By Jeremiah, Eugene and Me.

‘This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations: concerning Egypt…the Philistines…Moab… Edom…Damascus…Kedar… Hazor…Elam…Babylon…’ 46:1-2,47.1;48.1,7,23,28,34;50.1

Eugene Peterson says Jeremiah was designated as a prophet to the nations.’ Jer.1.5 ‘The word nations (goyim) specifically refers to the nations across the border, the others, the foreigners.’345 ‘The title “prophet to the nations” is a deliberate rejection of the life of faith identified with a single nation or culture.’ 345 ‘Biblical faith always has and always will have (a) global dimension. The promise to Abraham was that in him “all the nations shall bless themselves” Gn.12.3 The final vision of the Apocalypse shows the nations walking in the light of god’s glory. Rev.21.24’ 346

‘But Jeremiah never left Jerusalem and it immediate environs. At the end of his life he was taken against his will to Egypt, but that hardly justifies the title. How did Jeremiah carry out his appointment without ever leaving Jerusalem? He did it by composing oracles for the nations – Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam,  Babylon’. These oracles were carefully prepar-ed and beautifully written.  John Bright says they were “some of the finest poetry in the entire prophetic canon.” 348 Except for the m/s taken Babylon by Seriah, we don’t know how these messages were delivered. 347

What we do know is – that these were messages of judgment (46.19; 48.16-17;49.3; 49.35-6) yet messages of salvation on the other side of judgment. (46.26; 48.47; 49.6; 49.39) The same as he preached to his own people.350

Unlike Jeremiah, I have traveled a lot. But before I traveled anywhere at all, the world came to us in Hemel Hempsted in the form of two Nigerian boys whom my mother fostered in order to give us an international outlook right from the start.

My father had been in the air force during the war in Burma, and had been so deeply impacted by the faith of the Karen people that he’d met that he said they were one of the major reasons that he later became a Christian. So right from the start there was an outlook in our house that greatly revered the faith of ‘others’.

As my parents were interested in overseas mission, there was an endless line of missionaries who came to our house – showing us quaint colourful slide shows and telling us exotic exciting stories about the life people live in other countries.

For my 17^th birthday I surprised all my friends by inviting a visiting missionary from WEC to show a slide show at my birthday party about his work in Borneo.

My first teacher at state school, Rita Barwick, went as a missionary to India with Interserve, or BMMF as it was then. Which – coincidentally(?) – I did later myself.

All through my youth I read biographies and autobiographies of missionaries like Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson and William Carey. Even today, many of my favourite authors are people who were involved in mission in the early twentieth century – CF Andrews, Stanley Jones, Toyohiko Kagawa and Mahatma Gandhi.

After Ange and I were married we went to Europe, and then drove overland to Afghanistan. After working in Afghanistan for a while we moved to India where we lived and worked for twelve years. Since then we’ve visited, lived and worked in almost 30 countries – England, Scotland, Wales, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Yugosalvia, Greece, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US.

The human family is a global family. We will either live together in peace or die together. There will be no peace for any of us unless there is peace for all of us. The challenge for Christians is to be ‘peacemakers’ – rather than ‘peacekeepers’

Dave Andrews

Numbers refer to pages in The Quest by Eugene Peterson Zondervan Grand Rapids 2000