171126 HUC SermonJeremiah 29Hopeful Living

To the exiled children of God,who feel there is something wrong in this world,Beloved, Sons and Daughters of the living GodWelcome home.

To those who struggle to find place for their faith among so many unanswered questions - When the God we were promised doesn’t deliver what we expectWelcome home.

To those who struggle with lifeliving with broken lives and familiesand when all you expected of lifeis torn away from you.Welcome home.

This may not be the world you expectedor wantedBeloved, Daughters and Sons of the living God.But with God’s love,and a community of gracetogether, we can make it Home.

Hopeful Living.

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This is not where we expect to see Christ the King - in a bread-line. Or at Centrelink. Or in a prison. Christ the King Sunday is supposed to be a triumphal celebration of victory - or at least a foretaste of what we hope for.

Babylon is not where the Jewish people expected to find themselves in 586BCE. God had promised to protect them, and yet … the Babylonian armies had come plundering and brutalising nation after nation under Nebuchadnezzar.

The Australia we live in now is to where we expected to be living, if we imagined this time 50 years ago. While our nation has christian roots, and we have living memories of Christianity being powerful in our nation, that is no longer the case. Modern and post-modern culture is suspicious if not antagonistic to any faith.

As treasured links between Christian Communities and Australian culture have gradually been broken, we have discovered that beneath a modern and post-modern secular culture are a voracious consumer society. In the words of Erskine Clarke, “This society feeds on the consumption of goods and good times, protects itself with a massive military, is not hospitable or even neutral, but increasingly hostile to Christian faith and life.” <end quote>. No, they are not talking about trivial things like skirts that are too short, drinking or smoking, or non-attendance at church; Rather hospitality to the stranger, care for the poorest and marginalised, and that humans are (or maybe especially I am) neither the centre of the world nor god.

Enter Jeremiah.

In the face of what we might expect, God’s word through Jeremiah is not to keep themselves apart, to build defences or walls, to batten down the hatches in the face of an onslaught …But, to build housesPlant gardens and eatMarryEncourage your children to marry Have children and grandchildren.Settle in for the long haul.

‘Don’t listen to those who say that we can go back to the good old days, or that you can do nothing, or that you should build a walled enclave.’ Says Jeremiah.

Pray for the city and intentionally seek the welfare of the city where you live.Actively make this place better - get involved.

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You don’t do that by sitting around complaining that things are not like the old days. You don’t do that by telling people NO all the time, based on an ethic that was questionable in the first place.

I know, says God, I know where you are, my Beloved.There is a future for you, of hope and not of suffering.

In your planting and eating,In settling in to this place as those with Permanent Residency, but no citizenship - or maybe as those with dual citizenship - In seeking the welfare of the cityIn everyday things - look for God.

Find God in the oddness of this time and place

Jeremiah says, Thrive, don’t just survive.Live, don’t just existMake the best of this, you will never be the same.

Many of the people listened to Jeremiah. Culturally and theologically, the time of Babylonian Exile was one of the best and richest periods of development of Jewish faith.

“Exile did not lead Jews in the old Testament to abandon faith or to settle for abdicating despair, nor to retreat to privatistic religion. On the contrary, exile evoked the most brilliant literature and the most daring theological articulation in the Old Testament. … grounded in a sense and sureness of news about God that circumstance cannot undermine or negate.” – Bruggemann (http://www.missio-dei.ca/2012/07/exile-and-hope-in-post-christian-canada/ )

“The people came to recognize that God had not been defeated; Without a king, Israel remembered that Yahweh had always been their true king. A burned temple hundreds of miles away meant there were no sacrifices, but the Sabbath could become a time to worship and contemplate God's word in the synagogue. In fact, most of the Old Testament was written, compiled, or edited during the exile. - Mark Throntveit, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament (https://www.enterthebible.org/periods.aspx?rid=907)This was not in their time of comfort, but in their brokenness.

As we come to our Congregational Meeting, we recognise that the budget we present, and the leaders we elect, and the matters we discuss … these are all presented in a context that is different to what many expected when we were younger. We too could batten down the hatches, or sit around and complain. Or in 2018 we could

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follow Jeremiah’s lead, take a deep breath, and again open ourselves to finding God in this amazing time.

We can commit ourselves to be a community of Christ followers who live and breathe this alternative gospel of hope and love, Seeking God in the everyday, however strange it may seem. Intentionally seeking the welfare of the place where we live.

“Many of us today may encounter situations that cannot be changed, no matter how much we would have wanted things to be different. The question then is how one, amidst such difficult circumstances, can live the best possible life, including daily practices that make life both possible and meaningful. Perhaps even more important than figuring out how to live amidst these less-than-perfect circumstances is the question of how one manages to find joy while being in exile.”

To the exiled children of God,who feel there is something wrong in this world,Beloved, Sons and Daughters of the living God,Welcome home.

To those who struggle to find place for their faith among so many unanswered questions - When the God we were promised doesn’t deliver what we expect.Welcome home.

To those who struggle with lifeliving with broken lives and familiesand when all you expected of lifeis torn away from you.Welcome home.

This may not be the world you expectedor wanted,Beloved, Daughters and Sons of the living God.But with God’s love,and a community of gracetogether, we can make it Home.

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