To the Faithful Remnant:
Hope  & Rejoicing

Jeremiah 31:7-14                                              Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                         January 2, 2005

In this month’s church newsletter I wrote about how much I am looking forward to this new year. For with the turning of the calendar there inherently comes a sense of a new beginning and hope for the coming year.

New beginnings, and hope for the future are indeed two of the greatest hallmarks of the Christian faith. And especially for those who experienced a particularly difficult or painful 2004, it is encouraging to stand at the doorstep of a new year. That doesn’t mean it will be a year without difficulties or challenges. But on this, the first Sunday of the New Year, it is certainly an appropriate time to focus on hope and the new beginnings offered to us by a gracious God.

As people of faith, our hope is rooted in knowing that God is with us. This is what we have just celebrated at Christmas – that through the humble birth of Jesus we can know that God dwells with and among us. That, in and of itself, is cause for great joy and celebration. But not only is God with us, it is crucial that we embrace the fact that God is also for us.

This is beautifully revealed, as we heard a moment ago, in the Old Testament prophecy of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah is known primarily as a message of doom and destruction. Jeremiah lived just before and through the time of the Babylonian conquest of Judah (the Southern Kingdom), the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the 40-year Exile in Babylon. (The Northern Kingdom of Israel had previously been conquered and scattered by Assyria.)

Destruction and judgment in the book of Jeremiah is difficult and painful, involving enormous loss, death and grief. And yet in chapters 30-33, which many biblical scholars call “the Little Book of Consolation,” Jeremiah’s message switches to one of rejoicing and hope for the future. Today’s passage, Jeremiah 31:7-14, is a passage of overwhelming joy and excitement as those who were formerly in exile now return home.

The homecoming restoration of the covenant between God and the people of God comes with the word from God that God has not abandoned them. That’s always a good reminder for us as well. God’s covenant, then and now, is always expressed in terms of God’s grace and love. It is also an open invitation to accept our responsibility and accountability as the people of God, as well as to receive all the blessings that come with this relationship.

Jeremiah speaks of a remnant, a much smaller number of people from the now destroyed monarchy, who will return from exile and reestablish themselves as God’s people. I have always liked this word, “remnant,” and you have probably heard me use it on occasion when speaking about this congregation.

In it’s 113-year history, this congregation has faced innumerable challenges. Among the most prominent challenges has been adapting and ministering to the ever-changing face of those who live in this Oak Lawn neighborhood. And yet, only a small percentage of our congregation actually lives in the area near the church.

Looking at old records from the distant past all the way up to the present, there has always seemed to be a struggle to stay afloat financially. And yet we persevere.

This church has also seemed to be a kind of way-station for those who have needed emotional and spiritual healing; and for those who perhaps felt like exiles in the larger society or in other church settings. People have visited, or even joined the church, but after a period of time they move on. It’s a phenomenon I don’t completely understand, but have learned to accept as just part of this church’s identity, and even its ministry.

For all these many reason, I have often felt that those of you who remain as faithful members and visitors are a kind of remnant.

Through wonderfully poetic language, Jeremiah invites the remnant to return home and celebrate and rejoice in the hope of new beginnings. I invite us to do the same! And Jeremiah’s invitation was extended to those for whom a long journey posed many difficulties, if not impossibilities – the blind, the lame, and women either with newborn infants or just now in labor. In other words, no one would be excluded from this joyous homecoming and this calling together as a new community and family of faith. I find it no less than remarkable how this congregation mirrors this approach to ministry.

Biblical commentator Howard Wallace makes the following important point: “The language of the poet takes us to heights of joy, song and celebration that transcend the pain of experience. The language of the poet lifts the reader out of the place of hurt into a new possibility. In effect, the language shows us the new reality that God works in the midst of the painful experience. It shows us what is possible with God… [The faithful remnant] has survived the sword – the experience and trauma of exile – and emerged from it… This is not to say in some flippant way that the exile was necessary, or that God uses suffering to teach people [God’s] ways: ‘no pain, no gain’. Rather, it is to recognize that the time of pain, brought on by the people’s past, now becomes the place where God is present to them, even when it seems God is absent.”

The same is true for us individually, and especially as a congregation, even in our times of pain and difficult challenges. We then, no less than that community of old, are to embrace this sense of hope and new beginnings.

So on this Sunday, so close the Christmas promise of the Incarnation, we need to (and must) celebrate and rejoice together as a community. This text gives us permission to pause and simply celebrate God’s love and grace. There will be plenty of time later on throughout the year to talk about what all this requires of us.

But for now, know deep within your being that we are called together as God’s faithful remnant for a purpose, and that there is more yet to come. And as this Christmastide season comes now to a close, let us acknowledge God’s presence with and for us with renewed hope and much rejoicing!

Amen.