Those Returning ...

We’ve recently been studying in church the book of Nehemiah, who was called out by God from His people who were exiled in Babylon.  He sought the permission of the King and, with his blessing, returned to Jerusalem with the aim of rebuilding the city.  Nehemiah and the group who went with him faced all kinds of opposition, every stage of which, we found, had lessons for our lives in the 21st century.  Once their mammoth task had been completed, Ezra the priest read the words of the Law to the people (Nehemiah 8:1-9), who then realised just how far their former behaviour had fallen short of what God required.

The re-establishment of a way of life and forms of worship and devotion last practised nearly a century and a half earlier was a staggering achievement and, while not forgetting their shame and regret at this latest discovery, Nehemiah told them to go and celebrate this special day (8:10).

We are living through a whole season of special days and commemorations just now.  2016 alone is a year of important centenaries and, with 70th or 75th anniversaries of important events in WW2 intermingled with these, we’re on something of an emotional roller-coaster.  To those who were involved, whether directly or indirectly, they bring deeply-felt emotions.

Many other events are cause for annual remembrance.  I’ve heard it said – and have no reason to disbelieve it – that the first year after a bereavement is the worst, as the date of each happy occasion passes in the knowledge that it is now remembered alone.  I attended a funeral service last week, and I expect that that widow will follow the same emotional cycle.

Not all such events are sad ones, of course, although they’re often times of heightened emotion.  Many, though, are times of farewell.  Some communities are subject to constant change, seeing newcomers arriving to take the place of others who have left or passed on.  Examples that come to mind include mission stations, military bases, prisons ... and church families.  At this time of year, it is quite possible to see deacons being priested, ordinands being created deacon, and new vocations preparing to begin training ... and all within the same congregation!

Now that the exam season is over, and the end of the school year is nigh, the memories of many of us turn to our own schooldays, or those of our children.  Something brought to mind the other day a hymn that we sang at the end of each school year.  Written by Henry James Buckoll (1803-1871), the words run as follows:

Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing,
Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon all, their faults confessing;
Time that’s lost may all retrieve;
May Thy children
Ne’er again Thy Spirit grieve.

Let Thy father-hand be shielding
All who here shall meet no more;
May their seed-time past be yielding
Year by year a richer store;
Those returning,
Make more faithful than before.

That final plea, ‘for those returning’ brings us back to those people who heard Ezra reading from the Law.  They were reminded how sinful they and their ancestors had been; in the words of St Paul – echoed in the lines of that hymn – how far they had “grieved the holy Spirit of God.” (Ephesians 4:30.)   Some of the pupils singing that line might have had similar feelings as they would shortly take home reports revealing lower that ideal grades.  They might echo that plea to be made more faithful than before!  The people of Judah certainly did (Nehemiah 10:30ff.).

The latter verse of the hymn has always been the more poignant and personal to me.  It heralded goodbyes for only a few weeks for ‘those returning’; for others, on their last day within these walls, it offered a prayer for their protection and that they would make good use of all they had learned as they moved to career or university.  For some of them it would be the last time they would see each other for perhaps fifty years or more, or until someone should organise a reunion; for some the farewell would be forever.

Is this a time of poignant farewell for you?  What are your prayers just now?