Part 3: Hope
Day 18: The Gathering of God’s People
Jeremiah 31:1-25
At the beginning of the Civil War things were going quite badly for the Union Forces. Although they had so many advantages, they were not winning knock out victories. Then in 1862, at Fort Donelson, General Grant defeated the confederate garrison in the fort with his famous “No terms except unconditional surrender.” He then dismantled the garrison by sending all the rebel troops home.
Back home some congressmen where furious at the generosity of the terms and where afraid the army would reorganize and menace union armies again. President Lincoln assured them an army so badly beaten and scattered could never be reunited to be a problem again. Lincoln knew that regathering scattered people was extremely difficult especially when they had been so demoralized.
In today’s reading we see an oracle that predicts the regathering of the dispersed people of Israel to worship in the temple once more. In the period of Jeremiah, the people of God had been scattering out of the Holy Land. They had scattered to Egypt, to Assyria, to Greece, Rome, and Babylon. How could they ever be brought together for the worship of God? It seemed impossible.
But if you read verse 8 you see that God promises to bring them from the north county and be gathered from the farthest parts. At Castine church we do not spend much time with the church calendar other than Advent and major Christian holidays (think Palm Sunday and Easter). Some churches celebrate Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, as the time when God begins the work of gathering the scattered faithful back to his true worship. You see in the accounts of Pentecost (Acts 2), that people are in Jerusalem from the whole of the Roman empire and God releases His Spirit on the crowd and 3,000 people come to faith that day. There is a gathering of a new Israel from among God’s people.
Sometimes faith in Christ can seem a little lonely, but remember we are part of an international family of believers that God is in the process of gathering from all corners of the globe and in the New Heaven and New Earth we will join as a family in the presence of God and experience the highest fulfillment of Jeremiah 31.
A Prayer for the Universal Church: O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Back home some congressmen where furious at the generosity of the terms and where afraid the army would reorganize and menace union armies again. President Lincoln assured them an army so badly beaten and scattered could never be reunited to be a problem again. Lincoln knew that regathering scattered people was extremely difficult especially when they had been so demoralized.
In today’s reading we see an oracle that predicts the regathering of the dispersed people of Israel to worship in the temple once more. In the period of Jeremiah, the people of God had been scattering out of the Holy Land. They had scattered to Egypt, to Assyria, to Greece, Rome, and Babylon. How could they ever be brought together for the worship of God? It seemed impossible.
But if you read verse 8 you see that God promises to bring them from the north county and be gathered from the farthest parts. At Castine church we do not spend much time with the church calendar other than Advent and major Christian holidays (think Palm Sunday and Easter). Some churches celebrate Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, as the time when God begins the work of gathering the scattered faithful back to his true worship. You see in the accounts of Pentecost (Acts 2), that people are in Jerusalem from the whole of the Roman empire and God releases His Spirit on the crowd and 3,000 people come to faith that day. There is a gathering of a new Israel from among God’s people.
Sometimes faith in Christ can seem a little lonely, but remember we are part of an international family of believers that God is in the process of gathering from all corners of the globe and in the New Heaven and New Earth we will join as a family in the presence of God and experience the highest fulfillment of Jeremiah 31.
- Have you ever tried to glue something back together when there where pieces scattered and missing?
- Have you ever tried to have a reunion of people you love only to find its impossible to get everyone together?
- Do you find Joy in the gathering of God’s people? In the church service?
- How can you keep/make gathering with the church family a priority in your life?
A Prayer for the Universal Church: O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.