***
Israel has been exported. They are in a foreign land. They are hopeless.
They get this message from God:
"For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." Jeremiah 29:10-11
Did you hear that? "I will visit you."
God will visit the people who are hopeless.
Isn't that what we are celebrating right now? [God in a manger?]
Isn't that what we are getting ready to celebrate in communion? That God will come...that God has come...that "The Lord IS come?"
But...so what? That's the question we are faced with when we proclaim this message to the world. God really IS one of us! The Word is made flesh!
So what?
Maybe that's what Israel in exile said. Great. Another message from the LORD. Doesn't God see that we are actually here in this place thousands of miles from home, strangers in a foreign land, with all hope gone?
Maybe that's what the world says: God was born into a manger and a bunch of shepherds came and did this thing called "worship," all the while angels were flitting around singing in some dead language that nobody speaks anymore.
Maybe that's what we say. Not explicitly. But think about it. Do our everyday lives reflect a belief that God's incarnation...the Word made flesh...has any impact on the way we live, the way we act, the way we speak, the way we work, the way we play, and the way we rest?
Do we believe that this story we proclaim matters? God says, "I will visit."
God has visited. So what? We're still here in the 21st century dealing with school, jobs, money, vacations, problems at work, sickness, death, and all the rest. When we strip away the distractions of ipods, phones, computers, and other media, and reflect on where our lives are going, the result can be pretty depressing. We can find out that we're a long way from where God wants us to be. We're a long way from any meaning in our lives. As an individual, as a church, and as a world. We could find that we're a long way from home.
But...God will come. Just as promised. Just as already fulfilled. "Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in."
Or in the words of the prophecy given to Jeremiah:
"When when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." (29:12-14)
God will bring us back home.
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"Where meek souls..." The Christmas carol referenced is "O Little Town of Bethlehem," written by Phillips Brooks (1835-1903).
