In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Isaiah 11:11-12

‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.’ Ezekiel 37:21-22

The story of the people of God is a story of returning. Those among us who love gardens and gardening may be pleased to know that the story of the Bible both begins and ends in a garden. Those who long to know and experience the full presence of God will delight to know that God lives with us in the garden at both the beginning and the end. Intentional or not, the music group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are biblical when they sing “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year-old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”*

We have got to get ourselves back to the garden. We have to come home. That appears to be God’s dream, too. We should want to come home. Multiple times, the people of God find themselves scattered, exiled to foreign lands, and under the control of foreign powers. The people of the northern Kingdom of Israel are exiled to Assyria. The people of the southern Kingdom of Judah are exiled to Babylon. But this is not their home. This is not where they are meant to be and it is not God’s dream for them. Through the prophets, God calls them home. Homecoming is God’s wish, God’s heart, and God’s will. Yet, as time is spent away and the generations pass, the people settle in and make their way in a foreign land. Some forget their home. Some have found what they believe is their new home. Some have found what they believe are good reasons for not returning.

While these are ancient stories, they are our stories, too. In our own time, exile happens. We get separated from home, we develop new patterns of life, and we may even tell ourselves that this is okay.

This beloved parish is home in many ways. We call the church family the household of God. It is a household in the sense of an economy with roles and relationships as in the Greek word oikos. But even more so, this parish is home because it is where so many of us center our lives and share our lives. It is home because in the absence of nearby consanguineal or affinal kin, as is true for most of us, this parish is the home where we gather with our adopted family.

After two years and more of COVID or other caused exile, God’s dream is still the same. If you have been away a while, God is calling you home. In this season of sacrifice and resurrection, come home for Holy Week and stay for the Easter Season. We are having a parish brunch between the services on Easter day. Come join your family at the Easter table. And then join us for Country Fare. There will be a place for every one in the household to serve. Things are looking green outside my office window. Flowers are dancing in the breeze and the buds on the trees are starting to pop. It is time to get ourselves back to the garden.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

* Lyrics by Joni Mitchell