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Jeremiah 29:4-14New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.

For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

When is a time that you longed for home? When it seemed like home was a million miles away and that it felt like forever before you would get there?  Maybe it was the first time you went to camp.  Or the first time you went to a foreign country.

Maybe it was as simple as the first time you spent the night away from home as a kid.

For some, however, it might be because of the real estate market crash in 2008 as a beloved family home was lost to foreclosure.

Some might only vaguely remember what it is like to have a house for a home and now turn to shelters or parks in a city far away.

Maybe for some home is now an institution rather than a house. Maybe a mental facility. 

Maybe a prison.

Some might have seen a hurricane blow their home away.

Or a tornado.

Or tsumami.

Or maybe the violence that made some lose their home was literal violence, caused by abuse.  Maybe in the middle of the night they just had to leave, and now wonder if they'll ever be able to return.

There are so many reasons people long for home. For the Hebrew people exiled in Babylon that longing got hope when God promised to bring them back again.  Keep living, God said.  Keep marrying and having children and working and playing.  Keep living.

And be ready.

Would that everyone longing for home could have that promise of hope.  

Lord of the hearth and home, comfort and protect those longing for home, and open our hearts and hands that we might find ways to help them.  Amen.