By Linda VandenBosch, associate director of admissions
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:1-6 (NRSV)
Is there anything better than going home after you’ve been away for an extended period of time? We long for home because home feels so good to us. Home gives us a sense of who we are, where we came from and where we are safe. Our loved ones are at home – our family, friends, pets.
In today’s passage, we read of the joyful return of the exiles. We read of the hope for restoration as Israel is promised a time of rebuilding which will produce fruitfulness and dancing. Can you recall a time when you came back home and just felt like dancing? I know I can – the phrase “home sweet home” felt so appropriate. Maybe circumstances in your life have necessitated creating a new “home” for you – either physically or relationally. Maybe you needed a new “home” in order for your world to feel good again. That’s what restoration is all about.
Today’s passage looks forward. This week we are looking forward to Easter Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Easter is such a time of restoration and hope!
I would challenge you this week to try and clear out as many distractions in your life as possible in order to create a space where you can take time for reflection, repentance and restoration. Where is home to you? What does the word “home” mean to you?
We have such comforting words from the Lord to meditate on today: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”
Peace be with you.
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:1-6 (NRSV)
At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2Thus says the Lord: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, 3the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 4Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. 5Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit. 6For there shall be a day when sentinels will call in the hill country of Ephraim: “Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.”