building – Salvaged Faith

Nehemiah: Side by Side

Posted on January 22, 2023Leave a comment

Text: Nehemiah 2:11-18, 3:1-4 (5-32)

Last week, we laid out some of the context for the Book of Nehemiah…

A people who found themselves in the in a transitional time… a time of rebuilding and resettling and restoring after the Babylonian Exile.

Nehemiah is granted authority from the Persian King Artaxerxes to return to Judah and rebuild the walls.

And the King gives him some authority… he basically appoints him as the governor of the region and sends along supplies as well.

So what happens when Nehemiah arrives?

Does he immediately gather all the people and tell them what to do?

No.

He checks everything out for himself.

His brother had told him about the condition of the walls and the gates, but he takes the time to do his own inventory.

He prayerfully explores the city walls and the gates.

He climbs over the rubble.

He makes his way through the ashes.

He spends days listening, looking, pondering.

This week, our Nehemiah Community groups were tasked with just that – to spend some time looking, listening, and paying attention to what is happening in our community.

Before we dive in and even think about rebuilding, what do we see?

Each fall, our Administrative Council is asked that question.

While it can sometimes feel like an excess of paperwork… apologies to our District Superintendent, Ron!… the truth is that our annual charge conference forms force us to notice our context.

And some of the things that we saw last fall as we looked out around us was that we are largely a middle-class neighborhood, but we are growing in our diversity.

At the same time, there is a limited availability for services like transportation and health care.

These great Beaverdale brick homes are great for newer families and older established neighbors, but there has been a lot of turnover in the last year or two.

But we also find ourselves in a place that is very community oriented… our Merle Hay and Beaverdale neighborhoods put on a lot of community events and community social media groups demonstrate how people look out for and show up for one another.

Some of the needs that we see include continued food insecurity… Our Little Free Pantry gets emptied out nearly every day.

There are rising costs all around us for food, fuel, utilities, child care, and more.

Our community continues to lack affordable housing and we’ve had homeless neighbors camp out on our property.

We lack access to the mental health services so desperately needed.

Folks around us in the community need spiritual support and are looking for identity and belonging.

Nehemiah took in all that he saw.

And to be honest, he probably found a whole lot more wrong with the city than just the wall.

But he had a call from God to start somewhere.

After he looked and listened he pulled together the people to talk about what God had put on his heart.

But he also drew their attention back to what was all around them.

“Face it: we’re in a bad way here. Jerusalem is a wreck; its gates burned up. Come – let’s build the wall of Jerusalem and not live with this disgrace any longer.” (2:17, MSG)

He shared with them what he saw, but also connected with their own investment in the situation.

To be honest, these folks knew the walls were in ruins.

They had lived this way for years… decades, even!

And maybe they hadn’t done anything because they thought someone else would.

Or maybe they hadn’t done anything because it was too overwhelming.

Or maybe they had just gotten used to how things were.

But Nehemiah invited them to see anew what was all around them… and then invited them to do something concrete to make a difference.

And the people responded with enthusiasm! As the Message translation puts it, the people rolled up their sleeves, ready for the good work.

He didn’t recruit them.

He didn’t assign them.

He didn’t force them.

He simply helped them see what they knew… and THEY realized they could do something about it.

Next Sunday, leaders from our church will share with you more about our goals for this year.

We all see the needs around us and we believe God has called us to engage in and partner with our community so that all who hunger might be fed by God’s grace.

Some people are hungry for connection… for welcome… for support.

Some people are hungry to know God more deeply.

Some folks are just plain hungry.

And we think there are some concrete things that we can do… that God is asking us to do… to make a difference.

From groups to support people through illness or grief…

To outreach and mission activities where we connect with our neighbors…

To the ways we can be intentional about rebuilding relationships and truly showing welcome to all people…

What we hope is that when you hear about some of our plans and goals for this next year that you, too, will want to roll up your sleeves, ready for the good work ahead of us.

For you see, the leaders of this congregation can’t do it all by themselves, no more than Nehemiah could rebuild the whole wall himself.

