EXTREME Makeover - God's Restoration Project

So I’m a transplanted westerner.
When I first moved to Ontario from Calgary, Alberta,
all I could think was
"where’s the sky?" (too many trees).
Maybe some of you are thinking
"what is she talking about"
but
when I meet someone else from the prairies and say this,
they just look back at me,
nod sadly,
and say
"yeah."
The colours of nature are different too.
Instead of gold, ochre red, bright sky blue
there are greens of every shade imaginable,
fire red sumac leaves,
mysterious grey skies,
even hidden by fog skies.
At night the stars are in slightly different places.

But, I have put down some roots.
I am learning my way around
I am learning about the plant life here.
Many of you are teaching me about Minesing and it’s people
I have come to appreciate
Even love
the gently rolling landscape of Ontario.
And the fall?
I miss the golden glow of prairie poplar,
But I love the variety and brilliance of the fall colours here.
I finally understand why everyone goes on about them.
I am building a new connection with the land.
I am building new connections with the folks at Minesing United Church.

Connect with a strange place
– this is the advice that Jeremiah is giving in Chapter 29:1-7.
"I know this land is not yours,"
Jeremiah writes.
"The earth smells different,
the songs of the local birds are strange,
the buildings are the wrong shape.
The sky has changed,
the stars have moved.
But get used to it.
You’re going to be here a while."

This letter of Jeremiah’s is addressed to forcibly evicted exiles from Jerusalem.
Refugees and hostages.
People in an internment camp.
The Old Testament,
just like the New,
is a mix of history and metaphor,
experience of people
and experience of the divine
So we have to know a little bit about the real
physical experience
that Jeremiah is talking about
in order to understand his spiritual message to us.
So a quick history lesson.
Don’t worry you don’t need to take notes.
Basically as soon as people began having kingdoms
they began having wars over where the boundaries of these things were
and who gets to be the king inside those boundaries.
If you happen to be a small, insignificant kingdom
caught between mighty empires
then things get pretty difficult.
Maybe you try to make deals,
occasionally you get invaded
and sometimes you just throw caution to the wind
and attempt to rid yourselves of the shackles of foreign domination.
Rebellion.
Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn’t.
So these people that Jeremiah is talking to
have been taken to the capital of Babylon
because
they were rulers and leaders in the ancient
tiny
kingdom of Judah
and they had the audacity to rebel against the domination of
the EMPIRE
of Babylon.
The Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, isn’t having any of it.
He orders all political, religious and community leaders who oppose him
(or who might cause trouble later)
be removed from Israel and brought to Babylon.
Basically hostages to the good behaviour of the regime left behind.
Actually this was pretty merciful behaviour at the time,
they were allowed to live.
But that’s not the end of the story.

Back in Judah there is a growing patriotic movement that wants to rebel again.
And this exile community in Babylon is supporting mutiny.
Ok
The people are reluctant to get comfortable
sure that they will be marching back to the Promised Land soon.
Many of them are thinking,
"We’re going home soon.
God promised us our land.
The revolution is brewing
- it looks good.
We will be back in time for dinner."
And then the prophet speaks
Jeremiah dashes all their hopes in his letter.
"I know this land is not yours,"
"The earth smells different,
the songs of the local birds are strange,
the buildings are the wrong shape.
The sky has changed, the stars have moved.
Get used to it.
You’re going to be here a while.

The text we just heard is only part of the letter Jeremiah was writing.
He is trying to respond to the promises of these agitators
The ones who say that there will be a revolt and Israel will be restored soon.
He is concerned that the people in exile think their time will be short
because God has given him a different message.
he continues.
This is what the LORD says:
"When seventy years are completed for Babylon,"
wait a minute
did this guy just say Seventy years?
That’s a lifetime.
It won’t be soon, only when God is ready.
God’s time – not theirs.
God’s plan – not theirs.
"I know this land is not yours,
but you’re going to be here a long, long while."
This isn’t a real popular message.

It’s not a popular message for us.
It’s not a popular message in our culture
I want
what I want
when I want it
and I want it now.
God’s time is not ours.
Christmas is coming.
Is anyone tempted to push the boundaries of credit card debt on presents?
Who needs a Wii now?
(Besides me, those things are fun.)
Think of the mortgage crisis in the US
People buying houses they couldn’t afford
Because they wanted it now
And someone was willing to agitate on their behalf
Rebelling against good sense
To invent the sub prime mortgage.
The famous
(Perhaps infamous)
psychology department at Stanford ran an experiment once…
It involved children and marshmallows.
A great combination
Basically a child (Susie) sat down at a table with an adult.
The grown up would say, "Susie I have this marshmallow"
(and then put a marshmallow in front of the child)
Then the grown up would say
"I have to go for a minute.
If you leave the marshmallow right there…
I will give you two when I come back"
Some kids couldn’t wait
– they ate it the second the grown up was out of sight.
Some hesitated a little and then ate it.
Some waited – squirming and impatient
but still waiting
and got two marshmallows
Some were little angels,
bless their hearts
and just sat patiently waiting
some of them for 20 minutes
(think how long 20 minutes is to a four year old)
for their due reward.
They of course got their two marshmallows.
The astounding thing about this experiment was..
...the kids who waited did better in life later on.

