Relinquish Tomorrow, Receive Today

29 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Happy second week of October!

This morning we’re kicking off a series on the Hebrew Prophet’s prophetic imagination, which calls us to Relinquish what binds us and Receive the fullness of life in God.

To the people of Israel, the prophets spoke and continue to speak against false idols, false gods, the will of the powerful to control and oppress. The prophets speak truth to these powers and principalities — naming the state of things to the people in exile, telling the truth about what must be let go of, relinquished, in the process of finding their way.

And these prophets turn the truth told, then, to another word — one of hope. The prophets speak hope to the hopeless, liberation to the captive, expectation to the one in exile. They tell of hope for all the world to hear, that evil and death do not have the final word. They speak of anticipation, not anticipation which reclaims some old way, but anticipation that the God of justice will break forth in their world, our world, and renew our call to live in unity and joy.

We are two weeks out from Halloween, All Hallows Eve, the night before the church celebrates All Saints Day. And, in the spirit of the cultural season, this morning I want to start off by talking about ghosts.

Ghosts and water

I’ve learned in this last year, from my son who is quite up to date on ghosts and ninjas and all things that cool 5 year old boys know, that ghosts can be stopped by throwing water on them. Supposedly, this causes them to disappear. Did you know that?

Remember that — water stops ghosts.

But before we get to the water, we have to acknowledge the haunting of ghosts.

I don’t mean to alarm you with some sort of Halloween themed sermon. Rather, I want us to consider ghosts as an example of what might be, what looms, what is true about the world that needs to be exposed.

Think about the famous tale of A Christmas Carol. Jacob Marley is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. Today, we’ll attend to past and yet-to-come in hopes of grounding ourselves in the presence of the Holy Ghost, God’s spirit, in the present moment.

Relinquish - Truth Telling

These next few weeks, we’ll look at writings from the Hebrew Prophets, all of which speak to people in need of truth, for the moment, calling us back to God in a variety of ways and preparing the way for the coming, deeply present Presence of Christ among us.

So as we enter these texts in the next few weeks, we are going to be looking at it through the Theme of “Relinquish and Receive” — this is the Prophetic Imagination of God’s people. To Relinquish is to tell the truth about what is breaking, broken, failing around us. We relinquish, we let go of, we repent from, we confess and name for what it is. Truth-telling is necessary when we are holding on to idols, when we have placed other gods before God, when the systems of our nations oppress and marginalize.

Prophets tell the truth to the powerful. Prophets do not fear repercussions — they speak truth to the powerful who are ignoring God’s call to care for the poor and the widow.

We will look at these prophetic texts and look for what they call us to relinquish. What must we let go of?

And in turn, when we relinquish, we receive something...

Receive - Hope Telling

The second word of the theme is Receive — while the prophets tell the truth about what must be relinquished, they also tell of hope for what is received in its place.

We are haunted by tomorrow. It fills us with worry and dread — what will be of us, will we have what we need, what will become of our family and our work when we can the future arrives. We are not only haunted by the fear of what might be, but also haunted by an idolizing of what we long for.

Jesus told his followers in the Sermon on the Mount, from — “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ()

Tomorrow is haunting us. The ghost of what is yet to come looms.

But as people of God, we are instructed not worry about tomorrow. Instead, we attend to what is before us, here and now. Because we are a people of hope.

You’ve heard me use the following definition of hope many times. “Hope is the memory of God’s goodness, for the future.” We remember that God has been good and God will be good. So we speak of hope for tomorrow as something that is completely in God’s hands. We know God has been good to us so far, so why do we expect anything different for tomorrow.

This frees us to look squarely at today with the confidence and assurance we need to let it be our only focus. If tomorrow takes care of itself, if our return from exile is entrusted to the hope of God’s goodness, then we can get about the good work of being God’s people here and now.

As we look at the prophet Jeremiah’s encouragement to the people in exile, we hear a profound calling to setting deep roots in a foreign land, to setting up shop and making our home where we don’t belong. And let’s be honest with our Pacific Northwest American selves — this ethic is not something we are accustomed to, or at least it is not the way of life we are taught culturally. We’re told to find our adventure, to discover the unknown country. We are called to make our own way, chart a new course, be individuals who do not embed ourselves where we do not belong.

