The Roundabout Way (Exodus 13:17-22)

 This year, Route 66 marks 100 years, and so I was pretty excited when I realized that it would make a good sermon illustration for not just one, but several of my sermons. 🙂 nothing like jumping on the bandwagon, right?

When Route 66 was first completed, in 1926, it took 1 ½ to 2 weeks to travel the entire 2,448 miles. The route wasn’t yet fully paved then, and vehicles then weren’t capable of going as fast as vehicles are capable of today, and there were too many sharp twists and turns to go very fast, anyway.

But as the years went by, cars got faster, and improvements were made to the road. Parts of it were realigned, to bypass cities, smooth out the curves, and shorten the distance.

And travelers, I’m sure, were grateful for the improvements, which shortened the duration of their trips considerably.

Then, starting in the 1950s, the interstate highway system began to replace Route 66. The interstates were faster and safer. One could now travel all the way from Chicago to Santa Monica in just a few days. Route 66 became obsolete, and, in 1985, was officially decommissioned in 1985.

So it is somewhat ironic that many people today—and, especially, this year—will go out of their way to follow the historic route, as much as they can, even though it takes longer. They could stick to the interstates, go all the way in just 3 days, give or take; yet they purposely extend that to 2 weeks or more, taking what is now a more roundabout way to cross the country. From a strictly logical standpoint, it doesn’t make any sense.

And yet, for many, it makes perfect sense. Because their goal isn’t just to reach their destination. Their goal is to make the most of their journey.

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It’s funny. This sermon is out of order. 

This is the last sermon based on a scripture we’re using at camp this summer. I was going to preach on this scripture back on April 26. That would have kept all these scriptures in the same order as they appear in the camp curriculum.

But April 26 ended up being music Sunday, so I kept all the other scriptures where they were, but moved this one to the end.

Which means this sermon has sort of taken its own roundabout way; or, we’ve taken a roundabout path to get to this scripture.

Just like the longer, roundabout way people still use when they try to follow the historic path of route 66…

Just like the Israelites, who followed a roundabout way when they left Egypt.

Yet even though this scripture and its focus on the roundabout way got moved to today, the idea of following a roundabout way has been popping up in our life together throughout these past weeks, has it not?

I mean, we continued with New Beginnings, and began meeting in house groups, where we were admonished to resist the urge to jump ahead, but to instead just follow the path, trusting that there is meaning and purpose in the journey itself, and not just at the destination.

And, a little more personally for me, I discovered, during these past few weeks, that I could walk to church from my new home, and that it really didn’t take all that long. 

It does take longer than driving; but that’s kind of the point. Right? 

I found value in the slower way. I discovered that it’s a good time for me to pray, meditate, and listen for God. It’s also a good way to learn new things about our community, since driving takes you too quickly to notice all the things you pass by on your way.

Depending on my schedule and the weather, I now try to walk to church at least once a week.

To some, that may not make sense. 

It didn’t make sense to me, when I was a child and first started hearing and reading stories from the Bible, that it would take the Israelites 40 to travel from Egypt to the promised land. 

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I found the maps in the back of my Bible, and I looked at them and calculated how many miles (approximately) that journey entailed, and I figured that it should have taken a lot less time than it did for them to reach their destination.

And then I remembered that, earlier in the Bible, there is the story of Abraham—I think he was still called Abram at that point—and that God called Abraham to leave his home and to journey to a new land… And the Bible says that Abraham and his household journeyed by stages.

“Journeyed by stages?” Why didn’t they just do it all at once, just complete the whole journey, get it over with?

No. They “journeyed by stages,” a little bit at a time, which means it took a lot longer for them to get to their destination than it needed to.

How many great, epic stories involve a journey? A hero’s journey? A monomyth? 

A character leaves their ordinary world, faces a series of trials, undergoes a transformation, and returns with a gift to share, a gift that benefits their community or the world?

