For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. – Lamentations 3:21

Today's Scripture Reading (September 21, 2026): Lamentations 3

Harold Godwinson (1022-1066) was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. His reign actually lasted for less than a year. His reign seemed to have begun with his excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, which appears to have been political rather than religious. Harold's departure from the Church paved the way for his military defeat. Harold's excommunication removed him from the list of active monarchs approved by the Catholic Church. It made the Norman ruler William the Conqueror's conquest of England a proper and legal action. The Catholic Church decided that it could support William's conquest of England.

Harold died on October 14, 1066 C.E. at the Battle of Hastings, trying to defend England from the Norman invaders. But the saga of Harold Godwinson (or Harold II) did not end with his death. After Harold Godwinson died, his body was stripped of everything that suggested his rank or identity, including the head that had once borne the crown of England. In one story of Harold's death, his widow is called in to identify the naked body of her husband, and the only way that she could do it was by identifying a private mark on his body about which only she knew. Harold's body was placed into the hands of his enemies. We are told that Harold's mother offered her son's enemies Harold's weight in gold so that she could regain control of the body of her son and give him a proper burial, but the offer was refused. Instead, the body of Harold Godwinson was disposed of, and it seems that it was disposed of in such a way that his supporters would never be able to find the body of their King. Some rumors maintained that his body was buried at sea, where no one could find it. However, as a direct result of this mysterious disposal of the King's body, some held onto the hope that Harold had not died, that he had somehow escaped the Battle of Hastings and was forced to live as a hermit in some remote back corner of England for the rest of his days. In 1954, an Anglo-Saxon coffin was found in a church in Bosham, a village that was 57 miles southwest of London and Harold's birthplace. When the body was exhumed, it was found to be missing its head, one complete leg, and the lower portion of his other leg; wounds that are identical to the wounds of Harold II. For some, no other evidence was needed; this was the body of Harold Godwinson, the excommunicated King.

The tale of the body of Harold Godwinson was really an attempt to erase Harold Godwinson from the pages of history. Harold's enemies believed that Harold was literally beyond redemption. However, even if there were religious reasons for this belief - and I need to stress that we don't know of any such reasons from our position in history- the belief is untrue. The beauty of God's story is that no one is beyond God's redemption, not even King Harold II.

Jeremiah lists all the reasons why Judah has been cast off and discarded. Yet he still holds out hope for Judah because Jeremiah knows that God never casts anyone off forever. Jeremiah's hope for Judah is our hope and an important part of our story. No matter what it is that we have done, no matter how we are seen by religious people or even by the Church, even if we have gone through the fire of removal from the Church like Harold Godwinson, God still stands at the ready to redeem us and bring us back into his community and presence. This promise, buried deep in Jeremiah's weeping, brings hope to all who will believe.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Lamentations 4

Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity. - Lamentations 2:21

Today's Scripture Reading (September 20, 2026): Lamentations 2

Despair can be overwhelming. We are not designed to live in despair, at least not for long. When we experience despair for too long, our behavior begins to change in an extremely negative way, and sometimes we don't even know it. We can no longer function on some of the very basic levels of life. In fact, the task of living is often too much for us to bear. And the strain is not just on us; it is on all those close to us. If the time of despair lasts too long, our relationships with the people around us can be irreparably damaged.

Jeremiah describes a time of despair. The prophet describes a time when despair is so great that people's normal behavior patterns have drastically changed. Rich men and women who would normally have lain down on silk sheets with fat pillows find themselves lying shamelessly on the street. Young men and women who would normally have been starting to plan out what it is that lies in their futures, instead lie dead from sword wounds. Nothing is as it should be. Distress has gripped the entire nation.

For this reason, and for the depth of this despair, the prophet weeps. He has nothing else to do. He blames God, but what deepens his despair is his belief that it didn't have to be this way. Another path could have been chosen. Instead, the people turned away from the hope of God toward a path that could only lead them into hopelessness. Their willing choice of that path only deepened the national gloom.

