Last Saturday we went to the convocation worship service for Mars Hill Graduate School, where Cherie is entering her second year of the Masters of Counseling program. The service took place at the massive St. Mark’s Cathedral, which sits atop Seattle’s Capitol Hill. We sat near the back so that we could sneak out if our baby started crying in this large echo chamber. The wonderful service and the community feast that followed were a perfect way to officially mark the beginning of the work to which God has called Cherie, her fellow students, and their professors this year.
It was a great way to start the day.
Then we made our way towards Green Lake for a joint birthday party for two beautiful little girls that are our Aurora neighbors and friends of Awake.
On the way we drove through the U-district where a man was completely enraged that a car crossed the intersection only to end up idling on the crosswalk due to a traffic back-up.
Then we stopped in Wallingford to pick up some small gifts for the girls, and I witnessed an older couple intensely bickering as they tried to move an overstocked grocery cart in tandem.
We arrived at the park, and while there was a nice little crew of people there to celebrate the girls, two people were noticeably absent. I soon found out that one didn’t attend because he was being passive-aggressive with the girls’ mother, and the other was a no-show because she found out that her archenemy was going to be at the party and didn’t want to be at the same table.
On the way home I got a call from a friend who is suffering from serious depression.
It was all just piling up. It was one of those days where I couldn’t help but notice the brokenness in the universe. It’s all over the world. It’s in my city and in my neighborhood. But I don’t even have to look that far. It’s in my heart (but since this isn’t my diary, I’m not going to go there…).
All of this brokenness.
Is there any hope?
It reminds me of the situation in the book of Jeremiah. Early in the book of Jeremiah before the people of Judah are in sent into exile in a foreign land, there are three announcements that there will be no more joyful sounds or celebrations or wedding songs in the towns of Judah or the streets of Jerusalem (7.34, 16.9, 25.10).
Wedding DJ’s will be out of work.
No more Billie Jean.
No more Celebration.
No more What A Wonderful World.
Just silence.
And an empty dance floor.
It happens. The people of Judah and Jerusalem end up in exile because of their rebellion, because they forget about God. The streets of Jerusalem are desolate and people are yelling at the driver of the car parked in the crosswalk and married couples are arguing again at the grocery store and people aren’t showing up for little kids’ birthdays because they’d rather spend the afternoon with their grudges. And it becomes so easy to just see brokenness and think that things will always. be. this way.
But then Jeremiah, in prison and in exile, writes an oracle of hope for the people of God:
10 “This is what the LORD says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more 11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying, “Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever.” For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the LORD.-Jeremiah 33.10-11
Weddings are back. People are getting married again – an expression of hope for the future, a symbol of blessedness, a demonstration of peace.
The music starts to play again. The obnoxious DJ’s are back at work. And the distant relative with wine-stained teeth is back on the dance floor next to the hyper little kid who is cute and he knows it.
The wedding songs play and are enjoyed. Yet one song stands out above the rest, the song about God’s goodness: “Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever.” God has always been faithful; it is we who have not been faithful.
Jeremiah’s poetic imagery is powerful. He paints a picture of God’s restored kingdom, of salvation, of life to the full. It foreshadows the hope – the world’s only hope – of Jesus Christ. The hope that is available amidst the brokenness of our lives and the world.
On Saturday, at the end of the day, I was desperate for an image of hope. I wanted something just like Jeremiah’s wedding portrait. It was actually there the whole time:
Two adorable little girls with two birthday cakes with extra frosting that was now all over their faces. Two little girls with huge smiles tearing open presents and surrounded by people singing “Happy Birthday”. Two little girls being loved on by their mother.
It reminded me of heaven.
