Sermon: The Gift of Place
Scripture Text: Jeremiah 29:1-14
Quotes for Reflection
Péter Nádas, A Careful Definition of Place
Ever since I have lived near this gigantic wild pear tree, I have not needed to go yonder when I want to look into the distance or back in time…On warm summer nights, quiet singing can be heard from under the wild pear. The villagers san quietly. The probably did not want to behave inappropriately and disturb the night.
Simone Weil, The Need for Roots
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. It is one of the hardest to define. A human being has roots by virtue of his real, active, and natural participation in the life of a community which preserves in living shape certain particular treasures of the past and certain particular expectations for the future. This participation is a natural one, in the sense that it is automatically brought about by place, conditions of birth, profession, and social surroundings. Every human being needs to have multiple roots. It is necessary for him to draw well-nigh the whole of his moral, intellectual, and spiritual life by way of the environment of which he forms a natural part.
John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations
God commanded the captives to build houses in Chaldea, to plant vineyards, and also to marry wives, and to beget children, as though they were at home. It was not, indeed, God's purpose that they should set their hearts on Chaldea, on the contrary, they were ever to think of their return: but until the end of the seventy years, it was God's will that they should continue quiet, and not attempt this or that, but carry on the business of life as though they were in their own country. As to their hope, then, it was God's will that their minds should be in a state of suspense until the time of deliverance.
Application Questions
1. Why do we often discount place in the Western church?
2. How are our circumstances both different from and similar to Israel’s exile in Babylon? Of God’s five “stay” commands, which resonates most with you right now?
3. How does living in what Calvin calls “suspense” shape a gospel-centered posture toward place? How would you describe the “parish” God has called you to in this season, and how can others pray for your faithful presence there?