First Person Plural

I visited Calvary Chapel East Anaheim last night for their Wednesday night service. Bob Kopeny is the Senior Pastor there, and he is taking his flock through the Old Testament. This night, he was teaching on the 5th (and last) chapter of Lamentations.

Lamentations, written by Jeremiah, is as the name implies a lament over Israel's sin and the resultant destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians, who then take the Israelites of Judah captive, hauling them to their own land.

Jeremiah, who wrote the book of Jeremiah as a warning to the nation Israel for their sin, is a holy, passionate man of God. He is known as "The Weeping Prophet," as his sorrow is evident in his words and actions. He loves God, loves purity, loves obedience. And he loves his people, the nation Israel, although they have wandered so far from God.

Despite his warnings, Israel's sin continues, and the people end up slaves in Babylon. And so Jeremiah writes Lamentations, really a series of 5 prayer poems expressing sorrow over how it came to this.

Bob read Lamentations 5:16: "The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us, for we have sinned!" "Crown" represents Judah - they have lost their preeminency as a nation. Sound familiar? Note that in the second part of the verse, Jeremiah is using the first person plural - us/we. Remember, he is a righteous man - called by God to prophesy to Israel. He could have used the second person plural - "You have sinned," and deflected his condemnation outward to others. But no, he includes himself in the problem, in the confession.

Bob then brought us to the present, to America. Our wonderful country is truly in degradation - losing its grip on Judeo/Christian worldview. Morals have declined, complete disregard for the concerns of others, personal responsibility seems non-existent. Yet we as Christians so often use the third person plural - "you" - when expressing our condemnation. But, as with Jeremiah, we identify with our nation, we are Americans, and are all responsible. First person plural.

And so the moral of the story - as Christians, we must, MUST, fight against the direction our country has taken. But we must also include ourselves - after all, we are Americans too - in our confession. Take the high road, the bold way. We should include ourselves in the problem. It will be much easier to create revival and turnaround if we do.