For anyone far from home — Scripture spends a lot of time there.
This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the others Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.) The letter was entrusted to Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It stated: This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles who were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too…
Letter to the Exiles — "Seek the Welfare of the City"
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
"Love the Stranger, for You Were Strangers"
The exiles sit down and weep. How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? A psalm of grief that ends with rage.
A valley of bones. Can they live? God breathes, and the impossible happens. The deadest things God's prophet has ever seen come back to life.
A small, quiet story set in chaotic times. Two widows on a road, one refusing to let go. God works here through ordinary faithfulness.
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