getting solid walls

with the know-it-alls...

A sermon from Jeremiah 32:

I just got back from a week at camp. And I always cherish that. Camp is such a great opportunity to for our youth to spend time getting closer to God.

Honestly, for many of them, it's the first time in their lives when they've gotten to spend a a significant amount of time in prayer, worship and faith discussions. And not for just a day, either; but multiple times a day, for five full days. It's pretty powerful. 

And, it doesn't hurt that their counselors are college students. The age our confirmation students figure is the pinnacle of life. 

Plus, I really get to bond with our youth that week, too...

In the development of faith, I have noticed the profound impact those days at camp make. So I always look forward to them. To the ways the faith of our youth will be deepened and strengthened.

...So imagine my surprise when on Tuesday morning, during the time set aside for students to meet with their pastor, our boys couldn't wait to tell me how they had stayed up until midnight, not talking about their faith, but building forts!

*They even named it, "fort floppy.”

I tried to hide my disappointment and redirect the conversation back to faith matters, but they were set on taking me back to their cabin to show me their fort...

And indeed, it was obvious this was a fort that took considerable time to build.

*I have pictures on my phone if any of you want to see later...

Honestly, I thought about saying something to their counselor. 

Because the truth is, these boys will have to face challenges to their faith we can't even imagine! 

They are growing up in a world where any and every faith claim is challenged. A world that no longer grants Christianity privilege. In fact, if trends continue, they will be the first generation to grow up in an America when Christianity isn't the majority faith!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to threats to the faith, isn't it? They are also living in a world beset with conflict. A world inundated with media outlets, hawking nonstop coverage of these conflicts.

And that's to say nothing of all the changes technology is bringing. Or, how this new, fast-paced global economy is making life more and more unstable for so many people!

We are assaulted from every side these days!

And these boys will have to grow up with all that. Faith will be harder for them than any of us have ever had it! So I couldn't help but question just what in the heck their counselor was thinking! 

Building pretend forts in a world like ours?!?!?

We can't just sit back and goof off; we need to shore up our defenses, strengthen our walls!

...Which is how the people of Jerusalem felt in today's scripture.

It's most certainty how Hanamel, Jeremiah's cousin, felt. 

I'm sure you noticed the strange way Hanamel offer the field to Jeremiah; that Jeremiah had the "legal right" to keep it in the family. 

This is because the people of the Promised Land, did not consider property as a commodity. God had given it, so if someone fell unto hard times and had to sell their land then, before the wealthiest citizen could snap it up; family members were given the opportunity first. And that's what Hanamel is offering Jeremiah.

Only, Jeremiah is Hanamel's cousin. Not exactly the closest of kin. 

Hanamel went to Jeremiah because he'd been working his way down the family chain, trying to find a buyer...

And is it any wonder Hanael has had to go so far down the chain?

A little history lesson, today's scripture takes place approximately in the year 605 BCE, during Babylon's siege of Jerusalem. Ancient war wasn't as fast-paced as ours, and Babylon's assault took months. 

So when Hanamel is making Jeremiah an offer, Babylon is encamped around Jerusalem. And a little geography lesson, Anathoth is one of those places! 

Babylon and its armies are camped out on the very land Hanamel is trying to sell!

Is it any wonder no one wanted to buy that land?!?

For poor Hanamel, the Promised Land had ceased to hold any promise.

What Hanamel had no way of knowing was, before he got to Jeremiah, God had! And God instructed Jeremiah to buy the seemingly worthless property!

...We can tell Jeremiah was a little skeptical, too. 

As Jeremiah himself says, he wasn't convinced the word was from The Lord until Hanamel came and made that crazy offer, just like God said would happen!

Because to the look of things, Jeremiah couldn't see what God would want with a piece of property like that! After plenty of prayer; which sadly we've had to cut out of today's scripture; God gives Jeremiah the scoop; although the land may look LOST, God has plans to redevelop it! 

God gave Jeremiah insider information! Telling him where the newest development was going up, to get the land while it was cheap!

Only, in the moment, no would could see what God was planning…

No doubt Hanamel did a double-take when Jeremiah agreed to buy the land! Because in the confusion of life, you can't see God's good intentions, can you? Not in the moment, anyway.

We all have fields of Anathoth in our life, don’t we? Patches of our life that DON'T look very hopeful. That look worthless and ruined.

In the eyes of God, though, those places are just perfect for God to redevelop, as we’d say these days. Restore, as God puts it in scripture. 

We just had a fire in the Tama building, didn't we? It's being called a total loss. But for God there is no such thing!

And I hope you know I am talking about people, now. For God there is no such thing as a lost cause!

God has always been The One to seek out what’s on the condemned list, and restore it! Redevelop it!

It’s is what God did at Anathoth. And before that, at the nothingness and darkness of creation!

AND, it's what God has done ever since! Like at every funeral we have here. 

Because at Golgotha God did that once and for all! 

Golgotha, the place of the skull. The place good for nothing more than casting out the outcasts, but God took that property and built the foundation of hope and salvation right there!

Today, maybe you're like Hanamel, doing whatever you can to get out from under your field of Anathoth. But don't be too hasty. 

It may look worthless now, but after God ushers in the promises made in your baptism, those places will be prime real estate for God’s restoration. Redevelopment. Or, as we’d say, resurrection!

But in the moment, it’s hard to see. Isn’t it?

I’ve missed it.

I missed it Tuesday morning at camp.

Everything is so intense. These kids are growing up in that constantly, and if we're not careful, they'll grow up thinking that's all they have in this life. So how faithful and fitting it was that at church camp, all that was set aside to have a little fun! Goof off! 

Live like it all isn't on our shoulders or this moment. Because it’s true, nearly two-thousand years ago the we tried to demolish God’s gracious will at Golgotha. But three days later, God raised life eternal!

As the mystic Jullian of Norwich put it long ago, "In the end, all shall be well."

And that's what our boys and their counselor built on at camp. It's what Jeremiah bought that day in jail. It's the promise we send every one of our faithful off with at their funeral. 

Because it’s what Jesus assured when he made the place of the cross into the portal to heaven!

Listen up, God has an insider tip for you too, today: Those places in your life that are filled with death and destruction, they are prime real estate for the restoration, redevelopment, resurrection God has promised you! 

So don’t sell that land while its cheap. Hard though it may be, keep the deed to those place in safekeeping. On the Last Day they will be worth more than all the riches of earth, because they will be where all the mercies of heaven are given!