When This Germ Goes Away

Sermon Jeremiah 29 & 1 Peter 3:13-22 May 17, 2020

When This Germ Goes Away

“When this germ goes away, will you come see me?” this was a question from a five year old living today in the reality of pandemic. 

From the mouths of babes we witness the truth of our lack of control of the world we live in. We hear the desires and the dream uttered from their lips. We hear from them what this life looks through their eyes.

On Wednesday, hearing this from my granddaughter threw me. 

It was finally a confrontation with the truth of the way we are living today. 

It was the truth that we are living in exile. We are not a people sent to the desert as Jesus was to confront for 40 days the identity of who we are. We are not a people who has left a land of slavery and are wandering in the desert for 40 years prior to entering a promised land. We a not a people of an ark for 40 days being lifted up out of chaos and dropped off into a brave new world. While we are the descendants of all of these people, our story today goes well with our Scriptures for today which are letters written to believers in unknown territories.

With this pandemic,

we are more like a people carried off

into a land that’s not our own.

A people in world out of our control.

A people in captivity.

A people caught in the whirlwind of life

of which we have no say.

We can’t travel.

We can’t work.

We can’t get the supplies we need.

We can’t seek the medical, social, religious, economic engagement we need.

We are a people without a future that we can see or plan.  

The truth today is just how hard life can be.

Just because we claim Christ as our Lord doesn’t guarantee us or anyone else this perfect window into a perfect world. But, what we do get, that makes it so hard to define or to describe, is a sense of peace in adversity and a sense of hope in times of trouble, a sense of truth to get us through.

What has been so difficult with this situation we have been living though is the not knowing. At first we thought we would be inconvenienced for a couple of weeks. Then we saw it was a little longer and we hunkered down to hold on until it was over. We thought we could hold on to our plans, hold our breath and then come up for air and go on as we did before.

The Israelites thought the same thing when they were carried off to Babylon. First it was a short stay, not too long and then they’ll get to go back home. But, there was no relief or peace in sight. Then they chose to live in their dwellings as temporary dwellings knowing this was not their home and they would wait until they were back in Jerusalem before they carried on with their life the way they used to.

But, Jeremiah hits them with the reality of living in the present. He tells them how they can live their best life now.

It’s not about giving up or giving in. but about putting action to hope.

If we can’t live our best life now with the cards we’ve been dealt then how will we live it when we have everything?

Jeremiah isn’t asking the exiles to give up and act like slaves or submit to the masters of their captivity.

He’s giving them the courage to take the lot they’ve been cast and look it in the eye and move to action.

Plant gardens.

Build homes.

Get married.

Have kids.

Live your best life.

Look your captors in the eye and show them that even though they have control you have ability to live the best life possible now, even in adversity.

This idea is not a pipe dream. Ask anyone who has been through disease or mental illness or chronic conditions. They will tell you the only way to move forward and out of the despair of something that took over their life was to say to the disease or the condition or the mental illness (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder etc), you may have control of my body and mind, but I will live my best life either in spite of you or despite you. You may ravage my body but, I can make my life matter. Why? Because the power of God to act in our lives is just as strong in exile as it is in abundance.

Both the letter of Jeremiah and I Peter are pragmatic. They are pointing out the possibilities for life in Babylon and in Asia Minor, these places not their home but where God can act in their life. These letter writers were declaring a path forward by digging in, getting dirty, and creating space for joy. The best hope for the future is to live in the present. The hope for the future is to settle in for the long haul.

By doing this, hope takes action.

By doing this hope anticipates and moves towards an amazing future of possibility built in the present.

If we sit at home and can’t go out, how can our best life be lived in that circumstance? If we have to go to work in hazmat conditions, how can our best life be lived in that circumstance?

One reality is that like the early Christians of Asia Minor we are dispersed far from one another. We are beyond the community in which we find our comfort and collectiveness. Yet, as we discover, our community in this time has grown beyond these walls and beyond our familiar groups. We have a following of those who worship with us that were not able to before. We are not just dispersed throughout the ESVA but now we are a community in nine different states and sometimes three other countries. By the power of the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension, we have a unity unknown to us before. How can we live our best life (as Kate Bowler, podcaster, insists) when living this life with where we are and how we are is all we have?

God’s action is in our life now. It’s not waiting to act tomorrow when we will all get back together. God’s action is showing us and training us within this context for the way things can be rich and fulfilled right now. It’s our turn to pay attention to the good things, take note, and build on it. It’s our turn to look at where the needs are and assist in helping. We can’t do it all. We can’t fix it all. We can’t be like everyone else. But, we can impact one small space of our life, right where we are. We can hear God’s voice propelling us into an action that shows us we are alive and well. Let’s listen together and discover together and work together.

My life experiences and careers have always been within the power of touch.

As a nurse to sit cradling a child receiving dialysis treatments or as a pastor holding the hands of the dying, touch has been the crucial, sacred element of these moments to heal and comfort.

When that became no longer possible,

I lost my way.

I did not know how to act.

And yet…In my despair,

God is still fully present.

In my deepest sadness,

God is acting.

God is paving a path of knowledge

and ways of living never known before.

God is moving us into a future

not of frustration but of discovery.

How can the things we have counted on that no longer exist become the avenue for a new way to emerge?

I am comforted and renewed by the power of God through the resurrection of Jesus to sustain us and to stir us. We can do this! We will keep worshiping together this way. We will take the service to those who cannot watch. We will visit one another from a distance. We will have car parades. We will have Zoom fellowship. We will have doorstep tea times. We will resume our ordinary activities and God will show us his presence in them.

Who knows if the tales of the future from our children will be they remember these days as the best days of their life…we won’t know, but for now…

We are not alone.

We don’t know when this germ will go away.

We can’t plan for it.

But, we will choose to live our best life now.

Because we have the greatest promise of truth from God.

We have a hope in Jesus, a hope that is active, that pulls us and gets us up, and holds us when no one else can, and carries us, and heals us, and just loves us so much it pulls us forward to a marvelous future.

These are not dream words, these are truth words.

Amen.

Let us pray, Father we worship you today. We love you for our life in Jesus Christ who you raised up to glory. We offer ourselves to you again today to work within us by the power of your Holy Spirit to transform us. Move us forward in our resurrection life, fill us with your hope that doesn’t wait but moves in anticipation, and action. Renew our spirits to a right mind with you. Refresh our hearts with the fullness of love, now and forevermore. Amen.

Resources: NIB Jeremiah 29 & 1 Peter; Working Preacher-Preach This Week; Kate Bowler Podcast.