that verse in Jeremiah 29 that everyone loves to quote

So, how many coffee mugs have this verse on them, eh?

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  -Jeremiah 29:11

It's a great verse, a very great verse. It comforts me, and I'm not being sarcastic.


But it's worth reading in context.

The context? It's something God said to the people who were heading into captivity. There were horrors before them. They were going to be torn away from their homeland. All through Jeremiah, God constantly warns the people of Israel not to believe the prophets who lie to them, promising them peace and prosperity.

This is not a verse promising immediate peace and prosperity.

It is a verse that promised that the Lord was in control of his people's future, and that he still intended to do good for them. They were still his people. He was not abandoning them. He would make a way through the horrors for them, as he had once made a way through the Red Sea.


I'll be honest and not sarcastic about this, too: this sort of Biblical meditation scares me. I don't want horrors, even if the Lord makes me a way through them.

But the true horror, the horror of horrors, is the idea of falling out of his hand. It is the idea of not being his people, and him not being my God.

And that is exactly what this passage reminds me: that the Lord does not abandon his own. He is faithful. He will be found by those who seek him. They will be his people, and he will be their God, and none can snatch them from his hand.


And I guess that's the lesson about reading verses in context that needs to be heard again and again: You might lose a facile comfort, but you'll gain a deeper one. Yes, this popular verse in Jeremiah does indeed promise that the Lord has good plans for us, plans that give us a hope and a future.

But the hope and the future is not some bread-and-circuses air-dream. It is not hope and a future that can be crushed by war or famine or hardship.

It is Himself. It is his own presence and goodness and peace.


And joy forevermore.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Maybe you aren't called to be someone amazing

Maybe you aren't called to be Joshua the son of Nun, bringing the people into the Promised Land.

Maybe you aren't called to be someone amazing.

I know, I know, we're all "special". All amazing. All wonderful. I guess that's true, in some ways.

But we're not all doers of great and memorable deeds. And that's fine: we're called to be faithful, not famous.

So here's an encouragement for the unfamous faithful: who comes to mind when you think of "Joshua" from the Bible? Joshua the son of Nun, right? Joshua who fit the battle of Jericho. Joshua, the heir of Moses' leadership.


But he wasn't the only Joshua.

Maybe you aren't amazing. Maybe you aren't called to be Joshua the son of Nun.

Maybe you are Joshua the son of Jehozadak, who we read about in Haggai, working on a temple that is "as nothing" compared to the former one.

Maybe you are one of God's people living in the degenerate days, when no one is doing great deeds. You're just, y'know ... doing the deeds that are to hand.

But hear God's call to Joshua the son of Jehozadak:

Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts...

You may not be called to great deeds in great times.

You are still called to be faithful.

"Work, for I am with you..."

And that lesser temple? the one Joshua the son of Jehozadek served in? the one that people looked at, and thought it was "as nothing"?


It was the one the Greater Joshua came to: Jesus, the Son of God Himself.

"But the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple . . ."



Maybe you are not anyone great, in any great time, doing any great deed.

But if he calls you to it, you can still prepare the way of the Lord.



Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekend Links: poetry, P. D. James, Lord of the Rings, and more!

Some good reading from around the Web for your weekend:

"Across the Grey Atlantic": a gorgeous piece of poetry from James Harrington:

Across the grey Atlantic,

Across Saint Brendan’s sea,

Is the land where the lairds wear sackcloth

And all the serfs are free . . .

Click through the link to read the rest.

"The Last Man and the First Man":

Scanning half a dozen major journals for obituaries devoted to the most important mystery writer of our time, P. D. James (1920–2014), I was astonished to find that not one of them mentioned her serious Anglo-Catholicism, much less its shaping presence in her fiction . . .

"Can you tell me why Frodo is so important in lotr? Why can't someone else, anyone else, carry the ring to mordor?"

but someone else could.

that’s the whole point of frodo—there is nothing special about him, he’s a hobbit, he’s short and likes stories, smokes pipeweed and makes mischief, he’s a young man like other young men, except for the singularly important fact that he is the one who volunteers. there is this terrible thing that must be done, the magnitude of which no one fully understands and can never understand before it is done, but frodo says me and frodo says I will.

"Things I Love about the Things I Love. Part One: Knitting, Top Five":  this GIF-full post gets it exactly right.

"Ezekiel, 'Uncommon and Eccentric?'": I found this very helpful in understanding a bit more about this hard-to-understand OT prophet.

