all of the joys and sorrows that come from responding to that call will inevitably also compel me to speak out against the injustices and hatred directed toward those I serve. And when I speak out and denounce the injustices and hatred I can count on being misunderstood, mocked, rejected. But what else can I do?