Exile And Return

Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, October 28, 2007
Year C, Proper 25: Jeremiah 14: (1-6) 7-10, 19-22
Grace Episcopal Church, Norwalk, CT

by Jeffri Harre

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

It has been a few years since I last stood before you in this place. Although I made the painful decision to leave Grace Church, you were often on my mind and always in my prayers. I kept up with the goings on of the parish through my mother and a handful of friends. Over and over again I was asked, most often relayed by Mom, “When are you coming back?”

Again and again I would say, “This was an Exodus and not a Babylonian Exile.” I guess I was wrong, wasn’t I. And so, like a handful of others, the exile has returned. It seems appropriate that Jeremiah, who lived through the time of the Babylonian Exile, is one of the lectionary readings for my first sermon after my return.

When I first read the passage from Jeremiah in preparation for this morning, one of the first things that popped into my head was the demented Greek chorus from Edward Gorey’s “Inanimate Tragedy:”

"Death and Distraction!" said the Pins and Needles. "Destruction and Debauchery!"
"Duplicity and Desolation!" said the Needles and Pins. "Dissolution and Despair!"

Well, you get the idea. They go on like this throughout the entire poem. Jeremiah’s lamentations, judgments against the nations of the region, and oracles of destruction run through most of his book. As with the pins and needles, I find myself wanting to shout at Jeremiah, “Enough already! Shut up!”

Yet there are days when I walk into this church and feel like those who went to the well and found it dry. There are days when I gather with others of this parish and hear that many of us feel like those who covered their heads because the ground was parched and cracked. It is easy to fall into despair, to wail and gnash our teeth.

Which brings me to the second thing that came to mind as I read the lectionary for today—a verse from the 31st chapter of Jeremiah that was one of two scripture passages used as the foundation for the work of a conference I helped plan and implement not long after I began working in the Office of Children’s Ministries and Christian Education at the Episcopal Church Center:

Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
(Jeremiah 31:15)

More lamentations from the exiles and those left behind. At which point not only do I want to tell Jeremiah, “Enough already!” but myself as well. Weeping and mourning are necessary, and even healthy, but at some point we have to move on. In Education for Ministry we use a call and response after each person has shared their Spiritual Autobiography:

For what has been,
Thanks be to God.
For what is,
Thanks be to God.
And for what will be,
Thanks be to God.

Remember where we have been, acknowledge where we are, and look forward to where we are going. For us here at Grace Church, we need to remember where we have been, because our experiences have changed us. And all of us have been changed—those who went into exile and returned and those who remained. We must acknowledge where we are, because if we do not, we cannot move forward, we will get mired in our lamentations over what has been. We absolutely must look forward to where we are going, because without a vision, we cannot build something new and different.

Jeremiah, for all his ranting and mourning, knows this. He works on the assumption that things will get better—he even buys a field while the Babylonians are besieging Jerusalem. If that isn’t optimism in the face of destruction, I don’t know what is! You can also see this hope if you continue reading past Rachel weeping for her children in Chapter 31. In the next verses God, through Jeremiah, offers hope to the people:

Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears;
for there is reward for your work,
says the Lord:
they shall come back from the land of the enemy;
there is hope for your future,
says the Lord;
your children shall come back to their own country.
(Jeremiah 31:16-17)

And some of us have returned. This is just one of the first steps in building something new. If we want Grace Church not only to survive, but to flourish, then we need a vision. I know some of you have been working diligently with Lois on a new vision. I want to encourage all of us to participate in that work. Part of my own vision for the church, and not just Grace Church, but the whole church, comes from the second piece of scripture that we used at the “Will Our Faith Have Children?” conference--the opening of the 54th chapter of Isaiah, which is also addressed to the people at the time of the Exile:

Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in travail:
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than the children of her that is married, says the Lord.
Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
hold not back, lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will posses the nations
and will people the desolate cities.
(Isaiah 54:1-3)

Enlarge the place of your tent. What an image. Make room for those who are coming and be ready to welcome them when they arrive.

Enlarging the tent takes resources. (You didn’t think I was going to get to Stewardship, did you?) You need to be able to buy new canvas, ropes, poles and tent pegs. You need to make a pattern for the new sections of the tent, cut them from the canvas and sew them to the existing tent. You need to erect the new poles, pound in the new pegs and make sure the original pegs are firmly in place, and you need to string and tighten the ropes to hold the tent up. That’s not just money, but people power as well. And as hard as that may be to envision given our financial situation, that’s the easy part.

We must be ready, willing, and able to welcome folks when they arrive. As much as possible, treat them as if they are already members of our community. Greet them, sit with them, make sure they have everything they need to participate in the service, share the peace with them, and let them know you look forward to seeing them again. When they come a second time, treat them the same way. If fact, treat them, and each other, that way every time they come. Those who decide to join us will bring new gifts to the community, and we must be open and willing to accept those new gifts. Just as all of us have been changed by our experiences together and apart, so will we and they be changed by our experiences together.

Change is not easy, and we will often find ourselves turning to Jeremiah and his lamentations. But I hope that we will also turn to the words of hope and encouragement found in Jeremiah. Remember where we have been, acknowledge where we are, and look forward to where we are going.

For what has been,
Thanks be to God.
For what is,
Thanks be to God.
And for what will be,
Thanks be to God.

Let all God’s people say, “Amen!”