Ever Been in Exile?

by Pastor John Eiselt

Exile is not really a place we think fondly of, and for good reason. 

To be exiled is to be taken or sent away from all that is normal and "home" to you. 

To be exiled is to be expelled, kicked out, cut off, rejected. 

To be exiled is to have the most basic and urgent needs that all people have taken away.

“The grand narrative of Scripture speaks to the most urgent needs all people have, including the needs to be connected and grounded, to be protected and to belong, to know who you are and where you fit in. The Bible contains the stories of the people of God when they lost all of that. People torn away from their land, torn up as a people, and torn down by humiliating loss.” - Mel Lawrenz

When our most basic and urgent needs go unmet, we naturally enter into survival mode. The reality is that our need for connection, protection, and belonging are God-given. They are a part of our innate being, and to exist without them is to become less human.

When our basic needs are unmet, we find other things to meet those needs. But most often those are things that are cheap imitations of the real thing. This becomes particularly concerning and dangerous when we are living in exile, removed from a culture that upholds the same values and purpose for life. 

This weekend we dive into the life and book of Daniel. It is an incredible story of faithfulness, trust, and identity.

Daniel is in exile and so are we. It is an uncomfortable purgatory between what is now and what will be someday.

Circumstances like Daniel is facing threaten to convince us that our “now” is insignificant and therefore doesn’t matter. However, if we live how Daniel lived, we receive the someday promise in our present-day reality.

Your “NOW” matters “NOW”!

Join us this weekend as we dive into what this means for our personal identity and the identity of The Church. We’ll find some incredible implications, and a renewed sense of purpose and mission.

Photo by Gilles Pfeiffer on Unsplash