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So many movies tell a version of this story:

Star Wars. Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. The Lion King. Moana. The Wizard of Oz. Dune. And, coming soon: The Odyssey. 

They all involve a journey—often a literal journey, but sometimes a metaphorical one—a journey that necessarily takes time. A journey that involves challenges and obstacles and tests. A journey on which the challenges they face all help them grow stronger, and discover who they are; discover the gifts they possess, and how they are to use those gifts.

And the journey cannot ever be rushed. Everything that happens along the way is a necessary and important part of the journey.

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The Israelites needed their journey. They needed to take the roundabout way. They needed to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

Because they needed to discover who they were. They needed to learn that they were God’s people, that they were meant to be free, and that the gifts they had as a people were to help them be a blessing to the nations.

Along their journey, they faced battles. They faced uncertainty. At times, they became disillusioned, and even longed to go back to Egypt when the going got tough. 

Every hero on a journey has that moment when they long to give up and go home.

Yet every hero persists. Every hero endures the tribulation. Every hero learns to rely on their own strength, and also to rely on the strength of strangers and friends they encounter along the way.

I’ve heard it said that it didn’t take 40 years for God to get the Israelites out of Egypt; it took 40 years for God to get Egypt out of the Israelites. 

Egypt was within them. Egypt was in their hearts and their minds. They couldn’t just shake Egypt out of themselves, like a dog coming out of a pond and shaking the water off. 

It took some time. They had to learn to let go of Egypt and Egypt’s ways.

And letting go takes time.

Today’s scripture says that God led the Israelites the roundabout way because God wanted them to avoid having to face the Philistines. They had just left Egypt. They hadn’t even made it to the Red Sea yet.

In fact, they probably wouldn’t have had to cross the Red Sea at all, had they taken the most direct route to the promised land.

But the Philistines were in the way. So the Israelites took the roundabout way, and the roundabout way led them directly to the Red Sea.

And at first, it must have seemed to them that things had just gone from bad to worse. They were not ready for the Philistines, but how could they cross a sea? They had no boats.

And as they approached the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s army came up behind them; now they were trapped.

Wouldn’t it have been better for them to take the direct route, and take their chances against the Philistines?

The roundabout way often does not make sense to us. Not in the moment, anyway. In the moment, there appears to be no good, logical reason to be in the place where you are at: your destination is in one direction, and here you are, having gone in the opposite direction, and now you’re stuck. Trapped, with no way of escape.

The Israelites saw no possible way out. They complained to Moses, saying: “Was it because there were no GRAVES in Egypt that you brought us out here to die in the wilderness?”

But the first lesson of their journey was about to take place. And that lesson was: When it seems there is no way, God provides a way. 

The Israelites needed to learn to rely not only on their own strength, but on the power of God. 

Following God’s command, Moses led the people right to the water’s edge. Then Moses lifted his staff, and stretched his hand out over the sea; and the sea was parted, with a path going through the middle of the water. And the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians. And the people, it says, believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Lesson learned.

For now.

I say that, because it wasn’t long before they again began to doubt themselves, and doubt God, and doubt that this journey would succeed. They needed to learn to rely on themselves, and rely on God, over and over again.

Which is why their journey took so darn long.

We often have our sights fixed on our destination; and that’s good. We need to know where we’re going, otherwise, how will we ever get there?

But often, we overlook the importance of the journey it takes to get there. We fail to appreciate all there is to learn and experience along the way. 

Maybe, sometimes, that’s why God keeps us where we’re at, instead of letting us move forward. Oh, God will take us forward eventually, or push us forward, or something… but not until we’ve learned what there is to learn in this moment, in this place.

And then, when we do, finally, arrive at our destination, we will arrive having learned all that God wanted us to learn. We will realize that we are more capable than we thought; more powerful; with more wisdom. 

We will recognize the gifts we have that we didn’t even know we had.

