Sunday Sermon, 12 October 2025
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
A reading from the prophet Jeremiah
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. […] Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Jeremiah 29:1,4–7 NRSV
I recently had the privilege of joining the pupils of Dent C.E. Primary School for their school dinner. Sitting at table with the pupils on the small chairs, I was taken back to my own days at primary school. Some of the pupils had packed lunches, whereas others had hot food – I had forgotten how important the distinction seemed when I was at school!
As I tucked into the chicken pie, followed by fruit salad, I remembered some of my favourite school meals: toad-in-the-hole, turkey twizzlers, semolina pudding, and jam roly-poly with custard. Food we enjoy as children is often quite different from food that is enjoyed by adults. It is plainer, simpler, and served in smaller portions. As we grow older, our palate expands, and more spices, flavours, and challenging foods can be introduced.
The same is true for the Christian faith. It is nourished in many different ways, and as we grow in our knowledge and love of God, he supplies us with the things we need for the stage we are at. These are sometimes called the ‘means of grace’ – in other words, the ways in which God’s Holy Spirit gives life and renewal. The classic ‘means of grace’ are the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures. But alongside this, Christians experience God’s love through prayer, friendships, worship, an appreciation of God’s creation, and much more.
Just as our tastes change as we move from childhood into maturity, so too does the way that we experience and understand God. This can be exciting, as we learn to recognise God in new ways and places. But it can also be unsettling. It seems that, for many, growth in faith involves God hiding himself, and withdrawing from a place where we might have previously found comfort. The temptation is to dig our heels in and try to stay where we are. But just as a child grows up and moves on from school dinners to adult meals, these times of transition are the ways that the hidden God is calling us to find him in new places.
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This was the experience of the Jewish exiles that Jeremiah writes to in our reading this morning.
The Babylonian exile occurred around 2,500 years ago. This is a dark period in the history of the Old Testament. The people of Judah were violently uprooted from their homeland, and taken to the terrifying city of Babylon.
Sadly, we don’t have to look far to get a sense of the suffering involved here. We have seen the plight of the Palestinian people on our TV screens this week, as tens of thousands of displaced people are tentatively making their way back to Gaza, their homes and livelihoods shattered. We pray that the peace deal agreed on Thursday will hold.
The people of Jeremiah’s day had to face a difficult question, in the depths of their pain. Where was God in all that had happened? They felt abandoned by him. The Jerusalem Temple was the place where they had met God previously, where they encountered him. Now the temple had been destroyed, and they were far from their homeland. How could they make sense of this?
Some predicted a quick return from exile and an imminent restoration. These were the people who could not accept what had happened and were deluding themselves that things would return to normal. They were false prophets, clinging to the past and not wanting to face up to the future.
In contrast, Jeremiah tells the people to recognise that this is a difficult and painful time of transition. God has hidden his face for now, but they are to continue to be faithful to him, in the new place they have found themselves:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.” (vv4,5)
You don’t build a house and plant a garden in a place that you expect to leave anytime soon. God is telling his people to settle down where they are, to multiply and increase – furthermore, to seek the welfare of Babylon, rather than viewing it as the enemy.
Reinhold Niebuhr is credited with penning the famous ‘Serenity prayer’: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Faith teaches us that there are some changes that we are called to accept. It gives us eyes to see things truthfully, as they are, even when we are tempted to look away, or drift into fantasy. We can do this because we worship a transcendent God of grace and truth, who is not limited in any way. He continued to minister to the exiles in a strange and unsettling land. He will continue to minister to us as we navigate the changes and disruption of life.
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As we close, I invite you to reflect on whether there have been times in your life when God seems to have disappeared – when things that once brought joy no longer seem to have any effect. You may even be experiencing such a stage of life at this time.
I want to encourage you that God is still there, but perhaps in a hidden and different sort of way. His purpose is not to cause us harm, but to encourage us to grow into a fuller and bigger experience of who he is.
I can give an example from my own life. I was formed in a context where the Bible was seen as the primary way in which God speaks and acts in the world. I remember in particular a time when the Bible seemed to ‘come alive’ and speak to me in a direct and fresh way. It was very exciting and helped me develop as a young Christian.
But then I entered a period where God no longer seemed to speak through the Bible. In fact, it became quite upsetting to read, and I was overwhelmed with doubts. I felt abandoned by God.
Looking back on that period, I can now see that God was leading me into a fuller understanding of life and faith. You see, along with my love of the Bible, other things had slipped in – a need for certainty, a judgmental spirit, and the arrogance of thinking I had all the answers. I now believe that God hid himself from me as I read the Scriptures, in order that I might discover him in other areas of life. And then, a few years later, I found my love of Scripture return – although in a new and fresh way.
We are all works in progress in the Christian life. As we grow into maturity, we must pass through difficult periods when God seems to hide his face. But we remember that these times of testing can lead to new growth in faith. Just as the people of God learned to follow the Lord their God by accepting their new surroundings and working for the good of their new city, so we are called today to seek to do good and help others to flourish in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
Amen.