shrove tuesday 2005

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-13


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The people to whom Jeremiah is speaking had been in exile for many years. Faith seemed to be fading fast, and from the way Jeremiah talks, there were many who were looking for answers anywhere they could find them—from false mediums, false teachers, false prophets, and false doctrine. For the exiles, I’m sure that any answer at all, to any question at all, would have seemed a tender mercy—a ray of light upon which to cling in a dark time and place. But out from the darkness of the Babylonian Captivity comes God’s voice through Jeremiah, asking God’s people to be faithful, and promising that by searching for God, God will be found. God promises new hope, a new future, a renewal, restoration, and a gathering of all that had been scattered. God doesn’t say how, and only gives a general when, but the promise and answer to questions is there just the same.

My good friend Sandy Johnson had a plaque in her kitchen, just above the sink. Upon it were the words, “The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you”. That very idea is presented in this Old Testament reading. We don’t always understand from where or why the dark times come, but we know that God not only promises to restore us, but has hope for us and our future. That is amazing to me—that God has hope for us all—even in the face of war, bigotry, and deceit. God has hope for us, even when we see the world or life through a hopeless lens. Thanks be to God.

Lord Jesus, my Brother, my strong Companion—Grant me the grace to know that your will is better than my own. Thank you for your promises that exceed my want and my imagination. Thank you for your hope in me, and your hope in the world. Give us the will and the strength to have hope in and for each other. AMEN