Every spring, the Christian Church moves through its annual time of despair. The time is called Lent. It is our time to remember the desolation Jesus willingly endured, so we wouldn't have to. Jesus chose his path of despair, in many ways mirroring the despair of the nation that he was born into, a nation that seemed to suffer through cycles of hopelessness. But in Jesus, God sought to end those cycles. God wanted to give us hope once and for all. That is why Pope John Paul II reminded us that we cannot abandon ourselves to despair, because Jesus died to end that cycle. Pope John Paul II stressed that "We are the Easter people, and hallelujah is our song." We are the Easter people, not just in the spring of our calendars, but every month of the year, including the fall as we wait for the snow to fly. We are continually challenged to be the Easter people every day, week, and month of the year. And hallelujah will always be our song.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3

This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed." – Lamentations 1:16

Today's Scripture Reading (September 19, 2026): Lamentations 1

Victoria Soto was a teacher who died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. As we pieced together the events of that day in the aftermath of the tragedy, Victoria quickly emerged as one of that day's heroes. As the shooter entered the school, the 27-year-old first tried to hide the children under her care, but when that didn't work, she died doing her best to protect them. For her actions on that day, she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal. President Obama, speaking at a memorial service a few days after the tragedy, spoke of the emotional loss that the nation had suffered at Sandy Hook. He said that "mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts ... These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."

That last phrase is likely the most important thing President Obama said: we must change. There is probably no better thermometer of the human condition than watching how we treat our children. The events at Sandy Hook and other school shootings are tragic: they should never have happened. Yet another tragedy, which is far more widespread, seems to be going unnoticed. It is a crime against the world's children. They are being neglected, and they are slowly dying in numbers greater than we can imagine. Those lucky enough to survive are damaged for life, all because of the neglect that we have willingly inflicted on them. We are willing partners in the destruction of the children; the judgment stands against us. These treasures, which should be protected, are being discarded. It seems that no one is there to stand up and protect them. Something must change if we, as a race, are going to survive.

Jeremiah doesn't choose this imagery by accident as he looks at the destruction of Jerusalem. Speaking of the death of his nation, he likens it to the death of children. Helpless, the people have died, the city has died, and the nation has died. The very people who should have been there to protect the children, the Victoria Sotos of Jeremiah's society, were absent. They failed at their responsibility. However, they were not unable to save the children; they were unwilling to make the required adjustment.

This is why Jeremiah says he weeps. It should not have ended this way. It did not have to end this way. A change was necessary, but no one was willing to make it. As a result, that lack of change brought an unspeakable tragedy. Jeremiah was sure that God's judgment would continue for a while. It was a judgment that they deserved, because they had failed to protect the children.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Lamentations 2

 

We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens. – Jeremiah 51:9

Today's Scripture Reading (September 18, 2026): Jeremiah 51

After the First World War, nations looked for a way to stop such an occurrence from ever happening again. Their solution was to form an international body that would strive for world peace, a group of nations committed to doing whatever was necessary to make sure that a World War never took hold of the earth ever again. American President Woodrow Wilson worked hard to create this group of countries, and on January 16, 1920, the League of Nations was born: an association of nations committed to peace.

Ironically, despite the work of Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations held its first meeting, and every other meeting throughout its 27-year existence, without the United States. In the end, the rising Superpower objected to Covenant 10 of the charter of the League specifying that the nations of the League would come to the defense of any other member that was attacked by another nation. The concept was that by providing a united front, the nations of the League would make the probability of attack, and a Second World War, less likely. However, without the United States, and with the parade of nations that entered and left the League throughout its existence, the League failed in its biggest objective: preventing World War II. The unanswerable question historians have been left with is this: would adding the United States to the League have been enough to keep nations in the League and stop the disaster Adolf Hitler brought to Europe and the world? As Benito Mussolini once remarked, "the League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out." To heal the world, it needed to lead the world's strongest powers to act together as one in support of peace. From a contemporary perspective, it is interesting that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Article 5 mirrors Covenant 10 of the League of Nations. The United States is a signatory of NATO, and Article 5 has been invoked once since the inception of NATO in 1949, and that was in defense of the United States. Yet, in 2026, President Trump continued to question whether NATO countries would defend the United States if it were attacked. Mr. President, they already have. However, Article 5 does not require Nato signatories to follow you into the stupid wars you start. If the United States is attacked, like you were in 2001, the NATO nations will support you.

