Return

I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. -Jeremiah 29:14

Last week I talked about how exile is a theme that runs through the biblical narrative, throughout history, and throughout our lives. The good news is, exile has a partner. With every exile comes a return.

You lose a job, you find a new job

You move to an unfamiliar place, you make friends and make a home in that new place

A loved one dies, you recognize the presence in your loved one in unexpected ways

You are told you might not have long to live, you uncover new priorities for living the life you have

I could create a long list of exiles and returns here, but you all know the feeling - I once was lost, but now I’m found, I was blind but now I see. Return sometimes comes in very unexpected ways, but the promise of our faith is that return will happen.

For thus says our God: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. -Jeremiah 29:10

Many of us experience a sense of return each week when we come together for worship on Sunday mornings - coming back to be with the people we know and love and who love and support us, hearing the familiear prayers, the music, the exploration of Scripture, and of course, the communion table.

Our resilient parish never stopped returning each week throughout the pandemic. We continued in the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship and in the prayers every Sunday and multiple times each week online. We even shared online Agape meals each week, but for over a year we were exiles from our communal table. What a joy it was to finally share in the Eucharist together again at the park on Pentecost! What a continuing joy it is to share in the Eucharist each week in the Jonathan Daniels Room.

The Holy Eucharist is a regular and bodily reminder that no matter how far or long the exile, God will always bring us back. We gather around the table from our scattered places of exile each week to return to the source of all being, receiving the assurance of Christ in our very cells through bread and wine, body and blood (or, for now, just the bread). Then we’re sent back out to love and serve the world, knowing that while there will always be exile, we can be assured that there will also be returns.

If you have been unable to attend a service in person and would like to have communion brought to you, please let me know. I will be glad to bring it out to you one Sunday soon - even if its outside in your yard. Also, I’m pleased to report that our newly forming Eucharistic visiting team will soon be able to bring fellowship, bread and prayers more regularly to those unable to make it to church. They’ll be doing their pastoral training in January and February and hopefully by the time they’re prepared, conditions will be better for visiting.

Meanwhile, I’m grateful that we have one anothers’ support both in person and online during these times of exile and look forward with longing to all our returns. Being part of a faithful church community gives us all a future with hope.