"SDfAoWOP: the Girl":

There is a God, she says, who can heal and save. How can this be? You wonder. How can a little girl, a child, know this God? How can she set aside the bitterness of abuse and loss? But her clear firm gaze, the strength of her words win you over and you go and tell your husband and he listens.

follow-up on "Brother Ass"

Gustav Jaeger: Bileam und der Engel, PD-US, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a follow-up on my post "Brother Ass".

I ended up talking to my husband about that blog post - the one on bodies, emotions, and the prophet Balaam.  And in that conversation, and after reading comments on the original post, I realized that there was a little more that I needed to explain.

What I'm not saying
In that first post, I talked a bit about how our bodies and our emotions are inseparably tied together.  But here's the thing: when it comes to stress or anxiety or depression or the like, I'm not saying that it's all in your head. I'm not saying: make yourself feel better, and then you'll feel better.

I love traditional medicine.

I have traditional medicine to thank for the fact that my kids and husband are alive. My youngest two children were saved by modern medicine (monoamniotic twins) and so was my husband (melanoma).  My sight was restored by modern medicine (laser surgery!) and I've been grateful for antibiotics and vaccines time and time again.

And psychotropic drugs? They are a Godsend when you need them.

So I'm not saying: be happy and you'll be healthy. It's more complicated than that.

What I am saying
Our bodies, though, are more connected to our minds and our emotions than we'd like to believe that they are.


We want to believe that our feelings have nothing to do with our health. And that's just not true.

Of course, there are things we can't control, like genetic predispositions to depression. Or the brain development that results in autism. Or cancer striking out of the blue. Or so many, many other devastating illnesses, injuries, and conditions.

But what can't be denied is that our psychological states affect our bodily functions, and vice versa.

Stress results in cortisol spikes that lead to all manners of disease.

Or try going without sleep for a night or two in a row. You'll be as drunk as a sailor.  Or at least as same as makes no nevermind. You can mind-over-matter that.

God made us with bodies. Those bodies aren't something separate from us. They are part of us. They are not the whole of us, but they are us.

If you deny your body, you're a heretic. Having a body is part of what it means to be human. Your body is part of you. And it changes how you experience life and how you can experience life.

And sometimes, when you're particularly in denial, your body can be smarter than you are.

Your body might be what sees the danger before you can, like Balaam's ass was able to see the angel before he could.

Your body might warn you - by panic attacks, by back aches, by persistent lethargy - that you're living in a manner that is unsustainable.

St. Francis
St. Francis famously called his body "Brother Ass" - and that's where I got the title for these blog posts.


Because our bodies are like that. They are dumb animals - dumb until God grants them speech.

And then they tell us what we really need to know. They warn us about the angels in our pathway; they save us from death.

People used to call this sort of thing "nervous breakdowns". Now we might say "panic attack" or "depressive episode".

But it's the same thing: our bodies are no longer able to carry the burdens our minds and hearts force on them.

I like this about bodies: that they are honest. Like the animals that they are. They do their best, but some things are too much for them. Drink too much, eat too much, sleep too little . . . eventually your body will let you know about it.

Balaam's ass carried the prophet well, as far as she was able. But eventually, she was able to tell the prophet about a danger the prophet himself could not see.

Our bodies do the same thing.

And I am grateful for that.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekend Links: Kids who don't leave church, Knitting reviews, and more!

-"3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don’t Leave the Church":

We pray for conversion; that is all we can do, for it is entirely a gracious gift of God. But after conversion, it is our Christ-given duty to help fan into flame a faith that serves, leads, teaches, and grows.

-"SDfAoWOP: the Room":

Every once in a while, in the travails and duties of life, you might happen upon someone who is a rest and not more work, whose company is a balm for your soul and whose house is a rest for your body. You work and fret and push past the point of exhaustion. You constantly rush through to the next thing. But then, someone urges you to stop, to eat food, to rest.

-"Maintaining":

“Don’t let go of it once you have it,” Marie said, over and over. Her words echoed in my head over the past few rides as Mink and I try to maintain that floating walk without her. But the other day, her words came back to me in a completely different context.

-Yay! The Samurai Knitter is doing pattern reviews again!  Fellow knitters, you'll enjoy this post where she reviews the latest Twist Collective.

-"New England Reflections 2014 (Cont.): The Platypus Travels Part LI":  This is a friend's (educated) reflection on some stained glass he saw in his travels. Interesting and edifying - and just plain pretty.

Weekend Links: Prayer, Prophets, and more!

