Held in God's Heart - October 20

Held in God’s Heart

October 20, 2013 Jeremiah 31:  27-34 and Luke 18: 1-8

I have just returned from Halifax – my plane touched to the ground at Pearson International airport at 12:00 yesterday afternoon.  I spent last week in Nova Scotia falling in love.  I met a new life, who by virtue of birth is now a part of my life – I met my first grandchild – her name is Stella – she is my son’s daughter – she looks just like her mom.  She is small and delicate and beautiful and precious.  And she has managed in the three short weeks of her life to have many, many people fall in love with her.   Babies are good at that, I think that is probably why we as a human species thrives – babies are good at having people fall in love with them.  I am not sure that I was prepared for becoming a grandmother – some of you may know that I am still very much in parenting mode as my youngest daughter is only 16 months old – and it seems a bit strange to think that my baby daughter is already an aunt but my son is 27 so in the grand scheme of things it does actually make sense and I need to just accept that I am old enough to be a grandma.  When I said goodbye to Stella yesterday morning – she was just waking up, and she was held in her mother’s arms – still in the squishy stage of being a newborn –I realized that I would be taking a part of her with me – because she now rests in my heart – and no matter that we have over 2000 kilometers between us – she and I are connected now – and no matter where she goes and what part of the world she grows up in (and because my son is in the Navy – it could be quite far away) she will always hold a place in my heart – she is written there – Stella Christine, daughter of Hannah and Rhys – granddaughter of me – child of God.

Written in hearts is a God thing to do –the reading from the book of Jeremiah is all about being written in God’s heart –“31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  I think this is one of the most important covenant that God makes with the people – because it is filled with such hope – this is a troubled time for the people of Judah – a time when all around things are bad – Jeremiah has been warning the people for years – that if something did not change soon well then there would be problems – God would not keep accepting these people who scorned him – God would no longer be able to tolerate those that worshipped others gods, and ignored the laws and practice pagan customs. God would not want anything to do with those who forgot who they were and where they came from and what God had done for them – forgot that they were delivered from slavery and walked through the water and were fed manna in the desert - forgot that they were God’s chosen people – Jeremiah had been warning them – predicting all sorts of disasters and destruction and finally it had all come to pass. 

In 596 BC the nation of Babylon, what is now present day Iraq, invaded Jerusalem and enslaved the upper echelon of Judean society just as the Assyrians had done to the Northern Kingdom of Israel 200 years before. The people were removed from their homes, from their culture, from their lifestyle and marched to Babylonia and entered into a life of servitude to the Babylonians.  This abrupt change of lifestyle – the loss of freedom and the mass deportation as you can well imagine challenged the people and they struggled to find a sense of identity, a sense of who they were and whose they were in their new living situation.  All the devastation Jeremiah predicted had come to pass except

– and this is a huge exception – the world did crashing down in the nation of Judah but God did not desert them – God did not abandon them – no – just the opposite – God made a new covenant and wrote them in his heart and God promised – one more time – promised that God would be their God – and they – the people of Judah – the people of the law – the ancestors of those who walked into the desert with Moses - the same people who had been disloyal and unfaithful  and untrue – they were still the people of God.  And not only that – they were written in God’s heart.  Our God is a persistent God when it comes to his people, never abandoning them no matter how far they stray – Over the years time and time again God persists in being our God in spite of our attempts to thwart him.

The covenant spoken by Jeremiah over 2500 years ago still stands today – still stands after all this time of people pushing God away.  God is still there – God is still here and we are his people and he is our God and it is written on his heart.  God is still here – and it is evident in the foundation of hope that permeates our culture.  And God is still here and it is evident in the in the world around us – in the majesty and diversity of creation – just look out this window – even in the grey and the rain – life is teaming out there, plants are breathing and drinking up the rain, birds and bugs are dancing in the branches of the trees, leaves are turning glorious colours and falling to the ground to make mulch in order to feed more bugs to feed the birds – the circle of life just beyond the glass –

And God is here – in this room with us – look at us – this rag tagged bunch of folks all from different backgrounds, all from different families, all at various life stages – some old some young, some male, some female,  - all of us – beloved children of God – all of us with enough faith in this God to get out of bed on this (dreary day) and make the effort to come to this place of worship – and to hold up the relationship we have with this God who has us written in his heart –

And God is here in this world –

·        and we know it when we find joy in situations that seem overwhelmingly sad,

·        and when we see peace come to situations that are volatile,

·        and when hope is felt in the midst of despair,

·        and when love is the only answer in response to hate

·        and when forgiveness happens in spite of resentment.

God is here no matter how much we push or how much we ignore – God is persistent is his love for us – his beloved children.

Years ago when I was on my internship in Ottawa at Trinity United Church –I was a country bumpkin come from Northern Ontario – come to live in the big city for a few months –  I was quite unfamiliar with urban life – I was part of the ministerial, as part of my learning goals.  The ministerial also was a Bible Study group decided that they would participate as a group in a protest that was being staged on parliament hill – they were protesting housing reforms that the Mike Harris conservative government was enacting – This was my first ever protest – and quite frankly – I was nervous about the whole situation.  The Premier was in town at the Westen hotel and a large group of concerned citizen walked through the streets and stopped in front of the hotel where a stage with sound equipment was set up – and thus began a series of speeches.  All sorts of different groups spoke – those connected to assisted living, those who were part of housing co-ops, those who had interests in geared to income housing – pretty much anyone who had concerns about affordable and attainable housing for all people regardless of income status.  Well into the afternoon a member of the ministerial got up to the microphone – her name was Anne and she was one of the ministers at Glebe St. James United Church.  I will always remember her words- she said:  “my people tell a story – my people tell a story about a widow who went to a judge and because she kept coming she was granted justice”  My people tell a story –this was the first time that I really began to understand what it meant to be a people of God – I realized when she was using the phrase over and over again – my people tell a story – that I was people – and that they were people and that all the people that stood in that street today – stranger and friend alike – we was all people – and it was our God she was talking about – and this story of persistence – this was my story – this was their story – this was our story.  And all of a sudden it mattered to me whether or not the person standing beside me had affordable housing.  And all of a sudden it mattered and I got it – and God was there.

Our God is persistent like the widow and will track you down

·        When you are lost – God will find you

·        When you stumble – God will be there to catch you

·        When your life seems to be meaningless – God stays with you until it matters again

·        When life seems to be crashing down around your ears – God is there, patiently waiting to dust you off as you pick yourself up.

Our God is persistent like the widow and will never leave you!

My people tell a story about God, your God, my God who

·        whenever the hungry are fed

·        whenever the lame walk

·        whenever the oppressed are served justice –

·        whenever God’s will is done and God’s people are loved

God’s heart is lifted.  It gives me comfort to remember that much like I carry Stella on my heart – my beloved granddaughter – I am carried on God’s heart as God’s beloved daughter and we are carried in God’s heart as God’s beloved people.  Thanks be to God for a love like that.  Amen.