But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
(2 Peter 3.13 NRSV)
In 1678 Johannes Hofer, a Swiss medical student, coined a word to describe an illness whose symptoms include insomnia, anorexia, palpitations, stupor, and, above all, a persistent thinking of home. The word he coined was NOSTALGIA. There is a yearning within the human breast to return to that place where we were secure, loved, made to feel important.

The people of Israel longed to return home. They had been in captivity for many generations. Jeremiah speaks to them on behalf of God and promises them that in weeping and repentance they will return to their homeland and to their God, and God will overwhelm them with abundant provision and care. Jeremiah is echoing God's promise from Deuteronomy 30:4 "Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back." God's promise is that we can always come back.

God of love, bring me back and close to you. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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