Some good reading (and watching) for your weekend:

"Praying For You":

. . . not having a specific prompt for others, only a designated time frame, encouraged me to listen to how God would have me pray. I felt the ease of not needing to figure it out. I also sensed subtle shifts in how I prayed for the same person over the course of days, even when I was praying for the same situation. Sometimes I later found out these shifts corresponded with different developments. Life is never static so it makes sense that God’s intervention would be dynamic.

"SDfAoWOP: a Prophet":

It's a good question always to stop and ask. Has God spoken? Is there something I should know before I do this foolish act? Most of us walk a narrow line between the world and the plans and purposes of God, knowing that if we stop and inquire too deeply we will not enjoy the plans and purposes of God. And so we extremely careful not to read all the words the prophets have already spoken, and if we read them, to not read them too closely.

"Mere Fidelity: Made for More, with Hannah Anderson": I really enjoyed this interview with Hannah Anderson about women, work, and being made in the image of God.


And finally, this clever (and painful) video:

Weekly Scripture Reflections (Daniel, Luke, and Revelations)

These are my notes on the week's readings. I'm posting them here just because I realized I wanted to start keeping track of my notes! The bolded quotations are just phrases that really stood out to me. 

Notes on the end of Daniel:
-Daniel sounds so different than the other Old Testament prophets. His diction and word choice - even in translation - sound foreign when compared to, say, Isaiah. I think it must be the influence of his Babylonian education.*
And here's the thing: how cool is that? When Daniel heard the Lord, he described the experience in his own voice. Yet it's recognizably the word of the Lord. The message rings true with the rest of the Scripture. You can hear the formational experience of the prophet in the diction, and apparently the Lord was willing to let that abide, and yet it doesn't - in the least - obscure the strength and goodness of the Lord's word to His people.
So cool.

-is Daniel 9 related to Solomon's temple dedication prayer? < --This was my question as I listened to it this time through.
In Daniel 9, Daniel prays:

O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on the account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.

O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your Name. (vs. 18-19)

Now, doesn't that sound like Solomon's prayer here, when he dedicated the temple?

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers. (I Kings 8:33-34) 

Daniel was doing what Solomon had asked the Lord to let his people do: turn towards the Lord and repent and beg for restoration.

-Dan. 10: "the thing was true, but the time appointed was long"

-Dan. 10 - he saw the vision; the men with him didn't, but trembled . . . like Paul on the road to Damascus.

-"oh Daniel, a man greatly beloved, stand upright, for unto thee I am now sent"

-there is still really a lot in Daniel that I just do not understand . . .

Notes on Luke 1:
-I love Luke's introduction. "In order". Hear, hear! "that you may be sure of the things wherein you have been instructed . . ." Luke speaks my language!

-"blessed is she who believed! for . . ." (like Abraham - Mary believed (and it was counted to her as righteousness? seems so . . .))

-"that we, being delivered from our enemies, might serve Him without fear . . ."

-Luke 1 is just such a dear, dear chapter. It's so familiar - if you pray any of the daily offices in the BCP, you know the Magnificat and Zechariah's song - and the more I hear it and read it, the more I love it . . . it feels like family history, you know? but better, and greater, and more glorious . . .

Notes on the end of Revelation:
-Rev 21: "behold, the tabernacle of the Lord shall be with man . . ." Seriously. This whole passage. Where we're heading. Where we've been (it's the Old Testament promise, finally come really, really true).
"I will give to him that is athirst . . ."

-Rev. 21 - the measuring of the holy Jerusalem - this is like undoing what was done in Ezekiel, when the temple was measured and the glory of the Lord departed . . . and now the Lord is the temple and the Lamb the light . . .

-in Rev. 21, the list of those who will not be there sounds so harsh, until you stop to think that if you let adulterers and whoremongers and sorcerers in . . . then you have to live with adultery and prostitution and horrors . . . and how is that heaven? those are all those things that make this earth such a terror and a burden to live in. And that will all be gone. Thank God.

-"seal not the words of this book . . ." this isn't a secret. Let them know what's coming. "and he who is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still . . ."




*To be totally honest, listening to Daniel - at least in the KJV version - reminds me of the style of the Tarkheena's storytelling in Lewis' The Horse and His Boy.

Links - Advent, God, Amos, Tolkien, and more!

"Advent's Coming: Keep It Simple!":

One of the great things about any kind of Advent preparation is that, by definition, you have to keep it simple and spare. A lush, lavish, complicated Advent makes about as much sense as a simple, understated fireworks display on the Fourth of July.

