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God never forsakes you. God never abandons you. God never deserts you.
But, even though God never forsakes you, sometimes you feel forsaken, abandoned, and deserted.
Even our Lord, Jesus, experienced the feeling of abandonment on the cross. He cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
St. Paul also experienced the feeling of abandonment.
We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. (1 Corinthians 4:13)
That was what Israelites experienced when they lost their home. They experienced the abandonment when they were exiled.
Korean people experienced this kind of abandonment when they lost their country. Many of your parents experienced that when they lived under Japanese occupation. They felt abandoned.
When you lose everything, you feel forsaken.
That was what Palestinians and also Israelites experienced last 15 months. They lost so much. They lost their loved ones.
Finally there is a cease-fire agreement with a tinge of uncertainty. We need to pray for them.
Also, this is what people in LA experience right now.
They lost everything. They lost their homes. Many people do not have an insurance because the insurance company does not accept it because of frequent fire.
Feeling of abandonment.
(Last Sunday, elder Min told me that her friend lost her house and down the road, her son also lost his house. She gave elder Min money to treat our Wednesday Bible study.)
I am sure people in southern Tibet feel the same way after the earthquake.
Feeling of abandonment is what we experience in life.
Your experiences may not be as dramatic as war, fire, and earthquake, but you experience different kinds of abandonment in your own way.
When life is difficult, we feel lost. We feel that nobody really cares.
The world is getting more and more selfish and self-centred.
“Me first” has become our philosophy.
We used to say “me first” is not a good attitude. Now it is our way of living. Very different from Jesus’ teaching.
We don’t even know how to feel others’ suffering and hardships. As long as nothing happens to me, everything else doesn’t matter.
When the world becomes selfish and self-centred, what will be the result?
We get the feeling of abandonment. People will feel neglected, forsaken, and abandoned.
We become an invisible man and woman, like the book “invisible man” by Ralph Ellison.
Ralph Ellison said in the book,
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
That is a big reason for us to go to Sioux Valley every year.
Indigenous people in this country experienced the greatest abandonment.
When their children were taken away against their wish, they felt so abandoned.
Children also felt abandoned when they had to leave their homes and their parents and live in a foreign place.
We just want to tell them that we care. You are not alone.
That was what Gord Downie, the Tragically Hip’s frontman wanted to do. He wanted people to remember them. He wanted to tell them that they are not alone.
That is why we are starting a new project with Cuba.
They were isolated especially because of the US embargo. They were an island isolated from the rest of the world.
They are not an island just physically; they are an island politically, economically, and psychologically.
We want to go and see what is going on there. Because we care.
Also, this year, we want to reach out to Evangel Hall who is doing the work for the homeless people in the city.
We used to be heavily involved in the Evangel Hall mission but since Covid, we have lost touch with them. We want to renew our commitment to their work.
Homeless people all felt abandoned. We used to go out on Boxing Day with sandwiches and went to homeless people on the street.
Feeling of abandonment is probably the worst human emotion.
When you are abandoned, you lose hope, joy, and motivation to live.
When the Israelites were in exile, they lost the desire to sing.
This is well captured in the psalm.
By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy. (Psalm 137:1-6)
It captures the feeling of Israelites feeling abandoned in a foreign land.
A famous Korean song, Arirang, captures the Han of Korean people.
Han is a special Korean word which captures complex emotions of grief, anger, resentment, and regret.
Han is what you have when you are abandoned.
The word became a very important word for Korean theologians.
나를 버리고 가시는 님은 십리도 못가서 발병난다.
If you leave and forsake me, my own,
Ere three miles you go, lame you’ll have grown.
It captures grief, anger, resentment, and everything when you feel abandoned. This song captures “Han” of Koreans.
To Israelites who experienced abandonment, God gave these words.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married. (Isaiah 62:4)
In the world, you may experience abandonment. You may experience life’s tragedies.
You may experience rejection and alienation by the powerful evil system. You may experience hurt and pain by your loved ones, by your family, by your friends.
Sometimes, you may feel like you are a motherless child.
That was what indigenous children in residential schools felt. That was what many black sisters and brother felt in America. That was what many Tibetans felt under Chinese occupation.
There are many old people who live in isolation. They feel useless and unwanted. They feel abandoned.
But my friends, you are not alone. You will never be alone.
God never forsakes you. God never abandons you. God never deserts you.
God will lift you up. God will crown you with honor.
This is what Isaiah said.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (Isaiah 62:3)
God will wipe your tears. God will take away your shame.
God will restore you. God will bring honor to you.
You are like a precious child to God. Will God ever abandon his precious child? No. He won’t.
You are people of God’s promise. You are in God’s good hand.
When you know this, you will not live any more feeling abandoned by the world.
Even though the world may still treat you in that way, you will be strong.
You know that you are a precious child of God and God honours you. So, you can handle the abandonment of the world.
It’s Ok not to be invited to the Inauguration of Trump like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Shou Chew.
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