Today's service was very appropriate for our family. I was brought to tears during the children's message. After the service the minister came up to me and said she was thinking of me when she delivered the sermon.
The Prayer of Confession included this line: "We see our own hardships more readily than we feel the vast suffering around us."
Children's Moment: How many of you ahve had to move? (only Katie raised her hand) so she went on and asked who had bee non a long vacation and the other s raised theier hands. She asked what the children missed. Their rooms? Their pets? Their friends? She said movign can be both scary and exciting. Todays scriture is about the people of Israel. They felt sad and scared and didn't know waht to do. They felt far away from their homes, their gardens, and their God. But Jeremiah told them that God is with them. He tells them to plant new gardens and make new friends. She ended with prayer and said we give thanks that God's love is with us even when we are in strange places.
Scriptures were Luke 17:11-19 about Jesus healign the ten lepers and one returns to give thanks and Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7.
Sermon: A nine year old boy who was homeless was asked, "Where is your home?" He responded "where my momma is." Minister spoke of examples of homes. In baseball, home plate has the connotation of being safe. She listed numerous statistics: 2 million Iraquis are refugees, 1.5 million are internally displaced; people in Darfar; people still homeless after the earthquake in Haiti; floods in PAkistan leave people in refugee camps; in the United States, each year 500,000 women flee their homes due to domestic violance and 2 million youth run away from home. All forms of excile, a time of vulnerability, waiting to return to normal life. Excile is excile is excile. People didn't want to listen to Jeremiah. They didn't want to believe that they would ahve to leave their hose. Jeremiah could have sent them a letter that said, "I told you so!"
The first scripture speaks of a different excile. Lepers included people with many different disease. The laws required them to leave their homes and live on the edge of town. If anyone came near and tried to help them, those people were alos banned from the church.
Whether forced from their homes by war or landlords, a company transfer or a child whose parents make the family move. A great anxiety and conflict occurs. It's not that we fear the unknown, we fear leaving the known. It's unknown- we can't fear what we don't know. Think about how we feared terrorism before 9-11. We tend to find comfort in the familair even if the conditions are bad. There is still a prt of us that wants to return to normal, even if the present is no worse.
The prophets had been telling the people they would only be leaving their homes for 2 years, but Jeremiah said it would be 70 years. Remember Psalm 137 "by the waters of Babylon we wept." We need to weep. There are lots of forms of excile. What does a new normal look like? Coming out can result in excile from family, friends, society; losing a job; cancer; alcoholism; grief; bullying is excile too. It is lonely living on the edge in a fear filled existance. Sometimes pushing from the edge to suicide. Where do I find myself? How do we live in this strange land? How do we worship in this strange place? The people thought God was back at their temple. Did God cause this to happen? Jeremiah had prophesized it for 40 years. You can't see God here, so God is taking you to a new place, so you can see Him in a new way. God is everywhere His people are.
Our church is in a from of excile. We have been in an in-between time, looking for a pastor. Hopefully it will not be 70 years, but it has been more than 2 years. Jeremiah's anser to Babylon, Jesus' answer to the lepers: People are not alone, bloom where you are planted. Right here. Right now. Not when you graduate or when you get married, or when your child is born. Worship where you are planted. God knows what God is doing. "I know the plans I have for you. To give you a future with hope." MAke where you are right now your home. Hear where God is calling ou. The news doesn't have to be good to live out the good news. Have faith in God and His promises. In spite of appearances God is in control. The seeds are being platned here and now and we don't even know what is coming.
God is leading. There is no where God will not be. Home is where God is.
Hymns: I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me and Blest Be the Tie That Binds.
(I played that last song at a service/ piano recital to dedicate the new piano in the Centralia Presby Church as a child.)
Offering: The servers come all the way forward and then turn around and start together to gather the offering. It looks really nice.
Prayer: The litergust does the prayer and always comes out to stand in the aisle during the prayer. It is really nice to have her a part of the congregation as she prayers. She mentioned that tomorrow is national coming out day for gays and lesbians and prayed for courage for those people who may be coming out into a hostile society and a hostile church. I have been surprised how vocal this church is about its beliefs and acceptance of others.
The children made little cards in Sunday School. There is a construction paper flower on the front and inside a few flower seeds with the message "Plant God's love wherever you are!"
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