Monday Reflections: God Offers the Long View

In these uncertain times in higher education, we asked UM chaplains what gives them hope.
For the next four weeks, we’ll share their reflections to encourage and strengthen you in your work and ministry.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” – Jeremiah 32:14-15 

It helps, sometimes, to take the long view. There are so many parts of the world we’ve known we presumed were indomitable. Suddenly they feel fragile and unsteady, ready to crack apart at any moment. (Photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications)

The Rev. Meghan Feldmeyer Benson, Chaplain at Duke Divinity School

Over 20 years ago, after a soul-crushing break-up, I found myself in a fierce eBay bidding war for a Swarovski crystal Christmas tree topper. I had to have it – it was precisely like the one on the trees from my childhood, which carried so many wonderful memories of bright Christmas seasons. I ultimately secured the topper for a hefty $300 (I cannot imagine I’d pay this much now!)

A few weeks later I bought an enormous tree, befitting the crystal star, and set it up in my tiny and modest apartment. My still wounded heart put a lot of meaning on that star – it symbolized the tangible hope that one day I’d have a spouse and child/ren who would also form joyful memories under the twinkling crystal, even as that hope felt far off.

The prophet Jeremiah lived amid a very different (and more consequential) soul-crushing reality. He described in visceral terms; “my joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick…oh that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears.” (Jeremiah 8:18 and 9:1). The city of Jerusalem and the people of his heart are under siege. The Babylonians are destroying the city, and its fall is imminent. Jeremiah has had to watch, and weep, and bear witness to the overwhelming suffering and destruction of his people.

During this siege, when everyone has watched the hope of Jerusalem slip through their fingers, Jeremiah hears a word from the Lord. His cousin will offer him a little plot of land (Anathoth) in the center of the destruction zone, and Jeremiah should buy it. How absurd (especially in the ancient world) to purchase land so recently decimated by war and ruin!

But for Jeremiah, this instruction is a sign of hope. It is hope he knows will require patience and endurance. Jeremiah purchases the land and seals the deeds to Anathoth within clay jars to ensure they will be preserved for a long time. This is a long-game. Bbecause he trusts that in time, God will revive Jerusalem and its people. The soil that has known death, destruction, and flame will once again know the flourishing of planting, building, vineyards and new life. And he was right.

It helps, sometimes, to take the long view. There are so many parts of the world we’ve known we presumed were indomitable. Suddenly they feel fragile and unsteady, ready to crack apart at any moment. This is true of institutions. It is true within long-held friendships and families. Cracks have stretched into canyons of grief that are difficult to bridge.

In moments like this, when my own heart is overwhelmed, I often come back to Jeremiah and Anathoth. Both the grief and the pursuit of tangible hope. When all is unraveling, we can hold fast to the promise that our God is in the business of making all things new, and breathing new life into the ashes. The God we know in Jesus, the God of Anathoth, is a God who resurrects and transforms.

I wonder where you see tangible signs of hope even when it feels everything we know is shifting? I wonder where are the places of hope you can touch or hold…or perhaps even mount on a Christmas tree? May God give us grace to see concrete hope, even in places of desolation and despair.

(P.S. It turns out I did have to live with the long-view, which involved a fair amount of patience and endurance, but I did ultimately find a very compatible spouse, and we share a daughter who turns 6 years old next week. I still use the Swarovski Christmas tree topper every year as a reminder of the great things God has done).