Jeremiah remarks that Babylon was beyond healing. The coming war was unavoidable. While Judah's faith in her God would eventually heal Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar would experiment with the faith of Judah, Babylon would never fully accept the God of the Jews. In the end, God was the only hope of either Judah or Babylon. Without God, the looming crisis was inevitable. Babylon's fate was absolute. In the end, the nations would rebel, and Babylon would fall as swiftly as it had risen. As a result, peace would be as impossible for Babylon as it was for the world in 1939.

Reality is that future healing and peace always require our total commitment. Unless we allow God into our lives and our plans, healing and peace will never be available. Nebuchadnezzar's faith could have led Babylon into a very different future. Without that faith, Babylon's fall was unavoidable, and the possibility of her healing was a distant memory.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Lamentations 1

So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation. – Jeremiah 50:39

Today's Scripture Reading (September 17, 2026): Jeremiah 50

The city of Babylon was planted sometime before 2300 B.C.E., because we know the city (or town at that time) existed in some form in 2300 B.C.E. For most of its existence since then, the city was nothing more than a minor administrative center. Babylon was mildly important, but not really important. It was an average city, the capital of a small province. But by the middle of the 7^th century B.C.E., all of that was changing. Babylon, this obscure administrative city, was becoming very important. With the rise of Nebuchadnezzar II (more commonly known as just Nebuchadnezzar), the city was not only becoming significant, but it was also becoming powerful.

By the time Jeremiah wrote his prophecy, Babylon was like our modern-day Washington, D.C.; it was a place where the powerful gathered. For those who lived then, it was impossible to imagine a world without Babylon in control. Nobody in the world was unaware of what was happening in Babylon, and either you served Babylon, or you feared Babylon; or quite possibly you did both.

But Jeremiah prophesied that, while the exiles needed to settle down because they were going to be there for a while, Babylon's time dominating the world stage would be short-lived. In fact, the city would not just cease being the most important city in the world; it would not even return to being the minor administrative city it had been for much of its history. The city was going to disappear off the face of the earth. Jeremiah also makes one more prediction: not only would Babylon disappear, but after it was finally emptied (an event that didn't happen for another 1500 years after Jeremiah), it would never be inhabited again.

History records no major battle that destroyed the city. But over the years, the city simply dwindled; people began to migrate away until Babylon disappeared. By 1000 C.E., Babylon was a site people visited to steal bricks to build other cities in the area. Two hundred years after that, people in the area lost track of where the city once stood. While it is hard for us to understand what exactly happened historically to the city from our vantage point, the original readers of Jeremiah's prophecy couldn't imagine such a thing ever happening to the great city of Babylon. However, history records that Jeremiah was right.

Over 1000 years after the final emptying of Babylon, the site of the city remains empty. And the truth is that there have been plans throughout history to rebuild the city, but every time something has happened to stop the rebuilding process. Most recently, Saddam Hussein made plans to rebuild the city. He portrayed himself as the Son of Nebuchadnezzar and wanted to rebuild the city of his adopted father. For Saddam, the Gulf War stopped the process. The current plan is to build a tourist center on the site of old Babylon. But as of right now, nothing has happened. There are currently no plans to make the city a place where the generations live once more, just as Jeremiah prophesied over 2500 years ago. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 51

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. – Psalm 137:1

Today's Scripture Reading (September 16, 2026): Psalm 137

On March 18, 2012, George Tupou V, the King of Tonga, died. His reign had actually been fairly short, only six years, and yet the news of his death sent the Island nation of Tonga into mourning. In the days following the king's death, trees and buildings were draped with the colors of mourning, black and purple. The king was given a state funeral featuring a procession of 1,000 pallbearers. And the inhabitants of Tonga lined the streets just to have one final chance to say goodbye to their king.

