" The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Have you ever gone to the drive up window at the bank and then discovered that your deposit slip has not been filled out? You ask the clerk for a pen and then you begin to try to find something to write on. Maybe it's an old cassette case. Maybe it's the back of your check book. Maybe its the center counsel that is located between the driver and passenger seat. Whatever it is, it never quite works, does it? Invariably the pen punches through the paper or slides off the side. Writing in a car is just not the same as writing at a desk or table.

And if you think it's hard to write in a car that's not moving, just try writing in a car that is moving! Whoa! Watch out! There goes the deposit slip! Whoops! There goes that grocery list!

In today's lesson, Jeremiah describes how God is going to write a new covenant. A new message of love to the human race. And this new covenant is not going to be written on tablets of stone or paper, but on the living hearts of human beings. Can you imagine how difficult that kind of writing must be? How patient and persistent God must be to write his word into the lives of people like you and me?

When did God begin writing his word into your life?

Can you imagine a deposit slip attached to the back of a two year old, and you're trying to write on it? Unreal isn't it? Nothing like trying to write on rapidly moving target! And yet that's when God began writing his word into our hearts. When we were but helpless little bumpkins brought to the Baptismal font by our mothers and fathers.

Maybe you can remember some of those Sunday school songs you sang so long ago. “Jesus wants me for a sun beam, a sun beam a sun beam!” God used teachers, songs and even puppets to teach you about Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. To teach you about Lazarus and how Jesus resurrected him from the dead. And though you may have wiggled, though you may have squirmed and poked the kid sitting next to you, wasn't God writing? Patiently and persistently writing his word of love into your heart?

A little while later you got into seventh grade and maybe you had a class with Pastor Graff and Vicky Duden on “Sexuality and Dating”. It was kind of embarrassing to talk about some of that stuff. Things like bodies changing, and how to avoid inappropriate behavior on dating. But though you giggled and frequently turned red, you learned something. You learned how God made you special and how your body is the temple of the holy spirit, deserving respect and love from all who know you. God was writing, writing his word of love into your heart.

Writing, writing, writing! The God of the Bible loves nothing more than to write his word into the lives of his people!

Yet, what happens as we grow older?

As a child we make few choices when it comes to being God's tablet or notebook. We go to church and Sunday school whether we want to or not. We go to confirmation because we have to. But as we age, we get to make more and more choices. And unlike tablets of stone or scrolls made of parchment, we can resist the will of the writer. We can say “no” to the one who would write upon our hearts.

Today we celebrate reformation Sunday, and we remember how central God's word is to our faith.

In Martin Luther's day, nearly five hundred years ago, Christianity had spread like wild fire. Almost the whole of Europe was converted to the faith. Unfortunately however, hardly any of those people knew what that faith was about!

In Luther's day, preachers didn't preach on the Word. They administered sacraments. And hymns and the worship service were in Latin. A language only a few could understand. Worse still, was the absence of the Bible from people's lives. Bibles were few and far between in Luther's day. And when they did exist, they were usually written in Latin, or Greek or Hebrew. Again, languages few people could read and understand.

But in 1554 suddenly things began to change!

Luther insisted on the centrality of he word for the church. And he began to insert that word into the lives of people everywhere. He translated the mass and hymns into the language of the people. He encouraged pastors in the seminary where he taught to work harder on preaching and teaching. He translated he Bible into the language of his people and encouraged everyone to read and study God's word.

In the Martin Luther movie we watched here a few years ago, there was one scene in which Luther gave to Prince Frederich who was a loyal supporter of his, a copy of his newly translated version of the Bible.

Prince Frederich held the book as if it were made of pure gold! Can you imagine for the first time in your life, being able to read God's Word in your own language! And having a copy of that “God's Word” for your own use and study! How awesome! And how fortunate that Prince Frederich and the rest of the world that they were given such opportunities through the gift of Luther and the reformation.

Writing. Writing. Writing. God loves nothing more than to write his word into our lives. And Martin Luther and his reformation were like pens and pencils in God's hands. They were tools that God used to get his word into the hearts of his people.

Today we have many more opportunities to have God's word written upon our hearts.

Today we have a multitude of translations and study Bibles to choose from. We have Christian books stores overflowing with such Bibles. They also offer us a great army of gifted Christian teachers who can proclaim God's word to us with great insight and imagination. We have Christian music, Christian videos, Christian radio stations, and even Christian TV.

God has many pencils and pens and word processors at his command to write with. But one thing he refuses to command is our response. Unlike a scroll or a tablet, the human heart can close itself down, shut itself off even to the author of life.

Isn't it absolutely astounding that our generation has so many Bibles and books on the Bible, and yet studies that word so little.

“Jesus wants me for a sun beam” but how can I shine if there is no light inside me? No word of God at work and alive in my heart?

Writing! Writing. Writing. Our God loves nothing more to communicate his message of love to this world. But he doesn't want that message written on paper, or tablets of granite or stone, instead he chooses people like you to be his tablets and parchment. Living human hearts is the parchment God chooses to write his word onto. And what will it be? Will the pages of our hearts be forever closed? Or open to the pen and pencil of our maker, of the author and giver of life?

May we read, hear, study, and learn from God's word, that it's glorious message of love and grace might be written into our hearts and lives.

Amen.