"Until All the Work is Finished" (1 Chronicles 28:20-21)

“Until All the Work is Finished”

1 Chronicles 28:20-21

The temple in Jerusalem is the heart and soul of the Jewish faith, just as King David is the quintessential ruler of the Jewish people.  Stories of the temple and of King David are myths; and let me stop right there and tell you what I mean when I say they are myths. 

The way scholars and theologians use the word “myth” is different than the way the word myth is commonly used today.  “Myth” doesn’t necessarily mean a false or untrue story.  On the contrary; “myth” refers to a story that is very true at a deep level.  A myth is a story the shapes a society’s identity.  It may – or may not – be true in a factual sense, but the deeper truth contained in that story is so profound and so meaningful to a culture’s identity, that it is called a myth.  It is legendary.  It is epic.

In that sense, the stories of the temple and of King David are mythic.

Those of you who have studied the scriptures know that Israel’s first king, Saul, did not build the temple.  Neither did David.  David wanted to build a temple, but God assured David that the time was not yet right.

It was Solomon – David’s son – who would build the temple.

Since he knew that it would not be his responsibility to build the temple, David gave as much advice and wisdom as he could to Solomon regarding the temple’s construction.  And then, according to 1 Chronicles, he concluded his instructions to Solomon by saying these words:  “Be strong and of good courage, and act.  Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord God – my God – is with you.  God will not fail you or forsake you until all the work … is finished.”

Over the centuries, the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt, and destroyed again.  Yet the idea of the temple remained constant.  The hope of the temple stood firm.  The powerful symbol and ideal of the temple shone brightly, even in the times when the temple itself lay in ruins. 

And thus it is even to this day.

The temple is the place where the people encounter God.  Some Jewish teachers likened it to a navel – earth’s belly button – where the umbilical cord that connects humanity to our heavenly mother reaches. 

Isaiah had a vision for the temple.  Isaiah prophesied during a time when the temple was destroyed and not yet rebuilt, and yet Isaiah described the temple as a house of prayer for all people. 

Now there were some who said that the temple was a house of prayer only for those who were holy, and they defined “holy” in limited, exclusive terms.  For example: foreigners were not allowed, people from the lands of the Gentiles.  Eunuchs were not allowed, those who were sexually different. 

But Isaiah specifically says to the foreigner and to the eunuch, “You are welcome, for God’s house is a house of prayer for ALL people.”

We continue the work of building God’s temple, even today.  The temple as Isaiah envisioned it is that holy place where all are welcome; where God’s love reigns; where humanity comes together in brotherhood and sisterhood; showing compassion to one another in God’s name. 

The temple is that holy place where we celebrate and lift up our differences, recognizing those differences as a strength and not a weakness, and therefore we celebrate them and do not let them diminish our love for one another.

No differences of class or race or nationality or sexuality or ethnicity or status can stand in the way of the unconditional love and acceptance that God's people have for one another when they gather at the mighty mythical temple of God.

It has seemed that the day of that mighty, mythical temple becoming a reality has sure seemed to be drawing closer and closer in these past decades, at least in terms of welcoming people of all races.  When a friend of mine, an African-American student named Michael, and I decided to be roommates my sophomore year at Chapman University, no one even blinked an eye.  At that time, Los Angeles had an African-American mayor, and had as long as I could remember.

And then, some years later, we elected an African-American president.  Some said that the movement for civil rights was brought to a completion in that historic election, that the work that began when Abraham Lincoln emancipated the slaves in 1863 was finally finished.

But then, this summer, the voting rights that so many had worked so hard for so many years to achieve were dealt a major blow by the Supreme Court; and, in Florida, George Zimmerman, shot and killed an unarmed African-American teenager named Trayvon Martin, and then was declared innocent by a Florida jury.

I know it’s easy for someone like myself, who has benefitted from white privilege his whole life, to think that things had been pretty much all worked out.  But the events of this summer have brought the realization that the work that we thought was almost finished, is anything but.

