On July 18 of this year, Jewish people celebrate the Ninth of Av, the date in the Jewish calendar, which recalls the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem. It is a day of mourning and sadness for all of us, for the way in which the forces of darkness seek to reduce God’s presence to rubble in the world.

For Christians, the various attempts to eradicate the temple of the living God in the members of Christ’s body, the New Temple, is our way of sharing in the losses of our ancestors. Yet what martyr is celebrated with sadness! They live on in the temple in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The flow of mourning in this chapter is suddenly interrupted by verses 22–23. The late Thomas Chisholm, a former member of The First United Methodist Church in Vineland, N.J. (where I serve as pastor from 2000 to 2008), composed the famous hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” He beautifully expresses the profound feelings of the writer of Lamentations.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In this season we read Hosea; in the 9th week, we read Lamentations 3.

For the next several weeks, the Firestarters will be from the original version of this program. For these Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.