A few weeks ago, as we were praying at the conclusion of our Discovery Community meeting, God prompted me that I am going to have to merge back into the world around me. It was more than a nudge. It felt like an elbow in the ribs. After a year of social isolation, I have established new patterns of what is comfortable and what is not. I don’t think it’s going to be easy.

The pandemic came on suddenly. One week we were going about life as usual, and then we were not. But the return is not going to be sudden or smooth.

We adapted to the situation of how life had to be lived, and now we have to adapt to returning back out into the world. This new movement can be as troublesome as the beginning of social distancing was last year.

Although life has gone on and we long to return to what was, things have changed, and many things will never be the same. People are nervous about returning to a somewhat normal life.

I am going to have “relearn” how to mingle with people. I haven’t experienced a casual hand share in a year. This reentry will be a time of uneasiness and rebuilding.

Returning from Isolation

I started pondering on people who have been removed from society and then have to merge back and the difficulties they might face.

• A prisoner after months and years apart from what is going on in the world
• A soldier returning after war or deployment
• An expatriate returning to his or her country of origin after years in another culture
• A patient waking up after months and sometimes years of being in a coma
• A caregiver moving back into society after intently focusing on the needs of a loved one

But there is another example that I believe we can learn from even more – Those returning from exile.

A Brief Look at the Biblical Exile

Somewhere around 606 BC, Babylon began removing captive Israelites to Babylon. Some years, later Babylon invaded Judah and Jerusalem falls in 587. Their society and the temple are destroyed, and the people are carried away into captivity.

Babylon ultimately falls to the Medes and the Persians, and the exile ends after 50 years when the Persian king Cyrus issued an edict in 538 allowing a portion of the exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

The people of God had longed for years to return to life like it was before the exile, but when the homecoming occurred, they found how drastically things had changed. Some shouted in praise when the foundation of the temple was re-laid. But others wept when they compared the memory of the former temple with its replacement (Ezra 3:10-13). Their cries of “how long” were replaced with laments of “how small.”

What we have gone through for the last year pales in comparison to the suffering, hardship, and longing of the Israelites, but I do believe that we can draw some similarities between their story and ours.

Here are a few observations about returning from exile.

• We, like they, are going back to a world that is different than it was before.
• Just as God did not need a temple to display His glory, He does not need a full church building to reveal His presence.
• For good or bad, some things will remain the same, while other things will be different.
• We do not return alone, but corporately as the people of God.
• Some will come back before others.
• Some will never come back.

Missional Challenge

Here are some challenges that affect us missionally.

1. Return Incarnationally

God’s ultimate answer to the exile was incarnation. God becomes flesh. Jesus comes and dwells with broken humanity.

This exile should end with incarnation as well.

We are the Body of Christ. We are sent to live in the midst of the brokenness and desperation of our world. Our family, friends, and neighbors need the presence of God’s people among them.

2. Return Missionally

God’s mission is a mission of restoration of what is broken and of those who are away from Him.

Our return should be marked by joy, hope, and a strong sense of being sent. We must allow God to transform us and the places where we live, work, learn, and play.

3. Return Compassionately

You must realize that not only have you changed, but so have your family, friends, and neighbors. As the return to a more normal life looms, many will continue to struggle with anxiety, worry, fear, anger, and disappointment.

Some will rejoice that we are back; some will cry that it’s not the same. If some do not get back when you do, welcome them when they do get home.

4. Return Expectantly

Expectancy is hard when things are difficult and different. Choose expectancy over expectation. The words are similar, but each has its own connotation.

Expectancy points to a sense of hope and wonder.

Expectation anchors us to a belief that something will happen in a certain way.

The Jews of Jesus’s day missed the Messiah because He did not meet their expectations of who and what He was to be. Don’t miss what God is doing by focusing on what you expect to happen or how you expect things to be.

A Blessing for Exiles

As we reopen the state, the nation, and the world, we must not design our return in our own power. We must focus on God and trust his plan for us. We must look to see where our Father is working and join Him. Perhaps the blessing that Henri Nouwen’s mentor, Jean Vanier, gave him at his ordination should be said over us as well.

May all your expectations be frustrated. May all your plans be thwarted. May all of your desires be withered into nothingness. That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God the Father, the Son and the Spirit.