And we will know that we are indeed truly blessed, not just because we have reached our destination, but because of the journey it took to get there.

God's Plans for Us (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

 This scripture is one that a lot of people like. The first verse, especially. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 

It is a verse many find comforting. Inspiring. It is often written in calligraphy and framed and hung on walls.

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Originally, this was written from Jeremiah to the people of Israel. People who were not where they wanted to be. People who were forced into exile, far from their homeland. People who felt that they had been abandoned by God. 

People who were so distraught that they couldn’t even bring themselves to sing the songs of Zion, the songs that once brought them comfort.

Have you ever felt yourself in a place where you did not expect to be? A place where you did not want to be?

This can be a literal, physical place, or a more metaphorical or mental place. In whatever way, have you ever found yourself far away from where you wanted to be?

Have you ever felt lost? Alone? Stranded?

I think many of us have felt that way, at least at some point in our lives. Maybe that’s why this verse from Jeremiah is so popular.

Because this verse and this passage assure the people of Israel that, despite everything, God still had plans for their future and for their welfare.

God even says to them: “I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you… and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

In other words, God is going to bring them back home, to the place where they belong, and restore to them all that had been taken from them.

It’s what we want to hear, right?

But here’s the thing: in these verses, we don’t hear exactly when their fortunes will be restored. We don’t hear when they will be brought back home. We don’t hear when their time in exile will come to an end.

I think this is an important thing to know. Should the people start packing their bags? Should they start filling out their change of address forms? Should they start selling off their livestock, and anything else they don’t want to move?

We started our scripture in verse eleven. 

Often, all we ever hear is verse eleven. 

But right before it, in verse ten, God says: “Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I bring you back home.”

Seventy years is a long time. I guess we don’t need to start packing quite yet. Dang.

God’s timeline is often not the timeline we want. Seventy years! Entire generations will pass away before these promises of God will come to pass! 

And God seems pretty set on this. If we back up a little more in this chapter, to verses six and seven, God instructs the people to get married, have children, then have their children get married, so that they may have their own children, all in the land where they now find themselves.

Meanwhile, God says: seek the welfare of the city where you are in exile, and pray on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 

In other words: get comfortable. Make a life for yourself and for your children here, because even though God will bring you back to your homeland, it’s not going to happen anytime soon.

So why was God not in a hurry to bring the people out of exile? Why did God tell them there was a plan, that their fortunes would be restored, and they would be brought home, if that wasn’t going to happen for a very long time?

Why couldn’t it happen now?!?

Do you ever get impatient with God? 

I know I do. It’s frustrating… and disheartening. 

But in this case, there was a reason. 

The people needed that time, to learn something. 

See, back home, they had not followed God’s ways. They had not done what was needed to maintain a society that benefitted everyone. 

They had neglected to show justice to the needy. They had allowed economic injustice to flourish. Their rulers had set up an economy which allowed the rich to get richer, and which took what little the poor had away from them.

People were hungry. Without work. They were losing their homes and their land. 

And let me tell you: nothing upsets God and God’s prophets more than seeing the poor suffer like this because their labor and their lives are being exploited in an effort to satisfy the endless greed of the wealthy.

That is what upsets God the most.

If you want proof of this, consider that God only called prophets to pronounce their words of condemnation during periods of great economic inequality.

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Let’s go through this real quickly…

The years 786-701 BCE were times of great economic inequality. In those years, the rich grew richer, and the poor grew poorer. And those are the years when God called Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, Micah, and Amos to do their prophesying.

The years that followed—700-640 BCE—were years in which the poor were taken care of; years when the nation’s wealth was more evenly distributed. And in those years, God didn’t see the need to call any prophets. There are no prophetic writings from those years.

But then, from 640 to 560 BCE, economic inequality again took over, and the poor suffered. And these were the years when Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk did their prophesying.

Then there was another time of relative equality, when economic justice returned… and again, the prophets were silent.

