Jeremiah 31:27-34

When you work at the church, its hard to ignore the Prayer Garden. The display of flowers is always changing. Altogether, there are now about 50 species of plant and flower in the Prayer Garden. It is interesting that none of them had a choice whether to be planted there. These incredible plants with some flowers that almost no one will ever see and trees making new leaves that are too high to look at – these plants are blooming where they are planted 110%. Of, since we started the project, there have been about 10 plants that hated the whole idea. They came off the truck, took one look at their new home, and folded their leaves for the last time. A cherry laurel thrived last year and simply decided not to come back after winter. And two trees that thought about dying took a look around at the others and decided to give it a try. Both of them are a little worse for the wear but definitely alive.

 This is the second of our three part series on Blooming where you are planted. Our lives have to be balanced between striving to get places we have not yet been and maximizing the moment we are in. Last week, we looked at life in the rough years and today we are going to look at our responsibility in rough years. Next week, we rejoice in the promise that God’s spirit will be poured out on us as we ask for deliverance.

 So prepare your hearts this morning to hear once again the words of Jeremiah. He has strength for our journey.

 If you are living though hard moments in life, Jeremiah offers great hope and an order. You need both of these to bloom where you are planted.

 The great hope is to know that Jesus doesn’t want you trapped where you are. If there is anything that gives me proof that God exists, it is to see people trust in God and have the Lord deliver them. Indeed, our great trouble in tribulation is to believe the extravagance of God’s promise. Think of Abraham listening to the voice of God in Genesis as God promises to make his descendents a great nation. And Abraham looks on in amazement and says ‘Lord, I’m 75 years old.’ And his wife Sarah, laughs at the Lord. The Lord accuses her of laughing and she hides her face in her dress and keeps on giggling. It seems too ridiculous. And then they unexpectedly have a son, Isaac. You know what his name means in Hebrew? ‘Laughter’.

 We carry such guilt and failure in our own lives that we expect exile. We welcome it . We consider that trouble is life’s fitting response to who we are. There are people here who are not in exile, and you live waiting for the other shoe to drop. You afraid to admit that you are happy and blessed because you fear that God would suddenly notice you and punish you for being bad and doing well.

 Friends, especially in exile, you have to stop beating yourself up. Pray for a miracle – that you will be freed to believe that God intends to bless instead of curse you. Pray to believe that God forgives your bad and fully intends to bless and use you. And don’t limit God. If you are too sick, God intends to strengthen and use you. If you don’t have legal status, God intends to use you. If you have done serious evil, God intends to use you. If you had a good job and failed, God intends to use you. If you feel you’re too messed up psychologically, God intends to use you. If you don’t think you’re worthy God intends to use you.

 Let God be God – don’t invent who God is. We invent our own God who does not love us enough, a false God who seeks to punish instead of comfort, and a weak God who has no power bring us from exile. We must embrace the Christ of Scripture.

 And then we must take up our own responsibility in verse 31. We cannot say that our exile is in no way our responsibility. In our school, 82^nd Street Academics, occasionally something will go wrong. If I or one of the teachers ask a question, the answer is immediately, ‘I didn’t do it.’

 The same is true in our lives. If you are in exile, you need to accept God’s love, make a plan to bloom and a plan succeed. Your are not helpless. I had a chance to hear Jesse Jackson speak to students in Buffalo. The school system there had some bad schools. My sons went to Grover Cleveland which collected all the kids who didn’t speak English. Of course, they had no plan to help them, but the school system just liked them all in one place.

 So Jackson is speaking to students. And he says, ‘I know that some of your teachers don’t care about you. And some of you don’t have desks to sit at. And some of your classes don’t have textbooks. And it would be so easy to give up and fail and show everybody that life is unfair.’ And Jesse Jackson continued, ‘We are going to fight to get you those things. But what you need to do is come to school determined to win anyway. If the teacher is bad, figure out how to learn in that class anyway. If you don’t have a desk, write in your notebook standing up. If you don’t have a textbook, make copies for each other. Failing and being able to show who caused it is not good enough.’

 How many of us blame our present circumstances - personality flaws, financial woes, addictions, etc. - on people in our past? It is so comforting to be able to show that you are not responsible. I think we all have a desire throughout life to go find our mom or dad at moments and just say, ‘that boy was bad to me.’ Just like we did as children. I’m in trouble. Not my fault. Hold me while I cry and then take care of it for me.

 The flowers in the Prayer Garden are thriving because they are setting down roots and making the most of their situation. The crape myrtle have started to bloom with small white flowers only 3 months after arriving. Their willingness to use their gifts is incredible.

 Friends, God expects you to take some stewardship of the incredible gifts God has placed in your life. You are not a passive baby in a stroller watching while stronger forces determine your fate. We have a couple of mothers in the school who bring their kids in a stroller, even though the kids keep getting bigger and bigger. Those kids are going to get their college diplomas sitting in a stroller.

 While our family of origin certainly influences the nature of our life situation, personality traits and behavioral preferences, there comes a time when God says, “All shall be held responsible for themselves in verse 31.”

 Jeremiah first wrote these words after he awoke from a dream. You can find that in the earlier part of chapter 31. The dream was so incredible. It was a dream that the people would come back from exile in Babylon. It was a dream that children would be able to leave the enemy and come back to the home country. It was the impossible dream. Except that we know it happened.

 Friends, on this topic, I’ve had enough experience with exile to speak with confidence. I had a time of great despair when it seemed like God had forgotten me. I spent some time counting the number of years I had left to live and wondering how I could wait that long. I probably have not experienced your exile, but I can say that God has an impossible dream for your life. Its based on more than positive thinking – its based on your belief that God truly intends peace for you instead of punishment, and on your willingness to be a steward of your gifts, willing to bloom where you are planted and look for the dream to come true. As you consider your future, will you accept God’s vision?