"J.R.R. Tolkien and the Great War":

Tolkien's experiences in the Great War had a profound effect on his writing and stories. He left the war with most of his friends dead, and a personal view of the horrors that war wrought on the soldiers who fought it. Years later, Tolkien felt that the Great War "had come down like winter on his creative powers in their first bloom.” These views would translate into his writing, with his experiences on the front lines informing the epic conflicts between good and evil in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. His characters form close parties and alliances as they go off to face terrible adventures together, much like he did with his friends when evil arose in the world.

"God's Conduct" (on Romans 12):

But he is not really changing the subject. In fact, all of the commands he gives flow from the teaching he has just done. Any number of good commentaries can help you trace the connection, and any expositor who asks what 12:1′s “therefore” is there for is likely to come up with good answers.

"The Prophet Amos":

We do not know who wrote down the prophecies preached by Amos, though it may have been the prophet himself. The fact of it, however, is of enormous significance, because it implied that the prophet’s message was perceived to bear dimensions of meaning transcendent to the original circumstances in which he preached it.

"Pilgrim's Regress vs. Firefly":

 In other words, we all need to believe, but there is no ultimate basis for belief. Belief is a lie we tell ourselves to keep going in a world that is without objective meaning or purpose. There is thirst, and ways of pretending to drink, but no water.

Now this is simply a philosophical bias. Why believe that to be the case?

the wise woman of Tekoa & King David: a theory

Sometimes, when I read the Messianic prophecies in context, I wonder how much context can really have to do with anything, no matter what my college education pounded into my head. Doubtless, in those cases, I just don't have a wide enough view in order to really get the context.

However, this week I read something in the Old Testament that wasn't, I don't think, an actual Messianic prophecy, but that certainly sounds like one out of context. Read this, and see what you think it's talking about:

"For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans devices so that the banished one will not be cast out from him."

So poignant. Doesn't that sound like a Messianic prophecy? Yet it's not. It's part of the wise woman of Tekoa's plea to King David to let his banished son Absalom back into Jerusalem. It seems to be, as far as it goes, not about anyone at all, except Absalom and David.

Yet . . . the account says that it was Joab who, as the woman says, "put all these words into the mouth of your maidservant." Joab, longtime servant of King David. Really, a character worth studying in his own right: steadfast, yet tricksy; on the right side, yet with a terrifying hard-hearted streak. But a man who had been with the king for years and years, doubtless soaking up all of the king's words with intelligent attention.

And he "put all these words" into the woman of Tekoa's mouth, in order to convince David of what he thought was best to be done: bringing Absalom back to Jerusalem. Isn't it possible that Joab - being the man he was - was wise enough himself to know that what would best convince David was a bit of David's own theology in a stranger's mouth?

Because the argument is: "God makes strange devices in order to save the hopeless man. You, then, should imitate God in your behavior towards the hopeless Absalom." Or, at least, so I read it.

So, then, from David's mouth (surely Joab had heard some of his sovereigns prophetic psalms) to Joab's to the woman of Tekoa's: this may indeed be an echo of the same theology we find in the Psalms. 

It certainly sounds like it to me. What do you think? Is my theory probable?

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

He who spoke through the prophets

I’ve been reading through the Bible chronologically this year, and I just finished Obadiah – the first stand-alone book of the prophets – and am still in the midst of the story of Elisha. Which means I just finished reading about Elijah. (And, oh my goodness, it’s hard to get over the shock when he simply explodes onto the scene, after a king after king after king who did not remove the high places and walked in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat. All of the sudden: Elijah! Confronting hundreds of false prophets, running faster than a chariot drawn by horses, slaughtering crowds, running from an angry king, abiding in the desert, walking boldly up to the same angry king and proclaiming his doom, disappearing in a chariot of fire. Wow.)

Anyway, reading the words of Obadiah and Elijah and Elisha has me thinking about that line in the Creed which describes the Holy Spirit, saying “He has spoken through the prophets.”

I talked at Pentecost about how sometimes it seems like the Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity we know the least about, and how part of the reason for this is that He is always pointing towards Jesus, and when He does, we look.

But I think that this one line in the Creed – He has spoken through the prophets – shows me who the Holy Spirit is. All of the sudden there are scores of passages I might read where I know I will hear His voice. This is where I learn what His voice sounds like.

And, I find, the amazing thing is: those Old Testament passages point toward Jesus too. The Holy Spirit speaks a message of salvation, of promise, even all those years ago. It’s the same voice. And we’ve seen and see the fulfillment of His words in Jesus.

But His words are still, always, more than I expect. More wild, more severe, more beautiful, more comforting than I expect. He is holy. And He deigns to speak to us, to show us Himself. Because He loves us.

If Elijah is amazing, it is because the Lord he serves is even more so.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell