Pt. 5 - Exile is not an endgame

As we walk through the biblical story we’ll discover that exile is a recurring feature. The first exile was Adam and Eve banished from the garden, then there’s Abraham called from his homeland and shifted around by famines and violence. And of course there’s the massive exile of the Israelite nation which is the focus of this talk today. It shouldn’t surprise us that it’s a thread through the biblical story because exile seems to be a thread through most of our lives. I don’t think exile has to be simply migration from a country. It can be growing older and feeling unheard and irrelevant to the culture in which you live. It could be the experience of someone walking out on you. It could be your child estranging you. It could be being fired from your job or simply retrenched. It could be retiring and feeling exiled from the purpose and status of work. It could be declining health that forces you to feel like you’ve been sidelined. It could be feeling rejected by a group of girls at school. They’re all mini or major exiles. How do they fit in the loving work of a good God?