The Bible's Major Themes - Exile Day 3

This fall, Bethany's Confirmation class has been exploring the major themes of the Bible and reflecting on stories that reveal the larger story God is telling through scripture. These devotionals follow that same path, inviting you to pause, reflect, and discover how each theme connects to your own journey of faith.

Babylon | Exile | Friday
The time in exile was incredibly difficult for the Israelites.  They were a displaced people, cut off from their traditions, their religion, their way of life.   But even in exile, they continued to pray to God and pass down the stories of God’s saving activity amongst the Israelite people.  Sharing these stories, and taking part in rituals helped the Israelites remember how God had saved their people in the past and that in turn gave them hope for the future.

The establishment of a practice, I think, must be to remind us of those old events, in some visceral, bodily sense, even as our lives are different form our ancestors’.  Jews are reminded of survival and pleasure in the ritual of Sukkot.  The practice of Communion reminds Christians of a meal and many meals shared by followers of a man who wanted them to see a new kingdom.  The practices are ‘after words,’ after the events are long in the past, and whatever words attached to them may no longer be accurately recalled.  The practice remains to keep us in tune with what the original event pointed toward and so that we can add to its meaning and history. - Nora Gallagher

Journaling is a valuable spiritual practice for many because of the ways that it reminds people of God’s presence throughout their life.
 
Take time today to write down a story from your faith life.  When was a time that you really sensed God’s presence in your life?  Or a time when it really seemed as if God had miraculously intervened?   Write that story down, and when you find yourself feeling cut off from God, re-read that story and remember that God is still at work in your life.