Message from Tim


A promise to those in exile

 
‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11).

It’s a favourite verse for many people, but it’s particularly pertinent today. It’s worth reading all of verses 1-14 of the chapter. Jeremiah wrote to God’s people in exile, those whose enforced deportation had cut them off from their families and the Temple. Some were afraid that God had turned his back on the nation; others were confident that they would soon be home again and everything would get back to normal.

But Jeremiah warned against believing the empty dreams of those who say it would be over in no time. They were in this for the long haul. God promised that he would eventually bring them home, but in the mean time they had to make the most of being where they are: exile was the place to settle down, plant gardens, get married, have children and see their grandchildren. Yes … it really would be that long. But the point was that they were not to put their lives on hold; they were not to be so taken up with longing for the future that they just neglected the present.

Where they were in exile, that was the place for them to seek and find the presence of the Lord in a new way, and God promised that he would hear their prayers and that they would find him if they sought him with all their heart: exile would be a place of spiritual renewal. The disruption of the religious routine on which they had relied provided an opportunity to develop a deeper, more authentic relationship with the Lord. For us, perhaps our attention might be profitably diverted from the weekly demands of church to seeking God’s kingdom in our lives and homes, bearing in mind that Paul describes God’s kingdom as ‘pleasing God, living in peace and finding true happiness in the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 14:17).

And wherever God’s people ended up, they were to seek the welfare of that place, because their own wellbeing would be wrapped up in the prosperity of the communities in which they lived. And so for many of us, released as we are from a time consuming, busy church programme, we are invited to consider in what different ways we can ‘be there’ for our neighbours? In what ways can we pray for them? In what ways can we share something of God’s kingdom with them?

Many of you gardeners will have been eyeing the weather these past few weeks, looking for the right moment to take seedlings out of the warmth of your greenhouse or your windowsill and put them in the garden, so that they can flourish and grow to their full potential. We can feel a bit like those seedlings: it’s very uncomfortable not being in church week by week, but this time is a God given opportunity for us to grow and reach new potential as committed followers of Jesus, people who live in and for God’s kingdom, wherever we may find ourselves.