We think we know and can control timelines and everything.
But we don’t.
How many of us have made five-year plans, ten-year plans?
How well do those work out?
I went to college wanting to be a geneticist,
I am a big David Suzuki fan. What happened?
Well, in my case I heard a call to do something else.
And so here I am.
It’s not just about careers.
What about family life?
Paul Simon sings "A man walks down the street, He says why am I short of attention, Got a short little span of attention, And why are my nights so long Where’s my wife and family, What if I die here"
What are your plans?
They may be good ones.
What changes in plan have you been forced to make?
We set our goals.
Make our shopping lists.
We make our plans.
We set up our timelines.
Churches do it too.
We want to grow our Sunday school by 10 %.
The budget will be 15% more in the next three years.

But what happens when we make these plans?
What is behind them?
Are we just wanting to go back to the way things were?
Are we stuck in a nostalgia moment?
Or maybe we’re just plain stuck.

Think about our environment.
The earth groans under the tyranny of industrial pollution.
The air stinks with toxic chemicals and waste.
The birds and animals are disappearing.
Our buildings are making us sick.
The sky has changed, the stars are barely visible.
What’s happening to our plans for a better, cleaner, more prosperous world?
It’s not wrong to have a plan.
But what do we do when it’s not working?
What do we do when we are forced by circumstances to change our plans?
Do we just take what we can?
Grab the marshmallow and run?
Is that all there is?
What about our world?
Where is the "Kingdom of God" Jesus promised us?
When will we be restored?
We see the one marshmallow.
When will God give us the second one?

The exiles in Babylon planned to go home soon.
They thought, "Babylon is unstable,
the rebellion will throw off the wretched yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.
God will see how well Israel behaves and send us home.
He will aid us in our revolt.
God will send us home soon."
Jeremiah says "No!"
Those plans are not God’s.
That time is not God’s time.
But
God is still working for Israel.
God is nurturing you even in exile
and God will restore you, on God’s schedule.
Jeremiah gives the exiles God’s plan for them,
"I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
God has not forgotten the exiles.
God will restore them.
God is restoring them even in exile
if they will only recognise it.
Thus says the LORD through Jeremiah.
"I know this land is not yours.
The earth smells different,
the songs of the local birds are strange,
the buildings are the wrong shape.
The sky has changed,
the stars have moved.
Get used to it. You’re going to be here a while.
Build your houses.
It’s going to be a while.
Plant your crops.
It’s going to be a while.
Get married, have children.
It’s going to be a long, long while.
But….as the city where you are in exile prospers
so will you prosper, even in exile."
God is restoring you.
God will fulfil God’s promises.
God is fulfilling God’s promises.
"Then you will call upon me
and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you.
You will seek me
and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you," declares the LORD ,
"and will bring you back from captivity.
I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,"
declares the LORD ,
"and will bring you back to the place
from which I carried you into exile."

God restores God’s people.
Their community will survive.
They will plant good crops and reap the benefits from them.
Their children will be able to marry and have children of their own.
The community will grow.
They will become prosperous physically,
financially
and spiritually
because God is restoring them even in exile.

Jeremiah’s message to the exiles is for us too.
The earth groans under the tyranny of industrial pollution.
The air stinks with toxic chemicals and waste.
The birds and animals are disappearing.
Our buildings are making us sick.
The sky has changed, the stars are barely visible.
Get used to it. You’re going to be here a while.
Build your houses. Plant your crops.
It’s going to be a while.
Get married, have children.
It’s going to be a long, long while.
But…as you prosper the kingdom of God prospers.

God will restore us too.
God is restoring us.
It is painfully slow but we continue to build our homes.
More energy efficient than ever,
More healthy than ever.
God is restoring us.
We continue to plant our crops.
More bountiful than ever
Throughout the world more food is being produced than ever before.
Famine relief can, and does, happen world-wide
in spite of the difficulties we hear about.
God is restoring us.

New drugs alleviate suffering and cure disease all over the world.
There are ever more effective treatments for AIDS, malaria.
Immunisations protect children all over the world.
God is restoring us.

There is a commitment to clean up the environment world-wide.
It is happening even now.
Hydrogen Cell buses are running in Thailand
reducing the level of toxic chemicals in the air.
God is restoring us.

We can be part of that restoration project.
We can make our homes more energy efficient.
We can support politicians who want to cancel third world debt.
We can support justice for First Nations in Canada.
We can be part of the world-wide ecumenical community
and restore relations between people of faith the world over.
We can work in God’s restoration project.
God is restoring God’s kingdom.

As we prosper, the kingdom of God prospers.
"I will come to you
and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
These words are for us today.
God has plans to give us hope and a future.
In our individual lives
When we face a time of crisis
God comes to us
Where we are
And restores us.
When we make our plans
When we make them from where we are
With God’s word in our mind
Facing forward
Facing towards God
Working with God
God prospers us.
The US civil rights movement in the 1960s sang
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on
A people freed from chattel slavery
Were still held by shackles and chains of racial hatred
They kept their eyes on the prize
Waited patiently on their bus seats
Eyes on the prize
Waited patiently in white only restaurant chairs
Hold on
eyes on the prize
And they prospered
They are still waiting
Their eyes are still on the prize
Exile is not over
Hold on
But God is restoring them
Hold on
God is restoring us.
Eyes on the prize
We are not alone.
Hold on.
We live in God’s world.
AMEN