preached by Rev Shannon Mang at the Heritage-History Workshop Sundays in Oliver on October 27 and Osoyoos on November 3.
When
I worked at Living Spirit United Church (Calgary), the administrator came to work with
her little noisy, and very friendly terrier named Rosie. Rosie made friends
with everyone who came into the building. Rosie and I were good friends, but I
was not a friend who would feed her. Unlike others in that community, I would
not share my lunch or bring her treats—but that never stopped Rosie from
expecting that she would one day take our relationship to the next level of
intimacy—food sharing. It never happened, but in all the months that we both
went to work together prior to the pandemic, Rosie was convinced that I would—one
day give her food. Rosie became my symbol of how “hope springs eternal”.
These are days when hope is hard to find. We had
friends from Lacombe AB visiting in October and we did a few wine tastings with
lovely, friendly and chatty wine tasting staff. One of the tasting staff went into some detail about the deep challenges
facing the wineries. He commented that if we have favourite wineries- to stock
up because many of the estate wineries will not weather this storm of
circumstances. These difficulties resulting from unpredictable weather are also
being faced by the growers of fruit and vegetables in our valley. The changing
weather recently had communities in BC who have suffered repeated flooding,
most recently from October’s atmospheric river events. They are asking
questions about the sustainability of their community’s infrastructure. And on
a personal note, Greg and I now share the communal anxiety in this province
about the threat of fire being a clear and present danger every year.
We are living in an age of fear—and we are in good
company. Our ancestors in the faith have often lived in ages of fear, and they
have given us a legacy of hope in the midst of fear.
The context of today’s text from the prophet Jeremiah
was a time when Babylon invaded Jerusalem and left a trail of death and
destruction in its path, and had the city of Jerusalem under siege. Jeremiah
was a prophet who was called into God’s service at a young age and whose life’s
work was : “to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build
and to plant”. At his point in his story he was imprisoned within the walls of
the king’s palace. King Zedekiah had been shortsighted and refused to heed
Jeremiah’s warnings, to the point of imprisoning him--- then Jeremiah’s
warnings came to pass and the king and all of Judah were at war.
From the prison and in the middle of the siege,
Jeremiah did something completely unexpected after receiving a message from
God. God let the prophet know that it was a good time to buy a plot of land
from his cousin even though the enemy was at the gate of the city and was
starving the people. It was clear to all that once the siege broke it was very
likely that the population would either be killed or taken into slavery and
deported to the land of the victors. Since God had told him to expect his
cousin to make the offer, when his cousin did show up to offer Jeremiah the
plot of land, he saw it as a sign that God would reverse Israel’s fortunes. It was
a sign that God had neither forgotten Israel nor left it to its own devices.
Commanding that the deeds be put in clay pots,
Jeremiah took steps necessary to assure that the deeds of purchase would
outlast war and destruction. Jeremiah followed all the prescribed legal
procedures, including having it witnessed publicly. With the transaction in
public view, Jeremiah was also conducting a “sermon” for all to see. It was a
way of expressing his hope, his desire, his trust in God, that things would indeed
get better, even if he did not live to experience better days on his land. His
purchase was not just for himself, but for future generations. His purchase
signaled to the nation that their God, who had brought warnings of destruction through
the prophet, was also a God who still claimed them as God’s people and believed
in their restoration.
From Oct 27- [Oliver United Church has a history of doing the hard work of “seeing the signs of the times” and being proactive considering hard realities. Jeremiah’s call was to publicly purchase a plot of land in the middle of a siege. Oliver United Church’s call was to sell this much-loved building that has held the life of this congregation for most of its century-long life. You celebrated 100+ years of Oliver United Church in Dec 2022, and you are in an “in between time” now in a changed space, but still housed in your former church.]
From Nov 3- [Osoyoos United Church has a history of doing the hard work of “seeing the signs of the times” and being proactive considering hard realities. Jeremiah’s call was to publicly purchase a plot of land in the middle of a siege. Osoyoos United Church’s call was to serve immediate needs in the community: you created the local Food Bank and successful rummage sales turned into a weekly event, and then into the Thrift Store that continues to have a tremendous impact on Osoyoos.]
Today in our interactive time, my hope is to learn
from you what the most significant milestones have been in in the life of this
congregation from inside your skin. I have been reading your history and I’ve
only started to look at your large collection of photo albums---and that is a
gift. Today I want to hear from you as the continuing presence of Osoyoos
United Church. I am interested in having you share at your tables memories that
have had an impact on you.
Lets continue to do the hard work that the Prophet
Jeremiah calls us to, looking at our history of faithful service and planning
for a future of continuing faithful service.
May it be so.
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