And then, after that, another time of economic inequality, and this time, it was Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, and Malachi, who God called to speak out against injustice.

You can see the pattern: when the nation treats its poor well, and takes care of them, God is pleased, and doesn’t send any prophets to pronounce doom and judgment.

But when the nation treats its poor with contempt, the prophets arise…

And in this case, the case of Jeremiah, the prophet speaks of the exile as a way that God is forcing the people to think about all these things. 

It’s kind of like a “time-out” given by a parent to their child. A “time-out” to think about one’s actions. A “time-out” that, in this case, lasted seventy years.

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So there was a purpose. The people needed time to learn. They needed time to grow. They needed time to figure out who they were, and who God was calling them to be, as a nation. They needed time to learn how to practice the justice that God demanded.

Maybe that’s why their time of exile lasted so long. And maybe that’s why they were told to build houses, and raise families, and live in those foreign cities long enough that they would learn to care for and pray for the cities they now lived in; to pray for the welfare of people besides themselves. 

In other words, they needed to learn to love their neighbor, even when that neighbor included people not like them.

The exile was necessary. But God didn’t want the people to lose hope. So to give the people hope, God assured them that God still had a plan for their restoration; and that, when their time of exile was over, that God would then bring them back home.

And maybe God also wanted them to stop sitting around, doing nothing, while they waited for God to act. A lot of people, when life throws them a curve, or when things don’t go the way they planned, they throw their hands up and quit trying. They quit trying to live. They quit trying to be happy. They quit caring, about themselves, or those around them.

God’s saying: “You’re not going to do that. You’re going to become a part of the community where you’re at. You’re going to get involved. You’re going to have a life…

…”Because simply going back home isn’t going to make you happy. Going back home isn’t going to solve all your problems. 

A lot of the problems and challenges you face aren’t out there; a lot of the challenges you face are in here. In your heart. 

I brought you here, into exile, in an attempt to fix your heart. Once you do that, then you’ll be ready to go back home.”

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Today, being part of a church that seeks to truly follow Jesus feels like being in exile.

It feels, in many ways, like we’ve been cut off.

We’ve been cut off from the society at large. So many see no value in religion or the church these days. We are among the dwindling few. A remnant.

And we’ve been cut off from many within the church. Many within the church say that religion is about power and influence. They try to control others and exert their dominance over society. And they use Christianity as a tool, a weapon, to beat their opponents into submission.

But that’s not what we see when we read the gospels. That’s not what we see when we look at Jesus.

We see humility. Compassion. And a love that is higher, deeper, and wider than we can imagine. A love that embraces all, affirms all; a love that is limitless.

And sometimes, it seems that the number of Christians who see this same love in Jesus is not many.

But I believe that though it may feel that we are in exile, God has plans for us. And these are plans of restoration. Plans for our welfare. Plans for a hope-filled future.

And signs of this hope-filled future are already present, in so many ways. 

I see hope in New Beginnings. I know that some of us are struggling to be patient with the process, just as the people Jeremiah spoke to were impatient with what they were going through. But God’s promises are sure, and God’s promises will not fail.

I see hope in the conversations I have with others in our community. Relationships with about a dozen other faith communities who see in Jesus what we see, and who are finding new ways to work together, as together we share with our community and our world the radical, limitless, unconditional love of Christ………………………..

And I do sense the Spirit stirring things up here at First Christian Church. God’s gentle, restless Spirit is putting ideas into people, and something big and new and good is in our future, I just know it. 

As we wait for that to happen— I don’t think we’re going to have to wait 70 years, I think that things are going to happen much sooner than that— but as we wait, we should be open to what God is trying to teach us now, right where we’re at. 

There is a reason for us to be in the place where we are, at this present moment. It may very well be that God has brought us to where we are for just such a time as this… just as God brought the people of Israel to Babylon… to learn all that God needed for them to learn, to grow in knowledge and wisdom, and to rediscover what it means to truly follow God.