Tugging the thread from Lot to Janus to Jeremiah…
Dear Friends in Christ,
A number of people have told me they do not follow the news lately. Many people are pleased that 2025 is over. And at an event in October twenty-one college students told me they are not optimistic about the future. But now it is a new year, even though the Christian one begins at the start of Advent. So what should we do with the news, the year just passed, and our vision? Take a Bible-geek tour, to seek the answer.
In Genesis Abraham and Sarah’s nephew Lot and his family leave their hometown of Sodom. (Remember, Jesus says the issue there is inhospitality, whatever any website says.) Lot wanted to linger and delay: you can look it up. Then of course his wife, probably named Ado, who made a home there, raised children there, and knew its good side, looked back after an angel said “Don’t look back.” Scholars say it might have been thankfulness, curiosity, or disobedience. Genesis says she turned to a pillar of salt.
Or did she predict George Santayana, saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it?” Maybe she needed fuel for the future. Other angels ask us to face our past. The annunciation to Mary includes history, faith and family stories. So should we look back? On to Janus.
Janus is the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. What’s not to love. January is named after him. And his statues all have two faces, not because he was a politician (forgive me…), but because he could look back and ahead at the same time. So in a sense January encourages this. So on to Jeremiah.
His whole book is readable at 81 pages. He worries that people value the wrong things and worship the wrong gods. He believes that faithlessness has a high cost. And he speaks at a terrible time of exile, with refugees from Jerusalem, and bad rulers in Babylon. But then he hears God say this: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares Yahweh, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11) That is, lousy times, bad rulers, mistakes all around, but Jeremiah hears God say, we have a future with hope.
On to the present day. And let’s be honest: last year was terrible for refugees in America from places like Haiti and El Salvador and much of Africa. It was terrible in Ukraine and Palestine — as 2023 had been in Israel. It was a bad year for scientists losing research funds, and for Canadians, who cut their visits to New England by 30 percent. You probably have your own list of bad news. Or you may celebrate the growth of the S&P 500, which was great for those with assets.
Because last year at NHCC we had notable good news: our second annual Soul Food Dinner for Black History Month. We transported roughly 1400 sandwiches to Waltham for community needs, and then three carloads of canned goods to Brighton for Thanksgiving. We drove 100+ carloads of bread to Upham’s Corner. We approached $30,000 of support for Community Health Workers in Haiti. But there’s more…
We held together in our faith, even in our diversity. We worshipped and prayed and welcomed visitors and guests. We included children and celebrated communion. We prepared for the future. Because we believe God calls us there.
It is entirely possible that Ado wanted to look back with thanks in order to go forward, knowing that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. It is delightful to have this Roman figure dealing with transitions and passages. It is moving that even in what for many were the worst of times (lost jobs, exile, captivity, deportation, no way to get to a sanctuary…) the prophet heard God say we have a future with hope.
Now, bringing that to bear does not mean sitting back and waiting for God to act. It takes us. For the sandwiches and the CE program and the help for Haiti. It takes us.
It would be a forsaken faith if it didn’t ask for something from us. And Janus’ month is the right time to examine where we’ve been and listen for God’s call ahead. It comes every month, but this month we have a fresh start, for God’s future with hope.