I want to share with you how this played out at the General Assembly.  I mentioned it before, but it seems worthy of some attention in greater detail.

As I mentioned to you, the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando (Yes, Orlando and Disney World are in Orange County, Florida) is a massively huge convention center, which means that several large conventions can take place there simultaneously.

So, there we were, the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) taking place at one end of the convention center, while the NAACP convention was taking place down the hall, at the other end of the convention center.

Perhaps it was not a coincidence that we were sharing the building at this particular time in history, especially since the George Zimmerman verdict was announced by a Florida jury on the first day of our gathering in Orlando.

A few days into the Assembly, the NAACP agreed to a suspension of the rules at their convention to allow our general minister and president, Sharon Watkins, to bring greetings on behalf of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

And then, that evening, the General Assembly welcomed several representatives from the NAACP to say a word to us.

One of those who brought greetings to us from the NAACP was Rev. William Barber.  The words he spoke were so incredibly powerful that I want to share them with you now.  Standing before the General Assembly, he said:

People in the NAACP were very hurt because we’ve seen an avalanche of attacks to kill voting rights … and even to kill some of our sons.  And there were people in that building – my son was one of them – that needed to see somebody who did not necessarily look like him that was not caught up in the insanity of racism and injustice.  When [your] General Minister walked in that room and said that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) stands with the call for a full investigation of civil rights of Trayvon Martin’s murder and stands with us in the call to protect the voting rights that whites and blacks and latinos died for, and stands in the call in unity in justice, I’ve had people today … say it was like a wind that blew through that room. 

She stood as a modern day prophetess to say that there are some of us who have decided we know what moral and righteous issues are.  Addressing poverty is a moral and righteous issue; making sure people have health care is a moral and righteous issue; educating children is a moral and righteous issue; … protecting women is a moral and righteous issue ;… loving people regardless of their sexuality or color or where they come from is a moral, righteous issue… what we do for the least of these is a moral and righteous issue … and when [Sharon Watkins] said she stands with those, a fresh wind blew through the room because we know that there are some who have not lost their mind, but we have our minds tied up in Christ, and we understand that we must stand together and proclaim the cause of justice, now, henceforth, and forevermore. And if we do that, when it’s all over God will say to us, well done, good and faithful servant, you’ve been faithful over a few things, now I’ll make you ruler over many.  Thank you for being a modern day prophetess to us today and healing our souls.

Rev. Barber’s comments brought wild applause and cheers from the assembly.

That same week in Florida – It may have been the same day – General Minister Sharon Watkins was interviewed on MSNBC.  She said: “We have a long history of race problems and race issues.  We have come to understand that racism is wrong.  In my language as a minister, racism is sin.  Nobody wants to be a racist or called a racist, but the whole long history of systemic patterns that have caused us to be separated from each other caused us to judge each other by the color of our skin, means that when you have those rash judgments together with power - whether that power is individual power holding a gun or the power of the people who make laws or enforce laws - when you have race prejudice plus power you have racism.  Part of the task is that we begin to understand that and that we begin to be sure that our laws continue to help us dismantle the practices of racial stereotypes and prejudicing plus power, that end up in racial profiling of our neighbors and friends.  So part of the task is for us to learn better how to dismantle the system of racism that still exists in our country so that we can be better.”

I wanted to share these things with you today because the work of building God’s temple is not yet finished.  The work of building a place, a kingdom, where all are welcome, is not yet finished.  The work of overcoming racism is not yet finished. 

And I wanted you to know that your church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is engaged in that work.  We are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world, and as part of the one body of Christ, we welcome ALL to the Lord’s table, as God has welcomed us. 

We are a pro-reconciling, anti-racism church.

In the fight against racism, we will not be dismayed, and we will not fear, because the Lord God – our God – is with us.  And we will not quit until all the work is finished, until every person on earth knows that they are loved by God, that they are created in God’s image, that they are welcome in God’s house, and they deserve every right and privilege that is given to them by their Creator.