An Exile in Place

Moment for stewardship delivered October 18, 2020 via video at First Presbyterian Church, Urbana, Illinois.

Imagine an Israelite exiled in Babylon hearing these words from Psalm 130.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!

They were strangers in a strange land, unable to worship where they used to, maybe separated from friends and family.  Everything had changed.  But still there was hope!

Is our situation really that different?  We can’t worship as we used to.  We are socially distant from families and friends.  Everything has changed.  In many ways, my shelter in place feels like an exile in place.

But still there is hope.  The Israelites knew this and made sure they were not lost as a community.  They knew only too well of nations who simply dissolved from existence during exile, never to return.  But they had hope, hope that they were still a covenant people, hope that God is faithful.  Hope that led them to act, to preserve their faith.  Their exile became as formative to their faith as the exodus.

We too face that choice:  to respond to the hope that surrounds us.  Our stewardship theme this year reminds us that we are inheritors of hope, hope that is more than just wishful thinking.  It is a hope that reminds us that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  It is a hope given to us through grace, and as a gift, as an inheritance, our call is to steward that hope, to act upon it, and like the Israelites, to preserve and nourish it. 

When we join a Zoom worship service or committee meeting or check-in on an isolated member, we are acting upon that hope.  Hope tells us that it all matters.  Giving is an act of hope, a hope in the confidence of God’s love for the world, a hope in the difference that our congregation can make in each of us, in our community, and in the world.

I love the Psalmist’s analogy to those who watch for the morning.  Watching for the morning is not a question of “if” but rather “when.”  When will morning come, not if it will come.  And yet the morning never brings us a repeat of yesterday; it brings a new day. 

Even in my exile in place, I have hope in God that faith is real, fellowship matters, and individually and collectively, we can make a difference.  Please join me in this hope as you consider your stewardship pledge as a fellow inheritor of hope.


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