Today is a day of celebration. Can we take a day to celebrate what God is doing among us and through us? Would that be OK?
Because for the past several weeks, we’ve been talking about stewardship. We’ve been inviting everyone to make a pledge to support our ministry in the coming year; to do what you can, so that this ministry—which does so much good for so many people—can grow and spread Christ’s message of love to more and more people.
Many of you have already submitted your pledges—online, perhaps—and if not, you can still do so today.
And no matter how big your pledge is—no matter how big or small your pledge is—we celebrate your participation in this ministry, in helping us be the church God is calling us to be.
So we celebrate and give thanks for all the pledges, tithes, and offerings that make this ministry possible.
You all are incredibly generous people. You give not only your money, as each of you are able, but also your time, your energy, your labor.
And you spend time in prayer, lifting up our ministry to God. You lift up the different ways we reach out to our community.
You pray for our neighbors, those we are called to love and to serve. And you lift up the leaders among us.
I know many of you pray for me and my family, something I am deeply grateful for.
Together, we are building a new church.
We are always building a new church.
The church is like a stream. The water is always flowing.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that you can’t step into the same river twice, because the river is always changing; the water flowing in the river today won’t be the same water flowing in the river tomorrow.
In addition, you—the one stepping into the river is also always changing. You are not the same person today that you were yesterday; and you certainly aren’t the same person today that you were a year ago, or ten years ago.
Each of us is always learning, always growing, always becoming something new.
So the church is never the same.
Quite a few generations have come and gone since this congregation was first founded in 1837. Every year, we say goodbye to some folks, and every year, we welcome others for the first time.
And I don’t think we’ve ever had two Sunday morning worship services with the exact same people present.
We are always becoming a new church. We are always building a new church.
Building a new church isn’t always easy… as we heard in today’s scripture.
**** After 70 years in captivity, the Jewish people returned to their homeland, and found the temple in Jerusalem in ruins.
They needed to build a new place of worship.
But the task was daunting. And for 18 years, nothing happened.
They were stuck. They had this dream of a newly-built temple… but they had no plan to make it happen.
Just like those ancient Jews, we, too, have a dream of what this church, this congregation, might yet become. It is a dream that we work to align with God’s dream for this world.
Do we have a plan to make this dream happen? Well, that’s something the board has been talking about, and something you’ll be hearing more about very soon.
For the ancient Jews, there was no plan, and no work was being done on the temple.
Until God sent the prophet Haggai to the leaders of the people, to say to them:
What’s going on? Look at the temple… what do you see? You see nothing! Because no work has been done! It’s been 18 years, and you haven’t even broken ground!
Now, it seemed that some of the oldtimers, who perhaps remembered what the former temple looked like, couldn’t get past their despair. They kept thinking back to the glory days, the good ol’ days, wishing that they could just go back in time.
And maybe some who were younger, who had heard stories of the former temple’s wonder, just didn’t think they had it in them to do the hard work of rebuilding and restoring the temple to its former glory.
So God basically says to the people:
Look;
(angels say “Behold!” Psalmists say “Ho!”)
Look. Stop dwelling on the way things used to be. Stop dwelling on the glory of the past. It’s time to move on. It’s time to look to the future. And it’s time to rebuild this temple!
So eventually, they do break ground. And they start building the new temple.
But their resources are limited. They can only build what they can afford. They are limited by the amount of money they have.
And it quickly becomes apparent that this new temple is not going to be as grand and glorious as the temple of the past.
And some of them are discouraged.
And for many today who grew up in the church; many of us who perhaps remember what church was like 20 or 40 or 60 years ago… we may be feeling that same discouragement. That same disappointment.
The church of today is not the same as the church of the past.
Congregations are shrinking, and religion as a whole is less influential than it was a generation or two ago.
Yet - the prophet says - it is enough! What you have is enough. So take courage… take courage… take. courage…
(Haggai says “take courage” three times; did you notice that?)
Take courage and get to work! Put your blood, your sweat, your tears, and your sacrifices into the work at hand!
After all, God is with you here.
Now.
In the building of this temple.
What could be more important than that?
After all, it’s not the stones, it’s not the bricks, it’s not the decorations, that make the temple. It is the presence of God. It is the presence of the divine.
“I am with you,” says the Lord of hosts. “My spirit abides among you. And my splendor and my glory will dwell in this temple, and it shall be even greater than the temple of the past.”
God is with us.
**** The other day, I asked Debbie in the church office for a listing of all the organizations and ministries we support financially. I knew the list was long, and I knew most of those organizations that we support, but the list was even longer than I expected.
I never claim to know all the various ways that ministry takes place through and because of all of you, but I do try.
And maybe you saw my facebook post this week, listing some of those organizations that we partner with and support:
West Bloomington Revitalization Project
Regional Alternative School -
INtegRIty Counseling
YWCA McLean County
Home Sweet Home Ministries
Habitat for Humanity of McLean County
Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal
Illinois Prairie Community Foundation
The Salvation Army
Bent and Sheridan schools
OSF Peace Meal Kitchen
City of Refuge Ministries
Lifelong Access (they’re the ones working to renovate the building across the street)
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
The Wounded Warrior Project
The Global Foundation for Peroxisomal [pair-ox-i-SOMal] Disorders
The Great Plains Life Foundation
NAACP scholarships
The Baby Fold
In one way or another, we have supported or partnered with each of these organizations in this past year, working together for wholeness in our community and in our world.
In fact, one could say that there is a lot of rubble in our world, a lot of fragmentation in our world, a lot that isn’t right in our world…
Yet, we are part of a much larger movement, involving so many partners, so many connections, all working together for restoration and wholeness. We are taking all the rubble of this world, and building something glorious and full of splendor.
All that is only possible because of you…
And because of God’s presence, working among us.
So that is why I say today is a day of celebration.
Because today is the day that we receive the pledges of support that will enable us to continue doing what we do for another year, and to perhaps even grow our ministry, spreading God’s love and joy and affirmation and hope, sharing these blessings with the world, and being blessed ourselves as we do so.
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