Stroll through Scripture for Sunday, November 23, 2025

Based on Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14

The Narrative Lectionary is taking us on a journey through the prophets as we approach Christmas.  This week we hear from Jeremiah.  The context is that he is writing to the exiles in Babylon.  

Each week as we have been reading what the prophets have to say, I keep noticing that they would feel right at home in America in 2025.  That’s not necessarily a good thing.  One of the key statements I’ve been saying is that we are a country that are on two opposing paths simultaneously.  That’s not just us.  That’s every civilization that has gone before us as well.  It’s also true of ancient Israel and Judah.  

In this week’s reading we hear God speak through the prophet to the people who are in exile.  And God tells them something interesting – “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Take wive and have sons and daughters…”. In other words, get on with living life, despite the circumstances.  

And that’s good advice to us today.   It’s good advice for any people at any time, regardless of the circumstances.  If we think that life doesn’t really start until ______, then we’ll always have an excuse to fill in that blank.  

Live life.  Simple, yet so difficult at the same time.  Be present might be another way of saying this.  Stop thinking about the future and live in the now.  

One of the most famous lines of Scripture is in this passage – “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  How easy it is to convince ourselves that God has abandoned us because circumstances aren’t what we expect them to be.  Those expectations cause problems.  We expect the world to be a certain way, and yet it is not.  What do we do with that?  

According to this passage, we accept reality for what it is.  We live life as best we can.  And we put our hope in God, who promises to act.  But we don’t get to set the timetable or the way in which God will act – we are not in control.  

I was at a training last month, and the presenter made this statement – “unspoken expectations lead to bitterness.”  The prophet reminds us that our expectations, whether spoken or not, are not reality.  We are called to live in reality and place our hope in God.  

Questions for further reflection:

• What are your unspoken expectations about the world and about others?
• What are your unspoken expectations about God?