But as it happens time and again, the way of God’s people, the way we find in Christ, is counter to what the world tells us is the way. When we are told every day to lift ourselves up by the bootstraps and be self-made men and women, the way of God’s people is one of submitting to faithfulness in the place where we have found ourselves.

The Present Moment Ghost

The Holy Ghost invites us to set down roots in the present, to embrace what God has called us to today, where we are.

It is in doing to the work set before us, right here, right now, the planting of gardens and tilling of fields, the welfare of the city and the blessing of its inhabitants, that our Holy Ghost, the Holy God, calls us to.

If we are to be haunted by anything, isn’t it a haunting by the presence of God’s Spirit, the one who hovers over the waters of creation and the one who hovers among us even now as we gather. Ghosts are not all meant to spook us — the Holy Ghost calls us.

What are you waiting for?

Tomorrow is haunting us. The ghost of what is yet to come looms.

But as people of God, we will not worry about tomorrow. We will attend to what is before us, here and now. Because we are a people of hope.

So what are you waiting for? For the exile to end? Each moment we live looking at what might arrive tomorrow or fearing what will haunt us then — we deny God’s power and presence now.

Alternatively — what are we called to today? Right now?

Lovingkindness and generosity? It starts right here, right now.

Community and belonging? It starts right here, right now.

The flourishing of our city and neighborhood? The work we do starts now.

Do you long to see our community strengthen, go deeper in discipleship to Jesus, to practice joyfully and foster inclusivity and be a place of refuge? This great work is for us right here, right now, not tomorrow, not next year — here, now, with the people sitting around you.

Tomorrow doesn’t arrive. Tomorrow haunts us but never comes. It is all for us to do today, bit by bit, step by incremental step, but only the step we can take right now. Only the field we can plant right now, only the marriage we can bless right now, only the welfare of the city for today which ensures the welfare of its people. The rest is a specter, a ghost, a haunting that is beyond and never arriving.

Come to the Water

I mentioned earlier that water stops ghosts. It’s a proven fact, ask a 5-year-old.

Do you want to relinquish the ghosts of tomorrow? The longing to return from exile that causes you to ignore the work for today?

Then it comes down to water.

In our tradition, water is used to baptize, ritually cleanse, to purify. God’s spirit descends upon Jesus in his baptism, a sign and symbol for all the baptized to remember and hold onto.

So water is the tool of the Holy Ghost.

Where water stops ghosts, Holy Water is the tool of the Holy Ghost. God’s presence, which haunts us in holy, this-present-moment kind of ways — uses water to purify us, to wash us clean and commission us to live as God intends us to, right here, right now.

Do you wash your hands before a meal and then wait an hour to eat? No, your hands get dirty. You wash and the immediately get to it: the feast is here, the work is here, eat and be filled, live life and bring gifts.

Are you haunted? Are you stuck on wondering about what will be or fearing the inevitable?

Come to the water, today. Come drink from the fountain of God’s loving presence, the water of the Holy Ghost’s baptism and power in your life. Drink deeply.

Practical

I’ll close with a word of how this practically looks for us.

After the service, I invite you to come up, as you so desire, to the front of the sanctuary. Here, you will find water in the baptismal font, which you can simply dip your fingers in and either rub your hands with it or make a simple sign of the cross on your forehead, to remember your baptism.

There is also a station in the back of the room, if you would rather do this on your way out.

And the practical application is simply this — in touching the water, in remembering the cleansing of baptism, you are now instructed to immediately get about the work of loving, caring, sharing your life, welcoming the stranger, praying for the sick, being kind to your enemy, living generously, planting gardens (whether they be actual, or spiritual gardens, where you are nurturing hope and joy and sharing the good news with others). You are immediately to begin repairing fragmented relationships and committing to others in love and friendship. You are immediately to begin living as the picture of God’s reign that we say we are.

This is your call. It is practical and will look many different ways to each of us. But as you are washed, as the ghosts which haunt you are dispelled, so therefore go and be the people of this moment, living in exile and embracing it for all the beauty that it is.

And go with this blessing as we pray together.

Prayer

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