Pentecost 21 (Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-7)  10/13/2013

Welcome to what is for many people the middle of a long weekend as we take time to celebrate and remember the adventures and discoveries of Christopher Columbus. The long weekend is an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful season of fall and perhaps a time to have some adventures of your very own. Throughout this past week as I was thinking of the many folks that would be traveling during this weekend, I was reminded of a phrase we often hear from returning travelers, “I had a wonderful time, but it sure is nice to be home!” Travel is a time of adventure, relaxation, and discovery, but as we return to our regular routines and our familiar places, it is nice to be home…except maybe for all the extra laundry you have to do! Coming home is a popular theme; as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz exclaimed, “There’s no place like home!” And even Christopher Columbus was exploring the world in search of a shorter trading route to the Far East in the hope of returning home a bit sooner. The comforts and the familiarity of “home” have great appeal to our sense of safety and stability, but what would we do if returning to that familiar home was not an option? What if our familiar world was turned upside down in a new and unusual way? This was the world in which the prophet Jeremiah lived and spoke to the people of the nation of Judah.

The Jewish people of the nation of Judah found themselves caught in the middle of a powerful struggle between the ancient Assyrians and the Babylonians. The people of Judah desperately tried to remain in Jerusalem, close to their Temple that defined so much of their religious and personal identities, but their beloved Jerusalem and its Temple could not withstand the turmoil of the changing times. The first half of the Book of Jeremiah is rich with imagery and prophetic proclamations from a people challenged with the changing times. We hear Jeremiah tell the people to “run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem” (Jer 5:1) and finally to “flee for safety from the midst of Jerusalem!” (Jer 6:1) The time of the great Babylonian exile had begun in full force and the transition brought forth both memories of the past and hopeful thoughts of a quick return to the home they cherished. For the people of Judah, “home” meant the Temple and stability and faithfulness could only mean Jerusalem; the measure of their sorrow is grasped in the popular words from Jeremiah, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?” (Jer 8:22) Jerusalem would not be restored to the people of Judah for several generations, but some measure of hope returned to the people through the word of God, given to them through the prophet Jeremiah; and God’s hopeful promise is found in our first lesson this morning.

Thus says the God of Israel, to all the exiles, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you in exile, and pray to The Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jer 29: 5-7) To our modern ears, God’s word to the exiles may seem to be simple instructions to live and thrive in Babylon, but to the people of the exile, removed from Jerusalem and the worship of their Temple, this promise of God was life-changing in ways unimagined. God had called the exiles to move forward in new ways; God’s promise challenged them to re-imagine, re-create, and renew their faithful covenant with the God of Israel and the community in which they lived. The exiles may have found themselves in a strange new land, but God was telling them that faithful and loving discipleship remained the same: plant and live from the blessings of the earth, be faithful to each other and grow in community, and pray to The Lord, the God of Israel. God’s promise to embrace this new home in new and unimagined ways was an invitation to live in God’s presence filled with the confidence that the future was filled with renewal of life and growth…and God had not abandoned his children.

For this community, we too have begun a journey that is not familiar; these days of transition and discernment of our future. The days ahead will be foreign in many ways and we will be tempted to find paths that are familiar to us. But the story of the exile and the words of the prophet Jeremiah encourage us to seek God in ways that are given to us in the present. We are stewards of a wonderful and holy place, a community with a rich and faithful history. The word of God, spoken through Jeremiah, strengthens us to seek the future where it will be found. We are to plant new ministries for this community and the world; we are to be faithful and pastoral caretakers to each other; and we are to give thanks and praise to God in all things. Although we will not face menacing Assyrians and Babylonians in our journey together, we will be challenged to be faithful to where God is calling us to go. These days of transition are given to us so that we may discover the holiness of God in our midst and faithfully find our place in God’s home. Let us boldly go where God is calling us because there’s no place like home. AMEN.