For Tonga, the reality was that while Tupou V's reign was short, it was extremely effective. In a short six-year span, the nation's culture changed. Tupou V began limiting the monarchy's power and pushing Tonga toward a constitutional democracy. The king was a forward thinker who wanted nothing more than to transfer power from being a possession of the monarch and place it into the hands of the people. The nation's identity was changing as more power was given to people outside the Royal Family. For this reason, when the king died, the people responded with an outpouring of mourning and grief that honored their dead king.

We can pretend about a lot of things, but the real condition of our hearts often shows in how we mourn and what drives us into mourning. As the exiles settled in Babylon, they too were experiencing a change in their national identity, but in the opposite direction. Judah, once an independent nation proud of its place in the world, was now defeated; their nation had been destroyed, and the people had been carried into exile. Now a foreign king ruled over the people of Judah, and the result was a deep time of mourning.

The people could not hide this mourning. The psalmist says that they sat on the banks of a river that they did not know and wept over what it was that had been lost, and there was absolutely nothing that could bring back the comfort the people needed to soothe their souls.

The mystery that the psalmist did not seem to understand was that even then, as the exiles sat far from the rivers of their youth, God was on the move, preparing to empower them and to create a national identity that more closely reflected the idea that God had desired for Israel from the very beginning. All God needed was a leader willing to honor him, and as strange an idea as this would have been for the exiles to understand, that leader would not be found among the kings of Judah. That moldable leader would actually become a series of moldable leaders, starting with Nebuchadnezzar, the king who ruled by the rivers of Babylon. God was already at work as he began to restore a nation while it mourned what it had lost. And in the future, the seeds of success for the nation would be planted by the rivers of Babylon.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 50

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. – Psalm 79:1

Today's Scripture Reading (September 15, 2026): Psalm 79

It seems like just yesterday that I watched in horror as the peace of a September day was crushed by hijacked planes crashing into symbolic and beloved landmarks. At the time, I was living a couple of thousand miles away, closer to the American West Coast than the East, where the horror was taking place, and yet, even there, the crashes changed things. One thing I remember was the eerie emptiness of the skies as governments tried furiously to figure out what was happening. All my life, I had watched the sky, infatuated with the flying machines that inhabited the spaces above my head. Still, on that day and for a few days after, the fantastic flying machines were no longer present, dominating the bright blue yonder. On that day, everything changed, and maybe for the first time in generations, North Americans understood a feeling that up until that day only our friends in Europe and Asia truly understood; we understood what it felt like to be vulnerable to terrorism. On that day we lost something that might have been more valuable than the Twin Towers or the possible loss of the Pentagon or even the White House. We lost our innocence, and that was something we just could not rebuild.

Psalm 76 is attributed to Asaph, but it is another of the Asaph Psalms which was probably written by a descendant of the revered Levite. The context of the Psalm appears to follow the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., but it was not just the city walls that were breached that day; it was also the day the temple was lost. Just like the significant losses that Americans suffered on 9/11, the temple was something that the people thought they would never lose.

The ultimate truth Israel needed to learn is that God loved them despite their losses. We seem to want to connect our losses and our hurts as evidence that God has turned his back on us, but that is not the truth. The reality that we need to understand is that God's presence during the good times is a good thing, but God's presence when planes are crashing around us and the enemy is destroying everything we hold dear is essential.

It could be argued that, at least in North America, 9/11 is the saddest day on the modern calendar. For our Jewish friends, they have another sad day. It is called Tisha B'Av, or the ninth of Av. And while on 9/11 we remember the attack on our economic (the Twin Towers), our military (the Pentagon), and an attempted attack on the political (The White House) identities, on Tisha B'Av Jews remember attacks that occurred across centuries, including the destruction of Solomon's Temple (586 B.C.E.), the destruction of Zerubbabel's Temple (70 C.E.), and the Roman Massacre of 100,000 Jews at Betar (132 C.E.) All of these events, and others, occurred on the ninth of Av. But while Tisha B'Av and 9/11 are days of great sadness, they should also be a celebration of the God who stays with us, even in the worst moments of our lives.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 137