Back to the Future

Back to the future? Did you ever watch the movie? A boy in the Midwest of the USA and a mad professor, and their DeLorean futuristic car? I recall the speed that the car had to reach before it could time travel. You had to exceed 87mph which was coincidentally the maximum speed of the Renault 5 we had at the time. We now have a Skoda so unless we are the top of a hill, we can now only dream… In this film people could dial up the date and time they would want to travel to, and hey presto, the addition of some plutonium, the switching on of a flux capacitor, and they were there.

In which time period would you like to travel to? Would you return to where you knew was safe but interesting, or go forward into the unknown?

Time Travel?

This passage (Jeremiah 31:27-34) links to the future, brings us back to the reality of today and then looks again to the future.  I was looking at this felled tree in a wood in Gloucestershire.

It’s tree rings give us a picture of what has been. Notice how the rings are all symmetrical: some parts of the growth have been quicker than others. I wonder what happened there? From 1852 in the centre to WW2 to space exploration to even the use of mobile phones. The most telling mark of course is when the tree was cut down.  It records the history but it doesn’t tell the future. 

Captivity

Jeremiah is talking to those who have gone into captivity. They have left Israel after the conquest from another people, the Assyrians. During their time in captivity they intermarried before finally returning. This blending of the different populations suggested that Israel was no longer pure, as considered by their Judean their southern neighbours. They were despised as Samaritans. You might now sense the animosity, the breakdown in that relationship because of these beliefs that they were no longer pure. It didn’t really reflect what the people were like, just an accusation. 

Jeremiah tells Israel in captivity that they’d be dug up, pulled down, destroyed before any planting would occur. It would be all change for them. The days are a-coming but when they would be asking?

Church rebuilding – not just the bricks

It feels very similar to any rebuild of the church doesn’t it? What’s our response to all this talk of rebuilding? What was their reaction? They were told that God wouldn’t leave them. And that they had to focus upon relationship not the Law. Oh they had to buy into this, they had to fully commit. Being persistently faithful was the key. 

When we hear of the 4 verbs: dig up, pull down, destroy and demolish: is that our focus? Or did we hear of the building and planting? This is a passage which told those in captivity that they were still in that relationship with God. We may feel that our relationship with God is crumbly, weak at the knees at times – when God is saying I’m here, always have been, always will. Yes change is constant, but God is in there for us. God is seeking us to be reconciled.

Yes to go ‘Back to the future’ might be exciting in films but here we look forward to what God is doing and will be for us in the future. Reconciliation is not the time to look back, tearing down, demolishing but building up and planting, to have that opportunity to flourish.