Abiding In Exile
By Eric Rucker December 3, 2020 “Jeremiah, if you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you, how will you run with horses?” (Jeremiah 12:5) As the catastrophe of the Babylonian exile approached, Jeremiah lamented to God – about the people’s self-centeredness, about Israel’s disregard for vulnerable people and the land. Jeremiah was fed up with it all. And then God spoke to Jeremiah this question: “If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you, how will you run with horses?” In non-pandemic America, many of us were taught to live on the surface. Dominant cultures encouraged us to invest in and identify with our ego-selves. By “ego-self” I mean the masks we wear, the temporary facades we have created to please others and succeed in our cultures. The “ego-self” is the armor we wear to hide our darkness, our vulnerability, and even our gifts. We learned to believe that “I am what I have...