Sermon - While We Wait

Part II of III in the series “Life in Exile”

Preached on October 10, 2010 at First Congregational Church of Tallmadge, UCC
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

Introduction: This is the second of a three week series called Life in Exile. The Biblical texts for this series are the passages that speak of the nation of Israel when they were taken as a people into exile in Babylon, an experience which reverberates throughout the Bible. The subtext for this series, and the real reason for preaching it, is that the experience of exile is a metaphor for our own lives, especially the difficult times when we do not feel at home even in our own homes.

There is an old folk story about the people of a small village who were suffering from hunger in a time when food was scarce. Each household had a bit of something or other leftover, some extra potatoes in one house, some extra onions or carrots in others, but not enough to make a good meal. Each night, people went to bed hungry. One day a traveler arrived, and began to talk in the village square about the wonderful soup that he was going to make and share with everyone in town. He set a fire in the square, and set over it a large pot, like a cauldron. He filled it with water, and then he pulled from his bag a very smooth stone. He eyed it carefully, sniffed it, and then dropped it into the pot.

“I’m making Stone Soup!” he said. “It’s going to be delicious!”

Well, people were excited about the offer of soup, for they were very hungry, but they were skeptical about the taste of stone soup. One person approached the traveler and asked how stone soup could be any good. The traveler said “I understand your hesitation, but I assure you that this soup is wonderful. You’ll be surprised and amazed at how good it tastes…although I will admit that it could use just a bit more to heighten the taste.”

“Well,” said the villager, “I have some potatoes at home, would that help?”

“Oh, potatoes, that would be the perfect addition!” the traveler said.

Another villager came by to check on the pot and express her doubts. “It doesn’t smell very good” she said.

The traveler said “oh, just wait, when it’s done you won’t believe how good it will smell and taste, although I will admit that it could us just bit more to enhance the flavor.”

“I have some parsley at home,” the woman said.

And so it went. Carrots, salt, onions, barley, pepper, cream: a great many things were all added to the stone soup, and when it was finished, every person in the village shared the best meal that they had eaten in weeks.

In times of hardship, in times of crisis, people often draw back and hunker down, focused on their own security. When tragedy strikes a blow to our lives, when we have lost something so important we become like a turtle, retreating into our shell, holding on to what little we have, when it would actually be better for us to do just the opposite. And that is what God calls us to do.

It was 2600 years ago that Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and took the people into exile. Their homes were destroyed and they carried great losses into their new life. They had to trust their grief and their anger to God, lest it destroy their spirits or destroy those around them.

In a way, we are also in exile. We might be in exile from the wonderful home of the good old days that we remember with fondness and sadness: the days when we could leave our homes unlocked, and trust the neighbors to look after our children as they roamed the streets; the days before the recession, or the terrorist attacks; the days when we went to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. Or maybe we never had good old days, and we are in exile from a home we have never really known. Maybe we don’t so much look back at the home we lost, but search for the home we dream of that we have never found. In any case, when we are in exile, then we tend to become extra guarded about what little we have and to cling to it tight. Generosity seems like a risk. We have lost enough and we need to focus on keeping what little we have left.

Jeremiah knows that this is what the people in exile want to do. They want to huddle close together and tell themselves that their exile will only last a couple years, a few seasons. They just have to wait it out and everything will return to normal. So Jeremiah gives them a reality check. He tells them that the exile will last two generations. What this meant is that the ones who remember Jerusalem will never go home, but only their children and grandchildren. Jeremiah told them to make themselves at home in this new reality: to plant gardens, to give their children in marriage, and to seek the welfare of the city where they’d been exiled.
Seek the welfare of the city. Seek the welfare of the kingdom of Babylon. Seek the welfare of the people who had destroyed their homes and forced them to leave their land. Seek the welfare of the people you call your enemies! Last week, do you remember, they prayed to God that they wanted to turn the full force of their anger upon these people, and what happens next is miraculous: they seek the welfare of their enemies.

In our own exile, when we wish that someone would tell us how we can recover the home we have longed for, when we wish that religion offered a miraculous fix for our own hardships, God sends a prophet to tell us that he way through our own exile is to show goodness to other people. It is one of the great truths of our faith that the only things we really keep are the things that we learn to give. Our security comes not by what we get, but by what we give.

It seems like it’s just the opposite of what we expect. It seems like a mismatch of what should happen. Shouldn’t the ones who have suffered be the ones receiving help? When we lose something, isn’t it right for others to do good for us? How can we wrap our minds around this concept of giving to others as a way through our own hardship?

I know that many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. I see this wonderful dynamic of faith become real in your lives. In the last few weeks, my friend John Schluep preached about the blessing of the elders. I can tell you that some of our elders in this church have lost more in their lives than I hope the rest of us will ever have to lose. These people have had to redefine what home means again and again as their old homes were lost to them. And what they have done is miraculous. They have learned to seek the welfare of the people around them, and in doing so they have healed and they have been a blessing to others. I cannot tell you how many people I have talked to who tell me about their lives and then they lean in close and tell me, like it’s a great secret: “You know, I received more than I ever gave.”

I need to tell you the story of a man who made a lot of money in the stock market. This was the 1920’s, things were booming, and he did very, very well. He somehow got connected with a group in Africa that wanted to establish a university, and he gave them a bunch of money to get them started. You can guess what happened in 1929 when the stock market crashed. It was devastating. He lost everything, and lived for years in poverty.

Years later, this university in Africa was celebrating an anniversary - 30 years, or something – and the students said, where is this man, he should come. They finally found him in a tenement building on the south side of Chicago, and they invited him to come over for the celebration. He said “I can’t, I don’t have any money,” and they said “we’ll take care of that,” and they flew him over. In the middle of the celebration, with this wonderful music, and a crowd of alumni, and so many grateful people, this man turned to the president of the school and said, “you know, it’s strange: everything I kept, I lost. What I gave is all that I have.”

Seek the well-being of those around you, because in their well-being you will find your well-being. And now, here in this congregation we are working to send money toward a new school in Mali, in west Africa. I wonder how it will work that the welfare of Africa is related to our welfare? I can’t tell you exactly, but the words of Jeremiah, and the words of Jesus invite me to trust that this is so. The world is becoming smaller, and we are realizing more and more just how interdependent we are. We must realize that the well-being of people around the world, their peace, their security, their health, their prosperity, is where we will secure our own well-being. And it is also true right here in this community that we discover the same truth.

It was during their time in exile that the chosen people of God began to see that their identity was not to be people who were protected on Mount Zion by God’s strength, but to be people who created God’s reality wherever they ended up by the power of God’s goodness working through them. I think that this is what Jesus had in mind when he said that the kingdom of God is within you. If the kingdom of God is within you, than the kingdom is not built on the outside, with sturdy wall to keep the good people safe, and well fed. No, the kingdom is within us, so that wherever we are, even when we are in exile, we bring a bit of God’s kingdom into being by seeking what is good for our neighbors.

The kingdom of God is within you, and it is stronger than any kingdom built with strong walls and powerful armies. It is stronger because even when the walls come down around us and we lose our homes, we can still find ourselves in the kingdom of God, where we learn the miracle of having more by giving more away.

The stone soup is cooking on the fire. There’s enough for everyone.