Dear Friends
‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’ [Jeremiah 29:11-13]
I wanted to use this reading for my final message in Connections both because it was hugely significant in my own spiritual journey during a time of uncertainty and worry about my future, and also because I think you at Baginton Road need to hear it. And yes, if you were at the Church Meeting on 19th October you will have heard it already. Most messages need to be heard more than once!
I am well aware that some of you are concerned and worried about the future, especially after the past couple of years we have been through. What with Covid and lockdown, with the merger of the two churches West Orchard and Warwick Road, and now my retirement: ”Who will do this or that?” “Who will lead us?” “How can we keep going?” and I sometimes think that some people are not aware of what goes on at Baginton Road that has no input from me at all. You are a force to be reckoned with in the community. You have skilled preachers already in place for much of the coming year. You have Pete and now Steve to lead you in the community outreach and work with other churches of our community, but you still worry, I know.
I think it would be helpful for you to remember that God has a plan for all our lives and God has a plan for this church – even if we don’t know what it is yet! Hopefully this reminder from Jeremiah is what you need to hear at this time.
Most of us know and cling to verse 11 of Jeremiah 29 – ‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’. But when we try to understand its historical and literary context, hopefully you will find that it takes on a deeper, more relevant and even more powerful meaning for your life here at Baginton Road. Understanding the context of any passage of Scripture will help to avoid the all too human tendency of reading into it our own desired meaning.
Jeremiah spoke these words to Jews who had been living under the domination of the Egyptian and then the Babylonian Empires before eventually being carried into exile. Previously, Jeremiah had pronounced judgement on the false prophet Hananiah who had told the people that God would break the yoke of Babylon and free the people to return home. It was a message that the people really wanted to hear, a bit like me telling you that you will have a full-time minister all to yourself as soon as I leave Baginton Road. But it was a lie and it would be a lie. Instead, Jeremiah told the people they will live in Babylon for at least 70 years and they should settle down, build houses, marry and even pray for the peace and prosperity of the place they now found themselves.
Jeremiah was speaking to people in the midst of suffering and hardship, people who were really wanting an immediate answer. But God’s response was not to provide immediate help; instead, they were promised that God had a plan to prosper them in the midst of their current situation. We at Baginton Road should take comfort knowing that God has a plan for us too, regardless of how it might seem at the moment.
But we must also look at the verse that follows: ‘Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’.
So my plea and my prayer for you is that you put the negativity to one side, really look at what is going on in this place and become part of it if you are not already, and most importantly, SEEK God with all your heart, PRAY and ask for guidance, and KNOW that God has a plan, even if it seems that no one else has!
God bless
Yvonne