March 7, 2010

Jeremiah 29:11

“A Future with Hope”

“For surely I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future with hope.”  (Jeremiah 29:11)

My father was one of those fathers who liked to lecture his children.  In fact, he had several set lectures that he would give over and over again, and, unbeknownst to him, my sister had actually named the lectures.

“Peaks and Valleys” seemed to be Dad’s favorite lecture, the premise being that life has it’s ups and downs, so, when you’re down, don’t get too discouraged—because you’re bound to go back up again.

The prophet Jeremiah, who wrote our verse of scripture for today, gave the Hebrew people something like my father’s “Peaks and Valleys” lecture—only much more intensive.  Jeremiah lived in the sixth century B.C. and witnessed the brutal takeover of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. by the Babylonians.  The Hebrew people who actually survived the ransacking of their homes and property were taken into captivity—marched hundreds of miles from Jerusalem to Babylon over literal peaks and through valleys along the way.

And that’s where Jeremiah comes in with words of hope.  The valley you are in right now won’t last forever.   God is with you and will see you through.

Jeremiah writes (and I invite you to read along with me the scripture verse in the bulletin): “For surely I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future with hope.”

Jeremiah’s words still ring true for us today.  God has plans for us—as individuals, and as a community of faith.  God offers us-- each and all-- a future with hope.  Isn’t that good news?!  Especially on those days when the terrain feels more like a valley than a peak!!  God offers us a future where pain can be transformed into joy.  God offers us a future where relationships can be restored.  God offers us a future where brokenness can be made whole.

Let me give you a few examples.

Harold was a lay leader in the second church I served years ago.  I know he wouldn’t mind me telling this story because he told it himself many times in public settings.  It was part of his testimony.  When Harold was a young man, married with two little children, his wife Betty contracted cancer.  Harold and Betty were people of faith.  They went to church, they prayed, they believed that God would see them through, they hoped for a miracle.  Betty got all the treatments doctors recommended, but sadly she ended up dying anyway-- despite all the prayers and the chemo.  Harold was grief stricken (of course!), but he wasn’t devastated.  He was grateful to God that Betty was held in God’s eternal love and wasn’t suffering any more, and he trusted that God would give him and his little children the strength they needed to survive.

One of Harold’s friends did not have the kind of faith that Harold did, and angry at the unfairness of it all, the friend remarked, “How could God take your wife like that?!  How can you have anything to do with God from now on?!”  Harold replied, “You’ve got it all wrong-- without God, I couldn’t go on.  I know that God will see us through.”  And God did.  Harold grieved, but he didn’t get stuck in the pain.  He eventually got remarried-- to a woman who loved his children as if they were her own.  They had two more children—and numerous grandchildren-- and a long and happy life together as a family.  I’m not saying that they never set foot in a valley again, but when they did, they knew that God would see them through.

Harold trusted the words of Jeremiah (and, again, I invite you to read along with me the scripture verse in the bulletin): “For surely I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future with hope.”

Another example.  Mary and John are friends of mine.  (I won’t use their real names, and I’ll change a few details in the story to protect their privacy in case in this small world you happen to run into them :-) .)

Fifteen years ago Mary and John were doing well for themselves.  John was an executive in his family’s business—and good at his job.  Mary and John had two little kids, a house in the suburbs, a couple of nice cars, and a promising future.  But the president of the family business—a relative of John’s—was a cantankerous, volatile man, and one day he just up and fired John for no particular reason.  No one in the company stood up for John, despite the unfairness of the firing (perhaps because they were fearful of losing their own jobs.)  So in addition to the lost job, Mary and John lost the house, lost the cars, and were in danger of losing their hope for the future.  But they persevered.  John applied for other jobs and got one he really enjoyed.  He worked his way up in the company—and is still with them, now at an executive level.  In his new company, he had opportunities—for advancement and travel and living in other parts of the country that he never would have had if he’d stayed in the family business.  Looking back with eyes of faith, Mary said that she could see God’s hand in it all—that John getting fired when he did, though it felt devastating at the time, opened doors of opportunity that they never would have had otherwise.

The words of Jeremiah:  “For surely I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future with hope.”

My friends, this verse is as true for churches as it is for individuals and families.

I know that in recent years, in addition to all the high points of ministry, First Parish Church has walked through some valleys—gone through some rough times.  And I know there are different perspectives on what was rough and why.  As interim pastor, it is my primary job to remind churches that it is possible to move past rough times—to get out of the valleys and experience the joys of the peaks again.  I’ve been a pastor for over 18 years (since I was two—okay, since I was 29 J), and nearly half of that I’ve worked in interim ministry.  I know that it’s possible to go through an interim time, to experience healing, to rediscover the plans that God has for the church, and to move into the future and thrive.

There are techniques and processes for doing this, of course, and I have a whole notebook full of them. :-)   But, mainly, it’s not about techniques and processes.  Mainly it’s about this: keeping our eyes on Jesus. When we look to Jesus we are reminded that our main task in life as Christians is to allow God’s healing love to fill our hearts, transform our lives, and spill out into our interactions with our neighbors.  If we do this, as individuals and as a church, there will be no stopping us.

God will give us the strength we need to survive and thrive through all of the ups and downs that life brings—and to be a blessing to others.

“For surely I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future with hope.”  Praise be to God!