In Sunday’s lectionary, the prophet Isaiah offers the people reassurance. This is a new time, God will look after the people – they are precious in God’s sight. People will come home from many nations. It’s described as ‘gathering’ and I don’t think the word ‘home’ is mentioned, but it feels like a homecoming is promised, for the people in exile.
The history of most nations is a history of migration. We Brits, for instance, have come from Germany, Scandinavia, France, Africa, the Mediterranean, almost anywhere you care to name. But when does a resting place become ‘home’? It’s hard to nail it down. Today, many people know only too acutely that they are not home. If they go ‘home’, they face starvation or murder. They are uprooted from family, and in a ‘hostile environment’, with few people who are welcoming.
God of mercy and love,
we pray for all people who are far from home,
living in fear or despair,
or just beginning to hope.
God bless them
with what they need,
to be healthy in body, mind and spirit.