Series for Eastertide During the Pandemic of 2020: 1 Peter: A Letter to a Church in Exile. Words of a Living Hope!

In the early 2000’s the leadership of our annual conference became so concerned about the continuing decline of our denomination and the larger church that they took a desperate measure: they called in a “consultant.”  Because of course they did. That’s what failing organizations DO – they hire “consultants.” They were careful to bury the consultant’s fees somewhere deep within the conference budget, so that no one would be able to tell how much of our people’s tithes went to pay this consultant, but I can assure you they don’t come cheap. If I had known fifteen years ago what I know now, I might have quit doing actual work a long time ago and become a “consultant” (said tongue firmly in cheek).

The first thing our distinguished expert consultant did was to suggest a biblical metaphor that he thought would capture and describe our current malaise in graphic, historical terms. He told us we were in the “wilderness,” much like Moses and the Israelites. We were leaving the old reality but not yet ready to enter and embrace the new. This sounded good on its face, but it was absolutely the WRONG biblical image. Any second-year seminary student who had ever read Walter Brueggemann or most any other reputable scholars could tell you the church is in EXILE, not the wilderness, having lost its cultural hegemony for some of the same reasons the Israelites did, and now finds itself exiled in a strange land.  So, we paid this consultant untold amounts of money to give us the wrong answer, and we are no better off than we were before.

The thing about being in exile is, there are always lessons to be learned from it. If the exile is endured in the short term but is not reflected upon and ends with a simple return to the past, the lesson is wasted.  Upon reflection we realize that there is no simple return to the past, no “back to normal,” and that after the exile is over, we will not be the same as before. Hopefully with God’s help we will be better, we will have learned what God wanted us to learn and we will not have missed the learning and the growth. 

Jeremiah told the exiles to “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 29:5-7). In other words, learn to make the most of where you are until the time comes that the exile is ended. For after that, God still has great plans (Jeremiah 29:11).

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the church in a different kind of exile. Rather than rush to return to “the way things were before,” as we all want to do, maybe we need to be still and ask God how God wants us to grow and what we should learn from this experience. The writings of the prophets and some of the letters of the New Testament (1 and 2 Peter, for example) speak of how to listen to God and have faith during time of exile. “If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live out your time of your exile in reverent fear” (1 Peter 1:17).

Even as we begin to think about how we are going to safely “relaunch” when the time comes, let’s not lose the lesson of the present moment. Even now some of our churches are growing, and we are finding new ways to be in ministry. This is a time of challenge, but also a time of hope and a time of growth.

I hope you can join me in a series of reflections on finding life, love and hope even in times of exile.

First United Methodist Church West Memphis: Series for Eastertide 2020:

1 Peter: A Letter to a Church in Exile. Words of a Living Hope!

April 26                 I Peter 1:3-9                        “A Living Hope”

May 3                    I Peter 1:10-12                   “A Living Promise”

May 10                 I Peter 1:13-23                   “A Living Faith”

May 17                 I Peter 2:1-10                     “Living Stones”

May 24                 I Peter 3:14-18                   “A Living Spirit”

May 31                 I Peter 5:6-11                     “Living in God's
Pentecost                                                            Power”