A Tribute to Our Pastor
Commemoration & Celebration of 31 Years of Pastoral Service
As we enter into this time of celebrating our Pastor’s 31 Pastoral Anniversary at Shiloh, I sat down to write a Tribute to Our Pastor. I noted that the scripture reference use on our website for this purpose is Jeremiah 3:15 ESV. I had been thinking on scriptures that referenced “rejoicing,” since to me because of our reason for celebration, “Rejoice in the Lord Always, and again say rejoice,” Philippians 4:4-8 KJV, seemed fitting to me.
But I began to wonder what God meant when He said, “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding’’ (Jeremiah 3:15 ESV), the scripture adapted for our celebration, and stepping a little bit away from my original intent I began to have a few questions for Jeremiah. Who was he? Why had God spoken these words? Whom was He speaking to?
Here’s what I found. Jeremiah was born about 650 BC in a village close to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 1:1). His father was Hilkiah, a priest (Jeremiah 1:1) Jeremiah’s name means “Jehovah has appointed.” He was very young when called by God to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1:1-20). The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judah continually against the folly of idolatry and he pleaded with the people the word of God, about 50 years before Jerusalem would fall and be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.