“Hope”

(Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7)

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon….Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon; 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 have 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.

            Now, if you’ve spent much time with the prophet Jeremiah in the Bible you know that he is speaking to the people of Judah in a time of upset and disorientation.  Many of the Judean people had endured 60 years in exile, questioning God’s relationship to them.  They wondered if God had been acting in a capricious way–not caring one bit about them–or if God just didn’t have the power to act on their behalf.  So, needless to say, the book of Jeremiah is complicated.  But today’s lesson is one of hope, one in which God shows compassion for the exiles.  Perhaps there’s a measure of forgiveness, that is, “You people have served your sentence for not being faithful to me, and now you can begin your lives even in the place you have been sent.”  Either way, after some 60 years, it had to have been amazing for Jeremiah to deliver this message from the God of hope for the future.  …Lord knows we could use some hope these days.

            Today we are remembering the life of St. Francis of Assisi.  Born Giovanni Di Pietro di Bernadone in the year 1181, he was actually born into privilege.  He was handsome, witty, gallant and delighted in fine clothes.  He was in his 30’s before there was a transformation.  On a pilgrimage to Rome he had a vision of Jesus Christ.  Jesus told the future Francis, “Go and repair my church which you can see is falling into ruin.” 

            His father was not pleased at the turn his life had taken.  Francis refused his inheritance and the job of running the family business.  Instead he took Jesus’ message literally, working to restore various churches and chapels, replacing their structure stone by stone.

            Then he began working in leper colonies, nursing the lepers and caring for them.

            It was in the year 1208 that he heard the Gospel of the day read from the Gospel of Matthew.  “Go and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  It was then that he devoted himself entirely to a life of poverty.  He wore a course, woolen tunic (as opposed to his fine clothing that he wore as a young man), and he preached to ordinary people.  His message to them was about doing penance, and sharing love and peace.

            In 1210 the Pope agreed to admit Francis’ group as a new religious order, the Franciscan Order.

            Francis called all creatures his brothers and sisters and declared that God lives in our nearest neighbor, in everyone.  He even preached to the birds. 

            Francis inspired the first Nativity scene in which there were live animals, a real ox and donkey.  There was a straw-filled manger which was used as an altar.  It was beautiful in its simplicity.

            Francis, to this day, is known as a great lover of God’s creation.  There is a story about him that has him asking his companion to wait for him while he went off “to preach to his sisters, the birds.”  There, they surrounded him, and he is often portrayed with a bird sitting on his hand.

            In 1979 Pope John Paul II declared Saint Francis the patron saint of ecology.  He said that Francis invited all creation—animals, plants, natural forces, even Brother Sun and Sister Moon to give honor and praise to God.”  The Pope went on to say that when we are at peace with God, we are better able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is inseparable from peace among all people.  St. Francis died in the year 1226, and his memory and legends still have an influence in our world nearly 800 years later.

            On October 1st another legendary figure in our world passed on.  Dr. Jane Goodall was an absolutely amazing woman.  I have enjoyed reading about her life this week.  As a child she was fascinated by primates and knew for sure that she would have been a better Jane for Tarzan.  She attended secretarial school and worked several jobs until a friend invited her to visit her family’s farm in Kenya.  She was 23 when she got a job as a secretary for famed archaeologist, Dr. Louis Leakey who was working in Africa. 

            One might think this was a fairy tale kind of story because Leakey had wanted to station a researcher on Lake Langanyika to study a troop of wild chimpanzees.  He chose Jane Goodall, and the rest is history.  It is a story about doors opening for Jane to become the amazing researcher and writer that she turned out to be, but Leakey wouldn’t have chosen her if he hadn’t seen what an amazing talent she was. 

            It was only 3 months later that she observed the big, handsome David Greybeard (as she had named this male chimpanzee).  She saw him do what no one had seen a primate do before.  David sat by a large ant hill, and he used a reed to dig into it, and then he brought the reed up to his mouth.  Jane realized that David had used a tool to get his food.  Prior to that, everyone thought only humans used tools.  It was ground-breaking.

            She spent all of the 1960’s bonding with and observing the chimpanzee families in the Gombe Valley.  She raised her son there, putting him in a cage when she took him out into the field with her to protect him, just in case.  She was always aware that she was working with wild animals. 

            In the 1970’s she began spending more time out in the world with the mission of trying to protect chimpanzees and their disappearing habitat.  Her activism and desire to be a changemaker throughout the world continued right up until her death.  It is said that her work with chimpanzees represents one of the Western world’s greatest scientific achievements.  She was named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations in 2002, the highest honor for global citizenship.  Queen Elizabeth named her a Dame.  This past January she received the Medal of Freedom from President Biden.

            The University of Cambridge invited her into their doctoral program even though she had not received an undergraduate degree.  She completed her PhD in 1965.  She was the author of several books, including children’s books.  Her last was The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times published in 2021.

            Some highlights from speeches she has made: “You have a role to play.  Your life matters.  You can make a difference.  We cannot lose hope because we are part of Planet Earth, and we depend on Mother Earth for everything.  We must do everything in our power to make the world a better place.”

            …So, today we honor two incredible individuals who lived on Earth 800 years apart and yet, both recognized the beauty of God’s Creation, both cared for the Beauty of the Earth, both pushed against those who only wanted to selfishly gain power with no thought for God’s creatures.

            Francis lived in a time when the Crusades were going on and people were being slaughtered in God’s name.  Dr. Goodall has lived in a time when we began to care for creation and God’s creatures, but all that is being pulled back and threatened.  The Prophet Jeremiah lived through a time when many Judeans were sent into exile, but, like St. Francis and Dr. Goodall, he came around to bringing a message of hope, directing the people to make a life where they were, to build houses and plant gardens, to marry and bear children.

            Sometimes I get to thinking that my few years here on earth are all that matter, and then I see the broad span that we are offered today.  All the way from 600 BCE to 1200 CE to 2025 CE.  Yet we are tasked with making our lives matter in whatever way we are given, to walk through whatever door opens so that we can make a difference, no matter how small, one person, one community, one chimpanzee, one little bird at a time.

            May you be inspired to do something so that there is a better world for our children and grandchildren, so that Willow and Brodhe and Blake and all our children can see the beauty of God’s creation and want to explore and enjoy and protect what we have been gifted.  Amen.