Sermons

October 14, 2007

Rev. Scott Swanson

20th after Pentecost - Jer. 29:1, 4-7

"Bloom where you are planted." So says a popular expression, and so says Jeremiah in his letter to the exiles in Babylon. We've been jumping in and out of the book of Jeremiah for the last while, so let's take a moment to remind ourselves of what is going on here. The first part of the book has Jeremiah prophesying to Jerusalem about how the people will be punished for breaking God's commandments if they don't change their ways. The second part of the book is written to the former residents of Jerusalem now living in exile in Babylon, encouraging them to remain faithful and assuring that one day God will restore them to the promised land. The language used several times in the book of Jeremiah itself describes God's action in the first part as "plucking up and tearing down," and in the second part as "building and planting." Today's text comes from the second part of the book - the building and planting part.

The promise to the exiles is that in time God will return them their own land. But that will only happen in God's time, not their own. In the meantime, they are to do the best they can with what they have: "build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ... [Have children and multiply.]" In his commentary on Jeremiah, Walter Brueggeman says of these verses that "Judah is to prepare for a long haul, because exile will extend beyond the present generation. Even in exile, Judah is to multiply just as the old enslaved community of Exodus 1 multiplied." (Vol 2, 31-2)

Then comes a remarkable turn in the letter, as they exiles are encouraged to accommodate their imperial overlord and work for the well being (shalom) of Babylon, as the well being (shalom) of Judah is dependent upon it. "... Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." Of this Brueggeman writes: "Prophetic faith is powerfully realistic about the political situation of the Jews in exile. The Jews have no option to Babylon, which is God's chosen habitat for the exiles." (32)

I found myself intrigued this week by the question of what we as somewhat exiled people ourselves are to make of this. A few weeks ago I talked about the decline of the mainline churches and the end of Christendom, and what that looks like for us: fewer people, less time, less money, more fatigue. With the so-called "glory days" behind us and an uncertain future ahead of us, churches, their members and land leaders are frequently heard to ask some version a favourite saying of my father: "what do we do now or go fishing?"

How do we who are used to being able to find solutions and fix things resist, combat - fix - the situation in which we find ourselves. After all, we evolved as a species by learning how to make things work for us. Probably almost every great advancement in human history has come from somebody figuring out the solution to some problem, not by sitting back and saying "that's just the way it is." To be fair to Jeremiah, that's not what he's saying. But it can be interpreted that way.

How do we discern when God is calling us to resist empire, and when God is calling us to allow empire to be what preserves us to be a witness when that empire is gone? And what decisions do we make about how to live in the midst of empire that are both faithful to the gospel and yet allow us to live for another day?

You may have read the moderator's pastoral letter published last week. The letter was written in the wake of the General Council Executive's decision in June to focus on congregations as the "primary mission unit" of the United Church, and to significantly reduce national staff resources in the area of global concerns work in order to fund that emphasis.

The moderator's letter is an encouragement to pastoral charges like Langley United to own our role as the hands, feet and face of The United Church of Canada. The way Langley experiences us is the way they will likely experience the United Church.

The Moderator names a value central to the Christian gospel: the ministry of followers of Jesus - the mission of the church - is to care for others, to respond to the suffering of the world around us. The letter warns us that the focus of the gospel has always been on emptying ourselves, rather than on building ourselves up. God gives Godself away in the form of Jesus coming to be among us. Jesus in turn gives himself away in his life and in his death. We who follow are called to give ourselves away in the service of others, trusting in the paradox that it is in the very giving away of ourselves that we find ourselves.

It seems counter-intuitive to our basic survival instinct. It appears to fly in the face of all of our efforts to solve the problems of an institution in the midst of radical change. And yet there it is: the invitation to see ourselves differently, to see the world differently, to define success differently.

I'm not for a minute going to try and make Jeremiah's letter to the exiles in Babylon and David Giuliano's letter to the exiles in Langley say the same thing. I'm not sure that they do say the same thing. And I'm not particularly concerned as to whether they corroborate or contradict each other.

But I think there are at least a couple of things upon which Jeremiah and David would agree:

1) Be where you are, for at this moment you can be in no other place. If you are in exile in your job, or in your home, then be in exile there. If your church appears to be growing and flourishing in the world's eyes, or if it appears to be in decline as many of our congregations are, then be there with it. Because that is where God is, and where you will meet God. Don't ever think God is not where you are, and that in order to meet God you need to be somewhere else or doing something else. Wherever you are - in exile or in the promised land - be there.
2) Remember that you are not an island. You do not exist independently of everything and everyone else. Your welfare is ultimately tied up with the welfare of those around you. Whether it is the empire of the day, or the poor and marginalized of the day, ultimate meaning lies outside yourself. Descartes was deluded. We do not exist because we think we exist. We exist because we are part of a larger web. As hard as we fight to live, we will die eventually. But the larger thing of which we are a part will go on. The goal of the spiritual journey is to come to terms with the fact that we are going to die anyway, and let go of our obsession with survival - we are not going to succeed at surviving! - so that we can find our ultimate meaning in the larger fabric of community, of God.

There is at least one thing worse than death: living life with the fear of being alone when none of us is alone in the first place.

"... Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

"...feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and visit those who are sick, lonely, or in prison.

... welcome strangers with a radical hospitality that sees in them the face of Christ-not an "identifiable giver" or a "potential committee member"!"

The Moderator ends his recent pastoral letter by reminding the church of the three simple words that he believes got him elected in the first place - words that resound throughout the gospel story - words that are not a call to courage, but a call to faith, a call to life, a call toward the dream of God: "Be not afraid." Above all, "Be not afraid."

For more information or to comment on this sermon, please email Rev. Scott Swanson.