“From Tears to Healing”
A Service of the Word for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 21, 2025: IN-PERSON and ONLINE at 10:30 a.m.
Youngsun Cheon, associate minister, preaching
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
This Sunday, our journey with the prophet Jeremiah continues. The witness of this ancient voice, who ministered around the time the Israelite nation was taken into exile in Babylon, proves surprisingly relevant in our own era -- an era when, like Jeremiah's, talking heads "say 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace"; an era when so many of us feel like we are in exile from all that seemed stable, familiar, and secure.
In this week's selection, God expresses God's own pathos and grief over the people: over their suffering and over their transgressions that led to it. Even in our wayward ways, God cries out for us and with us, and we find that there is a healing balm in the heart of the Divine.