Where are your gods?

Jeremiah 2:28New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them come, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
for you have as many gods
    as you have towns, O Judah.

"Where are your gods that you made for yourself?"  

Here it is as if God is taunting through Jeremiah the people of Judah. They just hadn't learned, and Jeremiah had some bad news for them.  Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians, and now the Southern Kingdom, Judah, was going to follow a similar path.

The people of Judah had a problem with idols, and I'm sure you've noticed that while we might not be building golden calfs anymore these days, an idol can come in many forms.

In the sermon this Sunday at St. Paul's, I preached about what Martin Luther had to say about idols: what your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god.

And I've got to say, I've done some clinging to some things in my day that Luther probably would make note of!

"Where are the gods that you made for yourself?"

God is the creator, and wants us to take part in the ongoing life and creation happening in the world.  But every now and then, something we create - whether with our hands or hearts or minds, can become every bit as much of an idol as the ones built by the Judeans.

I asked the folks at St. Paul's today, "What does your heart cling to?"

I ask myself that question a lot.  It's something to note and wonder about.

God of the universe, help my heart to cling to you and you along.  Remind me always that you are the God of my heart and on you I can depend.  Amen.