May 24, 2020 - Nehemiah: Rebuilding Life - The Tough Task of Rebuilding

You can watch the video of this service at the following links - 

https://vimeo.com/422218690?fbclid=IwAR3yx35L4KAPTADcwP4UqtUeOBr8ZpeBMwsKIuA9iBASTM-b02xQC9t4gOU

https://www.facebook.com/david.p.charlton.9/videos/10163631160600298/

In the fall of 1987, I began my first doctoral seminar.  It was a three-week-long class, with a big workload. A few days into the class we were assigned a paper – due the next day – that was 15 or 20 pages long.  Not too long, but for an overnight assignment it made for a busy evening.  I had just purchased my first computer, and in that time of ancient technology auto-save did not exist, and I had not learned the importance of saving my work on a regular basis.  It was close to midnight when I finally completed my paper.  I was ready to print it when suddenly, a car ran into a utility pole just up the street from our house, knocking out our power.  The power out for only a moment, but it was long enough to turn my computer off.  When I turned the computer back on, the paper, of course, was gone.  The paper was almost twenty pages long, and due at 8:00 in the morning.  So there I sat, late into the night rebuilding that paper, word by word by word, and page by page by page.

     

Rebuilding is never easy. Rewriting a paper, however, was not the end of the world.  I lost a few hours of sleep.  But rebuilding life after great challenges is very difficult, and it is something everyone experiences in some way, at some point, in life.  Those who have lost a home to a fire know how difficult that rebuilding process can be.  When a loved one is lost, rebuilding life after loss is very difficult.  And here we are, in our third month of this pandemic, and a lot of lives need rebuilding.  Loved ones have been lost.  Jobs have been lost.  Businesses have closed.  Homes have been lost.  The rebuilding process, for millions of people, is immense.

     

Last week I began a new series of message from the book of Nehemiah.  We’ve been in the Old Testament since we first cancelled services, on March 15^th.  If you ever think, or say – but please don’t – that the Old Testament is old and irrelevant, it is not, as we will see in this morning’s Scripture text.  Nehemiah, you will remember, led the effort to rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem, which was still in ruins decades after its destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.  

     

Nehemiah was among those who were living in exile in Babylon – an exile that lasted almost 70 years – and when they were granted permission to return, they faced a very daunting rebuilding task.  The city of Jerusalem was in ruins.  The temple had been destroyed and the walls of the city had been reduced to rubble.  

     

The title of today’s message is The Tough Task of Rebuilding.  Rebuilding is never an easy task, and it was certainly not an easy task for Nehemiah and the people. It will not be an easy task for millions in our world, as we rebuild after this pandemic.  Follow with me as I read from chapter 2 of Nehemiah, which gives us a glimpse into the rebuilding process – 

Nehemiah 2:11-18 – 

¹¹ I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 

¹² I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

¹³ By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 

¹⁴ Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 

¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 

¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 

¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.  They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

This morning, I will share three words that sum up the way Nehemiah approached the rebuilding effort – leadership, focus, and commitment.

1.  Leadership.

     

When it comes to leadership during the pandemic, we have seen leaders who have emerged and risen to the occasion – and some who have not. 

     

One of the most important qualities of any leader – especially great leaders – is their ability to rise to the occasion and to inspire.  Rising to the occasion and inspiring go hand in hand.  A great leader can inspire people to not only attemptthe impossible; a great leader can inspire people to dothe impossible.  When a group of people look upon a near-impossible or impossible task, and shake their heads in disbelief and say to one another, this is impossible, this is crazy, this can’t be done,it is a real leader who not only steps forward and says, we can do this, but also convinces the people that it can be done.  Sayingsomething can be done is one thing.  Anyone can saysomething can be done, but convincingpeople to do what seems impossible, that takes an entirely different skill set. I think of President Kennedy’s challenge to go to the moon as an example of inspiring people to action.  On May 25, 1961, before a joint session of Congress, President Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.  At that moment, the total time spent in space by an American was 15 minutes.  Fifteen minutes!  Much of the needed technology to reach the moon did not exist.  That was a crazy challenge!  But it was a challenge that was met.

     

To convince people one starts with a pep talk.  Pep talks are a hallmark of a good leader.  From the coach who gives a halftime pep talk in the locker room, inspiring the team to stage a dramatic comeback, to a political leader who speaks to people in a time of great trial, a good leader inspires not only hope, but action, in others.

     

Before the rebuilding began, Nehemiah gave the people a pep talk, which stirred excitement in them, and in turn convinced them to get to work.  What I find interesting about Nehemiah is that he gave one of the shortest pep talks in history.  Nehemiah had gone out at night to survey the damage around the city.  After surveying the damage and understanding the scope of what needed to be done, Nehemiah gave his pep talk, and get this:  it was only one verse in length!  One verse!  Here it is – you see the trouble we are in:  Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.  Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace(2:17).  At this point you might be thinking,you know Dave, you could take a lesson from Nehemiah when it comes to the length of your messages.  Probably so, but Nehemiah had the gift of distilling a powerful message into a very few words, which is a gift I do not possess.

     

One key element of Nehemiah’s speech was his blunt honesty.  He begins by saying, you see the trouble we are in.  That’s not the way most political leaders would begin a speech, is it?  I would imagine that if we brought Nehemiah into our time and he began a speech in such a way, as soon as those words came out of his mouth the political consultants would step in and say, whoa, wait a minute Nehemiah!  You can’t say that!  That’s not what people want to hear!  Tell them something positive!  And then they would rewrite his speech with some meaningless platitudes, perhaps add an orchestral soundtrack in the background, some dramatic lighting, and maybe even some fireworks to top it off.  Today, it is more likely that leaders will say what we wantto hear, rather than say what we needto hear.

     

But don’t we all want, really, want to hear the truth?  Don’t we? We don’t want to be lied to, and we don’t want a leader to varnish the truth.  When time are tough, don’t try and tell us they are not.  Be honest with us, because we can see the truth and we know the truth.  The truth must be acknowledged, even when that truth is already difficult.  Nehemiah told the truth – you see the trouble we are in.  Nehemiah did not construct an alternate reality of false facts and false information and he didn’t offer fake news; he simply laid out the difficult reality they faced – You see the trouble we are in.  It’s impossible not to respect his honesty and forthright manner.  It might not have helped the people to feel better or to sleep better, but they were told the truth, and they respected the truth and Nehemiah for saying it.  Most importantly, the people responded to the truth, and went to work at rebuilding.

2.  Focus.

     

This might sound strange, but when things are bad – especially when they are really bad – it creates the ability to focus in a way that might not otherwise be possible.  When there is much rebuilding to be done, there is no time to be pulled in many different directions.  You have much to do, and because there is much to do, you have to get to work. When Nehemiah looked around at the destruction of Jerusalem, he knew there was one task – rebuild.  But where to start?  The walls needed rebuilding, the gates of the walls needed rebuilding, the temple need rebuilding, homes needed rebuilding, businesses needed rebuilding; there was no end of the work before them.  When rebuilding life, it is easy to be overwhelmed and become frozen by the enormity of the task, and in the case of Nehemiah and there people, there was so much rebuilding to do, the people could easily have become mired in arguing, indecision, and other reactions that would have slowed or stopped the work before it even began.  

     

Being the effective leader he was, Nehemiah said, let’s start with the wall.  Nehemiah had already surveyed the damage, and he knew what needed to be done, so when he turned to the people he could say, come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.  Notice that Nehemiah didn’t take on the entire project of rebuilding all at once.  Instead, Nehemiah said, let us rebuild the wall.  But how were they to rebuild, when they had so few resources?  I don’t know what the exiles were able to bring with them from Babylon, on their return to their homeland, but I assume it was not very much.  I suspect the people were low on resources.  Money was likely scarce, and other rebuilding resources were probably not on hand.  How were they supposed to rebuild the city, its walls, and the temple without money and supplies?  They used what they had on hand.  There were stones and rubble.  Stones and rubble could be repurposed and reused.  They are the building blocks of a strong wall, so they had one resource. Nehemiah asked for permission to cut timber from the king’s forest.  There was another resource.

     

There was also a very practical reason for starting with the wall.  Not everyone was pleased that Nehemiah and the others had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild.  There was very serious opposition among their neighbors, who feared a resurgent and powerful kingdom of Judah and capital city of Jerusalem.  The opposition was so fierce that the people worked with a weapon in one hand and a tool in the other.       

     

But Nehemiah took hold of the situation and focused on what needed to be done, focused on how to do it, and on who would be assigned what tasks.  In chapter three, we see the fruits of Nehemiah’s focus.  Chapter three provides a list of who rebuilt the different sections of the wall and the gates in the wall.  Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate. The sons of Hassenah rebuilt the Fish Gate, and the details of who built what part of that gate is listed.  And on goes the list in chapter three of the rebuilding process.

     

I think that churches can, at times, become less effective because they lose focus.  Even simple decisions can become so burdened by a labyrinth of rules and regulations that nothing ever gets started, let alone completed. Sometimes, a group of people can talk something literally to death.  A church I once served was in need of a new copier for the office.  We went through multiple committee meetings, a half dozen church business meetings, and finally were ready to make a presentation, when someone said, I know someone who might be able to get us a better deal.  And the entire process started over.  It made me crazy!  Things don’t need to be unnecessarily complicated, and when they are, we lose focus.

     

There are so many opportunities presented to churches, and they are very often good, meaningful, and important opportunities.  If churches try to do too much, however, their ministry can be diluted into a lack of effectiveness by trying to do too much.  Focus requires that a church prayerfully consider their calling and their strengths and how the combination of their calling and their strengths can best be expressed.

     

The rebuilding of life will be different for each of us, but the need for focus is required of us all. Find a starting place.  Don’t try and take on everything at once.  Understand that it will take time.  But focus, and work.

3.  Commitment.

     

Listen to verse 18, which tells us of the response to Nehemiah’s pep talk – they replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.  There is a lot of economy in the words in this story.  Nehemiah gives a pep talk of one verse, and in response the people answered with just four words – let us start rebuilding. They didn’t waste words back then, did they!  Short and to the point!  

     

I believe that people respond to a challenge.  In fact, I believe that people often lovea challenge.  I believe that people oftenlongfor a challenge.  I believe everyone wants to feel that their life matters, so they want to do the things that do matter.

     

Nehemiah made his case in such a compelling manner that he drew a great sense of commitment from the people. They were ready to go to work. That’s not to say there weren’t problems along the way, and we will look at some of those problems in the coming weeks, but they made a commitment to the work.

     

I look at these empty chairs almost every day and I think about getting everything going here again, and I think, we’ve got to rebuild our worship services and everything else that goes on here.  But then I also think, that’s not going to be difficult, because we’re all committed to the life and ministry of this church.  We’ll be fine.  But there are a lot of people in this community and beyond who will not be fine. We’ll find some of that need, because some of it will make its way to us.  But not all of it.  As we begin to come out of the dark tunnel of this pandemic, and back into the light, the light of life returning to the world will reveal a lot of need.  As it does, it will require leadership, focus, and commitment to reach out to meet that need.  We will need to decide what is important and what can wait.  We will need to consider our resources and where they are most needed. 

     

And then we will go to work, rebuilding.

     

Do you see the trouble the world is in?

     

Are you ready to go to work? 

     

Let us, then, ready ourselves to start rebuilding!

May 17, 2020 Nehemiah: Rebuilding Life - Returning to Normal?

You can watch the video of the worship service from which this sermon comes at - https://www.facebook.com/david.p.charlton.9/videos/10163592997440298/

It is a very humbling feeling to stand in a place of great destruction and to imagine the overwhelming challenge of rebuilding life.  In February of 2006, I was in Waveland, Mississippi, with a group of people working in the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.  I have mentioned that trip a time or two in past years, and I reference it this morning because I had never before, or since, traveled to an area of such incredible devastation.  After our arrival, one of the volunteers who had been there working for a good while, took us on a walking tour of some of the neighborhoods.  The two or three blocks of the town near the beach were empty of houses, and all that was left were concrete pads where the houses once stood.  The tidal surge created by the hurricane was so large and so strong that it washed everything but the concrete foundations of the houses out to sea.  Going the next few blocks from the beach, we walked among piles and piles of rubble. I have never been in a war zone, but I imagined that was what a war zone must look like.  The destruction was so immense that the neighborhoods appeared to have been leveled by a bomb.  Talking to the residents of Waveland who remained in the community was such a sad experience, because you could feel the immense weight upon them, as they tried to fathom rebuilding their lives after such an incredible loss. 

     

This morning, we begin a new series of messages, based on the book of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was a prophet who lived in the 6^thcentury BC. He was among the people living in exile in the land of Babylon.  In 597 BC the Babylonians captured the kingdom of Judah, which contained the city of Jerusalem, and many of the people were carried away to live in Babylon, where they would live in exile for almost 70 years.  

     

After the Assyrians conquered Babylon, decades later, King Cyrus allowed the people to return to their homeland, and Nehemiah led the effort to rebuild the temple and the city.  As we contemplate the rebuilding of life after the ravages of the pandemic, it seems an appropriate story for us to study.  I’m not saying that I believe the pandemic is over and we are on the verge of completely returning to life as we knew it, but we have arrived at the point of thinking about what life will be like, not only in the coming weeks, but in the months, and even years, ahead.

     

The title of the series is Rebuilding Lifeand today’s message is Returning to Normal?

     

Hear the words of Nehemiah, as I read selected verses from chapters one and two.  Nehemiah 1:3-4, 2:1-5; 17-18 – 

³ They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

¹In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 

² so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, 

³ but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴ The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 

⁵ and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 

¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

Although Nehemiah lived so many centuries ago, in a very different time and a very different world, he still speaks to us, because not everything about life has changed over the centuries.  Rebuilding life is not confined to any one time in history, or to any one people, or to any one place.  Throughout the history of humanity, rebuilding life is a challenge faced by scores of people. Today, however, in the midst of this pandemic, we are on a scale that is not confined to one country, or one culture, or one people, but one that is truly global.  We have become very connected across the globe through business, economics, communication, and in so many other ways, but now we have another connection to add to the list – a connection in pandemic.  The global connectivity that has been, in many ways, a boon to humanity, is now one that has connected us in shared suffering.

     

Let’s start this morning with this question – 

As We Work to Rebuild Life, How Will We Process All We Have Experienced?

     

We’ve been in this pandemic, in this country, for a little over two months, and that is bad enough. Imagine what it would be like to experience a great difficulty, a great calamity, not just over days, or weeks, or months, or even years, but over the course of decades, as was the case for Nehemiah and the people in exile.  Nehemiah and the people had been in exile in Babylon for decades.  Some of the people had never seen their homeland, as they were born in exile.  All they knew about their homeland were the stories they had been told.  Today, we can tell our children and grandchildren not only about the people and the places of our past, we can show them pictures.  Imagine, however, not being able to see a picture of your homeland, of your family homeplace, of the businesses your family were involve in, of your ancestors, or where your family worshipped.  All you could do would be to listen to the descriptions and try to build a mental picture.  

     

After the decades of exile, it was over, and people began to return, which was great.  But their suffering and difficulty, they quickly realized, was far from over.  When the first arrivals in Jerusalem sent word back to Nehemiah about the conditions in their homeland, his heart was heavy with grief.  Listen to that report in 1:3-4 –  

³ They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

     

The story of Nehemiah is, on the surface, about the rebuilding of buildings and walls – physical structures. But it is really about much, much more, and that explains the reaction of Nehemiah when he hears of the condition of the city of Jerusalem.  Upon hearing of the condition of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was so overcome with emotion that he sat down and wept.  Nehemiah just sits down and weeps.  It’s not a little bit of heartbreak he feels; it’s a whole lot of heartbreak.  It’s the kind of heartbreak that hits you so hard that you sink to the ground under the weight of emotion and loss, and there is nothing to do but weep.

     

And that’s okay.  It was a good reason to weep.  Every facet of the lives of Nehemiah and his fellow exiles needed to be rebuilt.  It was not just the walls of the city, the gates of the city, and the temple that needed to be rebuilt; it was also the rebuilding of their homes, their businesses, and their traditions; it was every part of life, and it would be a monumentally difficult undertaking.

     

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 speaks of a time for everything, and in verse 4 says there is a time to weep.  Here’s the thing about a time to weep – we don’t always see such a time coming.  When tragedy and difficulty come, we might get some warning, but often we do not.  And even when we get some inkling of what is coming, we might not comprehend the full weight of what is about to arrive on our doorsteps.  When we first began to hear reports of the virus in other parts of the world, I think most of us probably didn’t pay that much attention to it.  We heard the news reports, but it was easy to think, that’s another part of the world. It’s not going to happen here. We’d heard of outbreaks before, and somehow those outbreaks passed before reaching our shores.  Just weeks ago, we could not imagine where the pandemic would take us, and how it would so dramatically transform life.  But here we are, and the virus is here, and life is so different, and there is much rebuilding of life that must eventually take place.  

     

And what do we do in this difficult moment of life?  We try and get through it the best we can.  We must remember, however, that while we are trying to get through, we don’t always come to the point of processing what we have experienced, but at some point, we will need to do so.  At some point, we will be like Nehemiah, where we will sit down and weep, and we will mourn all that has happened and all that has been lost. 

     

When this pandemic is over, there will be a lot of weeping that needs to take place.  While we are in the midst of it, we are trying to get through, and it won’t be until it is over that we feel the full weight of what we have experienced.  I have been thinking of some kind of service we can have at that point; a service that helps us to deal with all the loss, all the struggle, all the stress of this time. I don’t even know what to call it or what it would look like; I just believe we need to have something that helps us to process everything.  Ecclesiastes 3:4 also reminds us that there is a time to mourn.  When the time comes, we must mourn what has been lost in this time.

     

As we look to that time, we talk about returning to normalor the need to adjust to our new normal, whichleads me to a second question to ask this morning – 

What Is Normal?

     

I have often wished that I lived a “normal” life.  Have any of you ever felt that way?  My life generally does not feel very normal, which leads me to ask, what constitutes normal?

     

As we talk about returning to normal, here is a question I believe to be worth considering – what was normal about life before the pandemic?  Normal can mean a lot of things.  Normal can mean the blessing of going into a restaurant to sit down and eat a nice meal with family and friends.  Normal can mean gathering in a group without the need for social distancing and masks. Normal can mean coming to church and seeing the sanctuary full of people.  Those are experiences that were normalbefore the pandemic, and we all miss those experiences and long for them to return. 

     

But when we long to return to a normallife, it is a longing to return to life as weknew it. It was a life that enjoyed the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted.  It was a life where we could go shopping and find shelves stocked with everything we needed and no shortages of the items we wanted, it was a life where we could go out to dinner and gather with friends without the wearing of masks or the necessity of social distancing.  It was a life of employment that provided an income to take care of our families.

     

That was the normalwe enjoyed.  But let us remember that for so many in our world, normalwas something very different – it was a life full of difficulty, of suffering, and of struggle.  While we enjoyed our normal, millions of people struggled through their normal, a normal consisting of poverty, violence, hunger, disease, and a litany of other difficulties that led to a daily struggle to survive. 

     

I am not saying that we were indifferent to the sufferings of others; we are, after all, a church, and one of our callings is to work to alleviate the suffering of others, and we work hard to do so.  I would say, however, that we can become somewhat immune to the suffering of millions because that suffering is a normalpart of life in this world.  We can, without realizing it, become susceptible to the idea that such suffering is simplythe way the world is.  We see hunger, disease, poverty, and war as a normalpart of the human condition, because hunger, disease, poverty, war, and other sufferings have always been with us.  The world has always been far from perfect, which can lead us to say that’s just the way things are.  There are always people who will suffer.  There are always people who will be hungry.  There is always war and violence.  It’s life. It's “normal.”  It’s normal for suffering to exist in the world.  

     

The unforeseen danger is that we see as we are conditioned to see.  Normalis what we are conditioned to see and to understand.  Jesus recognized this when he said the poor you will always have with you(Matthew 26:11).  That is an oft-misunderstood verse, as it is sometimes seen as a justification for accepting the normalof poverty and all of the problems that come with that poverty, but it was actually a warning given by Jesus, a warning that humanity will believe and accept that it is normalfor some people to be poor and that it is normalthat some people will always be victims of violence and war.  But it is anything but normal.

     

We are called not only to weep and to feel the heartbreak for what we have lost, but to weep and feel the heartbreak for what others have experienced.  Let us sit and weep not only for ourselves, but for those who have for so long suffered and struggled.

     

So, then, what is normal?  Let’s finish with a consideration of the new normalthat Jesus brought to us.

What Is the New Normal?  The New Normal Is the Kingdom of God.

       

Nehemiah was given a great opportunity when it came time to rebuild life.  Nehemiah was in charge of the rebuilding effort in Jerusalem, and in the course of rebuilding, he had the opportunity to create a new normalrather than simply returning to what had existed before.  

     

Jesus brought the idea of a new normal to humanity.  It was a new normalthat meant much more than how the new normal is now defined, which is the need to continue social distancing and other practices that come with living in an age of pandemic.  The new normalof which Jesus spoke reminds us there were some things about life prior to this pandemic that were not normal, and to which we should not return.  It is a normalthat invites us to believe that as we rebuild life, we can build a life and a normalthat is really new and really different from the old normal.

     

When Jesus sat down on the mountain, and his followers gathered around him for the Sermon On the Mount, he gave them a glimpse of the new normalhe offered to humanity.  It began with the Beatitudes, which gave a list of qualities that seemed so foreign to the normalof the day that they seemed backwards and opposite to what people understood and believed about life.  He continued with a list of qualities that seemed as far out of reach as does a utopian world.  The vision of a new normaloffered by Jesus was one where judgment would not be the norm and where it would not be rendered upon others, but people would be accepted for who they are.  It would be a normal where everyone is loved; not only our friends and families, but even enemies would be loved.  It would be a normal where revenge is not sought, a normal where forgiveness would reign while bitterness diminishes, where honesty becomes the rule of the day, where generosity is so engrained that it is offered without pause, where those who are in need – whatever the need – would receive what is necessary, and where worry and anxiety would pass away.

     

That’s a beautiful picture of what could be, isn’t it?  It is what Jesus presents as the new normal, the normalthat comes with the kingdom of God.  Let us think about what it means to return to normal, or what it means to live in a new normal.  Let us believe that normalcan mean the opportunity to correct the problems that plagued millions in the pre-pandemic world.  Let’s build a normalthat provides equality and justice to all people, where every person has enough to eat, where people do not have to live in poverty and the despair and other difficulties that it breeds, and people will not have to fear the violence that comes from war or lawlessness.

     

As we rebuild life, as we rebuild the world, let us pray that it indeed becomes the new normal.

May 10, 2020 - The Journey: Will We Remember?

The video of the service which includes this message can be viewed at - 

https://vimeo.com/416979449?fbclid=IwAR0J3seDBdxGKoocNsJdjRMWZjHxRzFXniH2HwdiR9MgfpuMq05whZI_gYk

Before I begin this morning’s message, I have a couple of items to which I would like to speak.  The first is to say that I am grateful to be back with you this week, and to express my great appreciation to Jordan for filling in for me on short notice.  Because she had such little notice, I encouraged her to use one of her previous sermons, but she did not; choosing instead to write a new one.  I appreciate her taking the time to do so and for leading the worship last week.  And my thanks also, as always, to David and James, for their talents that provide the music and to make it possible for us to be online with our worship services.

     

Last Sunday morning, as I watched the service online, it gave me a greater appreciation for the importance of continuing to meet, even if it is only online.  It also reminded me of what you are missing by not being here at the church.  With the exception of last Sunday, I have been here every week for church these weeks of cancellations.  Last week I was able to get a small sense of what it would be like to miss being here for so many weeks, and I really missed being here.

     

I also want to express my appreciation for the prayers, cards, calls, and all manner of communications on the loss of my stepfather.  It was a sudden and unexpected loss for my family, and everything was complicated by the times in which we are living.

     

The second item I want to speak to you about is to let you know about the recommendations our task force are making about reopening the church.  As you probably know, the governor has stated that churches can begin meeting again on May 20^th.  You might also be aware that a court decision was handed down this weekend ruling as unconstitutional the ban on churches gathering together for worship, meaning churches can reopen today, if they so choose, but are to follow suggested guidelines of health professionals.  

     

Our task force met on Thursday evening and worked out a list of recommendations. We will send these out by email in the morning, so you will have more time to read through them, to think about them, and to give us your feedback.  Our church board meets tomorrow evening and they will receive these recommendations and will provide their input.  Please be aware these are the first group of recommendations we are making; there will be others as we move through the coming weeks and months.

     

Here is the statement and the recommendations put together by our task force – 

Many of you have wondered about the reopening of the church since Governor Beshear announced recently that churches could begin meeting for worship on May 20^th.  The church put together a task force charged with the responsibility of making recommendations related to the reopening of the church.  Before I share our initial recommendations, I want to express my gratitude for the patience and good spirit which you have exhibited during these 9 weeks we have canceled church.  Your patience, understanding, and generous spirit is a testimony to the wonderful congregation you are.  I also ask that you continue in this spirit, as we are doing the best we can do to prepare for what will initially be a partial re-opening, and not every recommendation we make will be ideal, but they will be the best we can do under the circumstances.  If I do not provide an answer to any questions you might have, it is because we do not yet have the information that we need to address those questions.  As we receive more information, we will be better equipped to answer more of your questions.  

In our first meeting, there were two questions we believed we needed to address before moving on to any other questions – when will the church re-openand what needs to be done in order to have us ready for reopening? To answer the first question – when will the church re-open– we are recommending that we partially re-open on Sunday, June 7^th.  We were already operating on the assumption that we would be out of church the entire month of May.  Even though we could open earlier than June 7^th, we decided that waiting until the first Sunday in June gave us adequate time to be fully prepared for the re-opening. There is much to be done before re-opening and we wanted to be fully prepared before doing so.

To answer the second question – what needs to be done in order to re-open– we are making a number of recommendations about what will and will not take place when we re-open.  In making these decisions, we opted to keep things as simple as possible.  Here are the recommendations – 

1. We will begin with only one worship service, which will meet at 10:00 a.m., as we have become accustomed to a worship service at that time in the past 8 weeks.  

2. The chairs will be set up to allow for recommended social distancing, which means we will have a seating capacity of approximately 70 people.  At this time, we do not know how many people will be permitted to attend, but we expect it to be either a percentage of our regular attendance or a specific number, such as no more than 50.  We understand that beginning with 2 services would allow more people to attend, but we did not feel that to be the best decision at this time.  We will, however, add a second service at the earliest possible date.  As we will be limited in our attendance, we will need to know in advance who will be attending.  In doing so, we want to encourage people to allow those who have not been able to watch the online services to have the first opportunity to attend.  We also ask that those who are in at-risk categories to consider waiting a bit longer before attending.  Please understand that we do not like the idea of limiting attendance, but this is a decision that has been placed upon us; it is not one that we have made, so we have to do our best under the circumstances.

3. We ask that everyone attending the worship service wear a mask. If you do not have a mask, one will be provided for you when you enter the building.  We are blessed to have some of our congregation making masks, which allows us to have them available to whoever will need one.  If you use a mask from the church, keep in mind it becomes your mask and cannot be used by anyone else.  When you take a mask from the church, please plan to reuse it and to clean it before returning to church.  

4. We ask that anyone who has shown symptoms of illness, or who is running a temperature, to stay at home.  We ask that each person monitor their own health, check their temperature, and act accordingly before attending worship.

5. When you enter the building, the doors will be opened for you. We want to minimize contact with surfaces, so the doors will be propped open and/or held open by a greeter.

6. There will be no worship programs offered until a later date.  The next step in offering worship bulletins will most likely be to have them already placed in the seats, but that will not happen in the first week after re-opening.

7. We ask everyone attending to respect social distancing guidelines while entering the building, while in the worship service, and as you exit the building.  After so many weeks of being canceled, we understand that people would love to offer a handshake, a hug, or another form of physical greeting.  We ask, however, that you refrain from doing so.  Those greetings will return at some point, but we are not yet at the point where we should be greeting in such a way.

8. Individual communion kits will be available as you enter the building, on the round glass table in the foyer.  They will be placed there by one person, wearing a glove, to minimize contact. If you prefer not to use one of them, that is a decision we respect.

9. Offering will not be taken during the service.  We continue to offer online giving, and you can mail your offering to the church.  Upon re-opening, we will have offering boxes placed in several locations, and we will make you aware of their locations.

10. Before re-opening, the building will be cleaned and sanitized. This includes chairs, carpet, restrooms, and all surfaces in common areas.

11. Restrooms will be open, and sanitizing wipes will be available to wipe down door handles and surfaces.

12. We will be using our metal folding chairs for seating.  This makes it easier to clean and sanitize the chairs.  We felt that using sanitizer on the blue cloth chairs could create a lingering dampness on those chairs that could become problematic.

13. The water fountain in the foyer will not be in use, so if you want to bring a container of water with you, please feel free to do so.

14. There will be no-contact hand sanitizers placed throughout the building when we re-open.

15. We will continue to livestream on Facebook indefinitely. This was something we had begun prior to the cancellations, with the idea that we would make it a permanent addition to the ministry of our church.

16. As this time, no other activities are scheduled to begin at the church.  Sunday School does continue, however, to be offered at 9:00 a.m. via Zoom.  If you would like to participate, contact Dave or the church office and you will be emailed a link that will admit you to the session.

17. A congregational survey will be mailed in the coming days, seeking your input on other matters related to the re-opening of the church.  Your thoughts will be much appreciated.

Again, thank you for your patience and understanding during this unprecedented time.  While the world has changed much in the past two months, resulting in many adjustments, we know that things will eventually return to normal.  In the meantime, we will continue to do the best we can.  If you have any questions, we will do our best to answer them, but keep in mind, we are acting on information that we have at this time, and there is still a good deal of information that we do not have. We continue to hold you in our prayers, and thank you for your prayers.  God bless you.

We will present these to the board on Monday evening and, if approved, will make them available to the congregation.

We will present these to the board on Monday evening and, if approved, will make them available to the congregation.

Do I have any time left for my message?

I returned to my hometown in West Virginia for my stepfather’s funeral, and driving from the funeral home to the cemetery, Tanya and I drove past some old strip mines that snaked through the mountains of my home county.  Though it is impossible to see them now, because of the trees that have grown and now cover them over, I thought about the times my friends and I hiked through those old strip mines and road our bikes and motorcycles through them.  On several occasions, we found piles of tombstones that were stacked in the woods, left there by the coal companies that decided to simply toss them aside rather than reporting their find and gracefully moving them, as was required.  My friends and I instinctively understood the need to honor those stones, and we would stand there in silence looking at them, thinking about the lives and the family histories they represented.  Seeing the memories represented by those stones, so casually tossed aside, was a harsh reality of how time erases many memories.     

     

How do we keep memories alive, especially when it comes to remembering what really needs to be remembered? 

     

As we continue with the theme of The Journeyfor our messages, today our message is titled Will We Remember?  I chose this title, and the Scripture text, because our country is beginning to reopen – somewhat tentatively – and as we do, some see it as the end of our journey through the coronavirus pandemic.  It is not the end, in my opinion.  I do not say that to be discouraging, but to acknowledge what I believe to be a difficult truth – this pandemic is not going to completely end any time soon and we will most likely be living in a partial reopening for some time to come.  There is an old saying – a paraphrase of an old saying – that says the light at the end of the tunnel might be an oncoming train.  I’m not saying that we have a train bearing down on us, but I will say that we have to be careful about claiming victory over the pandemic before we have actually scored a victory, or that light will fade away into darkness.

     

I have so far in this series been in the book of Exodus.  For today’s Scripture text, I am jumping ahead from the book of Exodus to that of Joshua.  Our text comes from chapter 4, when the Hebrew people had completed their generation-long wandering through the wilderness.  It was time to cross the Jordan River and, at long last, enter the Promised Land. After hundreds of years, God’s promise to Abraham had finally been realized by his descendants. 

     

The people needed, however, to remember a few crucial points as they entered into the Promised Land.  First, their journey was far from finished.  Even though they had finally arrived at the Promised Land, there was still much to be done before they fully settled into the land.  Second, they needed to remember the past and all God had done for them.  So Joshua demonstrated a great deal of wisdom as he led the people to remember their long experience. 

     

Hear of Joshua’s actions as we the words of chapter 4, verses 1-9 as I read – 

¹When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 

² “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 

³ and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 

⁵ and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 

⁶ to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 

⁷ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

⁸ So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 

⁹ Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

So I want to ask this morning, as it appears that we are tentatively moving towards re-openings and the possibility of moving, however cautiously and tentatively, back to normal life, what do we need to remember about the times we have experienced?  What are the lessons we must pass on to those who come after us?  Will we forget, or will we remember?  When a vaccine is discovered, when a cure comes to market, when the world reopens, will we move on as though nothing happened?  How can we make sure that we do not forget?   

     

This morning, I will share what I think are just a few of the lessons we must remember.

1.  Tell the Stories of What We Experienced.

       

Recently, as I stopped for a traffic light, the vehicle in front of me had a faded and torn bumper sticker.  It took a few moments, but I was able to make out its message – it had a picture of the Twin Towers, the date of 9/11, and the words, Never Forget.  The faded and torn condition of the bumper sticker seemed an apt metaphor of our collective memories of that day.  We pledged many times that we would never forget, but over time memories grow dim and seem further and further removed.  In saying this, it is not to dishonor the memory or the tragedy of what took place on that day, but to point out the difficulty we have in retaining our memories of important events.  Time passes, and the passage of time eases and erases and dissipates the wounds and the difficulties of what took place, and they gradually fade into the past.  New generations come along who were not present for those difficulties and tragedies, who have no memory or connection to the events, and who sometimes believe that such difficulties and tragedies will not come to them.

     

Not that I want to sound skeptical, or discouraging, but we do tend to be a forgetful people.  We have been reminded before, in times of difficulty, that we should not forget.  But we do forget.  The many admonitions after 9/11, that we should not forget our sense of unity that we experienced in the days after the tragedy, have, in less than nineteen years, faded into a greater degree of division than perhaps any of us can remember in our lifetimes.  How did that happen?  It happens because we move on, and we tend to forget. 

     

I like the way Joshua kept the memories of the people’s journey alive.  Joshua, in his wisdom, knew the importance of a memorial that would cause successive generations to ask of the meaning of the memorial.  There, I think, is the real brilliance of Joshua’s plan.  He did not list names, events, or anything else.  It was just a pile of rocks, which, on the surface, doesn’t seem like much of a memorial.  But it caused generations to stop, to think, and to ask, what do these stone mean? And in their asking they heard the stories, and in hearing the stories, they learned the lessons.  The story of God’s work would be told, from the promise to Abraham through to the crossing of the river Jordan.  Every generation, then, would learn of God’s faithfulness and deliverance.

     

It will be our responsibility to tell the stories of what we experienced in these days, to our children and our grandchildren.  It will be our responsibility to pass those stories to successive generations, so they will remember, and never forget what was learned.

2.  We Must Remember Our Vulnerability.

     

I do not like to feel vulnerable.  I really do not.  I don’t like to get sick, because it makes me feel vulnerable.  I like to believe I am not vulnerable, that I am beyond things such as illness and hardship.  But I’m not naïve, so I know that I am vulnerable.  I am vulnerable to illness, I am vulnerable to accidents, I am vulnerable to age, and to a hundred other threats that can come my way – and yours.

     

The Hebrew people knew of vulnerability.  They were made into slaves in Egypt, where they suffered as slaves for over four centuries.  When freedom came, their celebration was short-lived, as they were faced with the realities of a harsh wilderness, where they were pursued by Pharaoh and his army, and where they feared they would starve to death.  Every day, it seemed, brought a new threat to their existence and a reminder of their vulnerability.

     

I think all of us were caught somewhat unaware of this pandemic.  We heard about it on the news, as it spread through other countries, but I don’t know that we really considered it to be a threat to us. Sure, there have been warnings for years, but pandemics?  That happens in other parts of the world, not here.  That kind of threat comes to other continents and other countries, but not here. And then it arrived, and we seem caught off guard.  Surprised. Unprepared.

     

How can we be so susceptible to vulnerability?  We are modern, advanced, scientific people.  Science will save us, won’t it?  At some point.  Maybe. But that is little comfort for the families of the almost 300,000 people worldwide who have lost their lives.  Almost 300,000, and still counting.

     

When we fail to understand our vulnerability we fail to understand and appreciate the beautiful, precious, amazing gift that is life, and what a tenuous and vulnerable gift it can be.  Life can, literally, change in a heartbeat.  I have seen it change for people in a heartbeat, and we have all had life upended in a way that we did not believe to be possible.  Lives lost, jobs lost, businesses lost, hope and dreams lost, and so much more.

     

No wonder, then, that James would write in his brief little letter, ¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes(James 4:13-14).  James’ purpose is not to be depressing, or discouraging, but realistic, and to remind his readers – both ancient and modern – that God has given us this wonderful, beautiful, precious gift called life.  Cherish it.  Be grateful every moment to have it.  And remember, how quickly it can change. 

3.  Remember God’s Deliverance.

     

As we have followed the journey of the Hebrew people through the wilderness, it is bookended by two great events – the Exodus from Egypt, which instituted the Passover, and the entrance into the Promised Land, the culmination of centuries of promise.  Throughout their history, the people would often look back, to the times God delivered them, and they would remind one another, remember when God led us out of bondage in Egypt?  Remember when God provided us with food and water in the wilderness? Remember when he led us by day and by night?  Remember how he brought us into the land of promise?

     

It’s easy to dismiss the past.  It’s tempting to say, I’m not a person of the past; I’m a person of the present and the future!  After all, we can’t live in the past!  But we are products of the past.  We are people of history.  What happened yesterday informs today.  What happened a century ago informs what will happen a century from now. Joshua understood this, and he had one person from each of the twelve tribes carry a rock across the riverbed to place in a pile as not only a way of remembering, but also as a reminder that we carry the burden of responsibility for remembering.  I don’t know how big those rocks were, but a rock doesn’t have to be very large to be heavy, and the weight of those rocks were a reminder of the weight of responsibility they carried to remember, and to remember the deliverance of God.

     

Back in the 90s I went with a group of young people to church camp.  We traveled to Jefferson City, Tennessee, to Carson-Newman College.  I was glad to be there that week, as Carson-Newman was a rival of the college I attended and I had played soccer against them.  The guys stayed in the New Men’s dorm, which was built in the 50s.  As we were unpacking, in that old dorm ironically named the New Men’s dorm, I thought,you couldn’t update the name?  Towards the end of the week, as I walked into the lobby one afternoon, I noticed there was a plaque on the wall of the lobby.  The plaque had obviously been there a long time, and it was mostly hidden behind a couple of dusty, artificial ficus trees. The plaque had been placed there in honor of a couple, but it did not mention what they had done to receive the honor, so I decided to ask around.  I began by asking the student working at the desk in the lobby of the dorm.  He did not know, didn’t seem to care, and seemed genuinely puzzled as to why I would be interested in an old plaque.  I asked around campus to try and find out, but no one on that campus had any idea who the couple were or why they had been honored.  I imagine there had been a nice ceremony when the plaque was presented, and they probably served punch and cookies, but over time people forgot about the couple, and had forgotten what they had done as well.  We are, unfortunately, people who are prone to forget.

     

Though we are not yet through this pandemic, it is not too early to ask, will we forget was has taken place and the lessons we have learned?  I hope not.  Let us tell the succeeding generations of our experiences, let us remember our vulnerability, and let us, above all, remember God’s ultimate deliverance.