"Hope for the New Millennium" - Jeremiah 31:7-14 - January 2, 2000

This past fall for me was very frustrating. I don’t mean anything was wrong with the church or that anything was wrong at home. You see, I depend on my leisure time to help me recoup and meditate and keep my senses. As you know I do that with my hobby of sailing. But, the severe drought caused my fall sailing to be cut short. The lakes were so low that boaters were getting stuck or breaking motors. I never got to take advantage of those pleasant evenings and Sunday afternoons with the warm sun and gentle breezes. It was frustrating and I had no plan for alternative recreation.

Whenever we find ourselves experiencing some difficulty it can easily overwhelm us and make us feel hopeless. A troubled relationship, a conflict at work, a financial setback, virtually anything can add to our despair. We reach a point where we don’t think and see clearly. We become very vulnerable and added pressures only add to our pain as we fall into an abyss of darkness.

Last Monday, following Christmas, my wife gave me a gift. She had been taking advantage of some post-Christmas sales. She found a rather inexpensive but unique item she thought I might appreciate. What she gave me was a porcelain winter scene complete with a sailboat. It is docked for the winter season and has greenery and wreaths hanging from it. It is perfect. It now makes my Christmas village complete.

As I gazed upon my Christmas village I was struck by the profound significance of this added feature. It reminded me of the bigger picture. Here in Ohio the sailing season only lasts for six months. The rest of the year my boat is parked for the winter just like the scene in the Christmas village. It is idle, but still part of the larger picture. This has reminded me that when we are able to see the larger picture we have hope.

It has been my experience when people seek me for counseling they are not seeking advice or wanting me to fix their problems. They are in search of a glimmer of hope, some thread of light, a bit of sunshine in their world of darkness. That does not mean I can comfort them with some Pollyanna statement that everything will be okay. Everything is not okay and the last thing people need is someone that discounts their despair. They need to be heard and go away with a glimpse of hope. But, they also need to see the bigger picture.

What Jeremiah did for the Israelites that they couldn’t do for themselves is help them to see the big picture. Jeremiah could see beyond the wrath of God to a time of divine grace. When folks are overwhelmed and desperate they have tunnel vision and clouds of pain and sadness hinder their ability to witness a piece of the kingdom in their midst. Just when it seems that every thing is going down the tubes, God breaks through and delivers a message of consolation. It too, is a gift.

In the midst of the worst of times, Jeremiah gives the Israelites a glimpse of hope from God. They are wandering aimlessly, unorganized, lacking in resources and vision. In the past he has berated them for their sins and preached constantly about divine judgment. Now he focuses on new abundance in agriculture, a time when poverty is clearly over. Grain and flocks are flourishing and wine and oil are flowing. He states, "I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow." (verse 13b) God is presented as a shepherd who is gathering the scattered flock. In spite of their plight God continues to hold them firmly in the grasp of divine grace.

Now that we have passed the infamous Y2K point in time there is much relief. For weeks, if not months, people have worried, some to the point of panic that something catastrophic was going to happen. If they could have seen the big picture they would have realized that what made Friday, December 31, 1999 different from Saturday, January 1, 2000 was a single second. Had they been able to focus on the larger picture they would have been far less anxious.

Now we are in the year 2000. I just hope we don’t have to repeat all the hype at the end of this year since many believe that the next century actually begins in January of 2001. Hopefully we will have learned from the craziness of this year and take next year in stride.

I believe that hope is what keeps us going. Hope enables us to overcome the worst of circumstances and gives us comfort and courage to continue. How can we remain hopeful in the years to come?

First, by keeping focused on the bigger picture. Last week I was chatting with a colleague in Europe. They were telling me that they had excessive rain in the past few months. They would have been glad to send some of it over here. A drought in our area doesn’t mean the world has come to an end. After living a half of a century I have experienced how weather seems to be a great neutralizer. As long as we can see the big picture we are not paralyzed by crises that affect our immediate environment.

The faithful in Jeremiah’s time were in despair, not because of weather problems but because of evil empires. "Judah in Jeremiah’s time stood on the brink of an abyss and at the bottom lay the end of their history as an independent nation. All they could do was stand on the walls of Jerusalem and look to the horizon for the conquering armies that stood poised to sweep them off their land and into exile." (Homiletics, January 2000)

What Jeremiah did was warn them that only true repentance could save them from devastation. But, they were unfaithful and the enemy from the North invaded and they were forced to live under an oppressive power.

Unfortunately, it was too late for the faithful to save their nation. How often do we see people put off turning around their lives before they become severely wounded or destroyed? Jeremiah speaks to us today. How long can we continue to pollute our environment, take advantage of our neighbors and permit violence to rule before our own nation must suffer destruction? How long can individuals abuse their bodies, live without community or neglect a daily relationship with the creator?

Besides seeing the big picture we are also called to a life of repentance. To turn from those ways that are destroying life as we know it. To turn from our arrogance and self- centeredness and trust in the divine power of God?

Nevertheless, Jeremiah’s message, thank God, is not all doom and gloom. For in these verses we also hear that no matter how bad things get, God will continue to love us. We have been involved in world wars and God still loves us. We have built the atomic bomb and God still loves us. We have wasted our resources, fought against our neighbors, made thousands of hideous mistakes, but God still loves us.

When you consider how we humans have treated God’s creation in the last century we may wonder why God continues to put up with us. No doubt we have given God much sorrow and grief. This is especially true when we are so narrow minded and cannot see the big picture. It is also true when we have turned away from God and failed to be repentant. Regardless of our faithlessness, however God is still faithful. God and God alone is our hope.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio