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Rebuilding. When I say that word what do you feel in your body? For some of us, we may be flooded with feelings of excitement - thinking about building towards what comes next. For others of us, we may feel something within us clench or become overwhelmed with sadness - thinking about having to rebuild what was lost - what is no longer here.
If anyone understood about rebuilding it was Nehemiah. We don’t often hear from this book of the Bible in worship services. In fact, there is only one passage - this one - that is found within in Lectionary - the grouping of four scriptures that some pastors use to guide their preaching.
Because this isn’t a book we often here from - I want to give us a bit of a sweeping overview of what happened. How we got to this point - before talking about what it could mean to us today.
The prophet Nehemiah has just received disturbing news, that all of the hard work the Israelites had made on rebuilding the temple and the city of Jerusalem now stood again in shambles after a siege. The gates have been broken down and destroyed by fire. When Nehemiah heard these words all he could do was weep. He sat down in the ground and cried for days. Cried for hard work lost. Cried remembering the destruction of the temple before. Cried for a people who kept having set backs as they tried to come back together as a community. And admist these tears, Nehemiah prayed.
Friends, that is what we have gathered together to do today - to name what breaks our hearts admits the disaffiliation taking place in our community and beloved Church and to ask how that is leading us to pray. We know that there are things, spoken and unspoken that we have been carrying around. Friends, now is the time to lay it down. Because we are not in control. Because it is not ours to hold.
In a few moments, you are going to be asked to write down on the post-it provided to you these things, and then to hand them over to Christ by placing them o the cross. To give those broken hopes and dreams - things that we may not have even been able to express up to this point.
But weeping is not the end of Nehemiah’s story. In the midst of the rubble, back-breaking work, and slow (and perhaps unnoticed if not uncelebrated progress), the Israelites had to trust that they were working towards a vision they had, a call from God to rebuild. What makes this task even more remarkable is the fact that these men working alongside each other would have never seen the original temple in all of its glory. By this point at least a whole generation has died off in captivity. They would have surly heard stories around the table about the splendor of the temple. Of the God of the chosen people who would one day lead them back to the land where they could all worship together in one place. They would have heard the longing for Jerusalem in their parents and grandparents stories. But these were of a different generation. Not only were the a generation who had never seen the temple with their own eyes, never worshiped in it, or felt an intimate connection with it, they also aren’t the first to work on building the temple. This is the second wave of people rebuilding. They were laying bricks upon the foundation of the work of others - work that they were unable to finish.
I can only imagine how distressing it must have been to those first builders. The ones who now had to watch others with their work, trusting that they will complete it in a way that honors God. Maybe the second wave of builders learned under the tutelage of the first. Would that make it easier to hand over such important work? Perhaps one of the most humbling things that we need to realize in this life is that while we may start working on something, we may not be the ones to bring it to completion. We may not be the ones with our names in the history books. We may not even be the ones to plant the seeds. Sometimes we are just one of many waves of workers on a project whose task is to bridge the gap between those who have come before us and those who will work next.
Of course as with anything, there were some who would not put their hands to the work of the Lord. They thought the task of building was beneath them, unworthy of their time. Around them the community was doing this new thing, but they refused to participate. No matter how passionate we are about working for the Kingdom of God, there are simply some who will not come, stand, and build with us. And there will be others who quickly grow weary of the work without immediate results, so they will not stay with us on the wall building.
After we hand what is on our heart over to Christ, friends then we are filled by doing the hard work of rebuilding. Recreating. Being renewed and transformed by Christ. But we cannot do that if we do not remember who we are.
Which brings us to today’s scripture passage. we do not know exactly how much of the rebuilding they have completed, but they at least have the Water Gate constructed, and that there is still more left to build. The gates were important in ancient communities for they were seen as a place of judgment, where it would be decided who would be allowed to enter into the city walls and who would be turned away. It was here, at this place of judgment that Nehemiah stood and read the law of God, the first five books of the Torah. It took him almost half a day to read it all, but when he was finished the people cried out with joy and repentance and celebrated with a feast.
How do you rebuild when everything seems to be destroyed? What is the next step after someone has interceded for you and you have come to claim your new name as the beloved of God? You worship the God who has renamed you. In fact this passage lays out for us what our worship should look like to. And has some difficult truths for us.
We are told that Ezra read the law before men and women who could hear and understand it. Because this reading took place outside of the temple everyone could participate in its hearing. Worship needs to go out to the people. We often think about serving people outside of the walls of the church building, but what would it look like to worship outside of the church building, too? To let our very presence as a worshipping body outside of the building be an invitation for people to join us in praising God. The second summer I was an intern at my home church, the pastor decided that we were going to try something new. When it was warm outside on Saturday evenings we were invited to bring lawn chairs and gather in front of the church building to worship. We would set up sound equipment and proclaim the word of God through song and preaching in the neighborhood. After one or two times of exiting the building to worship, people from the neighborhood started looking forward to our times of praise and worship. They would sit on their front porch and join us. We were evangelizing to them, simply by taking our worship outside of the church building. Maybe, just maybe, there is something about reclaiming the place of community to our rebuilding.
We are also told that all gathered at the Water gate and that the prophet brought the Word of God before all people. That the ears of all people were attentive to the law. The people were unified while hearing the word of God and worshipping. It as not about who liked what passage of scripture, or how the scripture was interpreted. It wasn’t about what music they wanted to hear or how they prayed. It was about gathering together in the sight of God and being touched by the Word. It was about the community hearing and interpreting and being together. Maybe, just maybe, there is something about the Word of God being central to our rebuilding.
After we have laid down our hearts, friends we are reminded who we are and what we believe so we can rebuild. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about why I’m United Methodist. Maybe you have been thinking about it as well. To be honest with you, its something that I put a lot of thought into before I was ordained. I attended and was actively involved in a whole host of different denominations - but I kept being drawn back here. Because there is something unique. Maybe, just maybe, there is something about remember and reclaiming that is central to our rebuilding.
A uniqueness if our claim on the great commission of Jesus Christ to make disciples of Jesus - for what - for the transformation of the world. We believe that Christ is not done with us, Church, and that there are hearts and lives, families, whole communities and systems waiting to be transformed through the power and name of Jesus Christ.
We believe in two types of holiness - personal and social. That what we believe changes yes what we believe, but also how we act. How we show up. How we hold each other accountable in love.
We believe in three simple rules - do no harm. Do good always. Attend to the ordinances of God - sometimes called staying in love with God.
These are just a few of the reasons I stay - because this story of Methodism - these beliefs are part of my spiritual DNA. And I cannot and will not let go.
How about your friends? After laying down your burdens I invite you to take a block from the alter and write down on it why you stay. What keeps drawing you back. Because friends, that is our foundation - laid by God for us as we rebuild.
Brothers and Sisters, our worship stands as a testament to what we believe in. The value we place on the Word of the Living God and gathering together in community. The value of setting ourselves and our own desires aside for the work of the Kingdom of God. It is in worship that hearts can be rebuilt, if we truly give ourselves over to God. It is here that God can slowly start to rebuild shattered hearts and faith, as we celebrate the grace and work of God together. It is here that we can forever be transformed as we repent, proclaim amen, and feast together. For the glory of God! Amen, amen, amen!
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