The task is too big and the work is too important.

And the truth is, the church, the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, that we are rebuilding is not about one person or about a small group of leaders.

It is going to take all of us, taking responsibility, hearing the call, and doing our part.

Timeline

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Now, for the sake of kindness, I didn’t have Virginia read ALL of chapter 3 in the Book of Nehemiah.

But what we find in that chapter is that one by one, people figured out what their part of the rebuilding was.

They didn’t get assigned.

They just rolled up their sleeves and tackled their part of the project.

This graphic, created by Mark Barry, walks through all of chapter three of the Book of Nehemiah starting with the Sheep Gate which is in the middle on the right hand side.

Eliashib and the other priests get to work on reframing and setting the doors and focus on building the wall all the way to the Tower of Hananel.

But then verse by verse, Nehemiah lays out who decides to take responsibility for a part of this project.

The children of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate…

Next to them Meremoth made repairs…

Joiada and Meshullam repaired the Mishneh gate…

Uzziel, who was a goldsmith, made repairs on another section…

A perfumer by the name of Hananiah focused on the next section… (whew, imagine how many blisters he must have had after the first day of work!)

Folks like Benjamin, Hasshub, Azariah, and Zadok focused on the repairs to the wall outside of their own houses.

On and on it goes throughout the entire chapter.

Leaders, workers, business owners. White collar and blue collar.

Young and old.

Skilled and unskilled.

Side by side and shoulder to shoulder they worked.

They brought together their families and relatives from surrounding areas.

People from the countryside flocked in to help.

Everybody found something they could do.

The question before us in these coming weeks is to listen for our part.

As you engage with our town hall next week and hear about our plans for this year… what are you being called to roll up your sleeves and get involved with?

What is your part of the rebuilding?

Maybe it is something that is already close to you… a part of our shared ministry that you want to refocus on.

Or maybe your call is to bring together your family and relatives to join in the work.

Maybe God is nudging you to put your skills and training to work in a new way for God.

Or maybe, your part is to do something you’ve never tried before… like the perfumer who starts laying bricks to help out.

As Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

“Christ is just like the human body – a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body, even though there are many. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. Certainly the body isn’t one part but many… You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.” (1 Cor. 12:12-14, 27 – CEB)

What are we, as a church community, if not the Body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit that flows through us connects us to one another.

And every single one of you are important.

Every single one of you has something to offer.

Every single person who is connected to this community has a role to play in this rebuilding.

The needs around us are great.

There is much work to be done.

Friends… Come – let us rebuild.

Nehemiah: Help Us Rebuild

Posted on January 15, 2023Leave a comment

Text: Nehemiah 1:1-6b

The Book of Nehemiah is set during the reign of the Persian Empire and after the Babylonian exile. The people of Judah were in exile for 70 years as of their officials and leaders were been taken from the land. There had been a time when Israel was united and powerful and growing. But there had also been a time of conflict as their kingdom divided in two. The northern kingdom, Israel, fell in 740 to the Assyrians… the tribes scattered to the winds.

The oldest among the exiles remember what it was like before the Babylonians took over Judah. They remember what it was like before Jerusalem fell. They remember but they often wonder… Will things ever go back to the way they were? Will we ever go home? Will we ever return to our former glory? Is this our new normal?

That is a question that I’ve heard sometimes in the walls of this church. The pandemic has been a difficult time… of change, of loss, of frustration and conflict. In some ways, it has felt like an exile and there were moments we wondered if it would ever end. We find ourselves in a place kind of like the people of Judah did… maybe at the end of something, but unsure of what is coming next. And when we think about getting back to what was… well, some parts of this world seem to have shifted back to how we remember… stadiums for sporting events are full, for example.

But other things have changed and might never be the same. We might never truly “go back.” We shop more online, our workplaces have changed, we spend a more time in our own households instead of out socializing. Some of those changes we celebrate as we think about how it has created accessibility and better balance in our lives. But we should also think about how these shifts have impacted us in negative ways. What are the ways that our world has broken down? What are the things that need to be repaired and restored?

When the Persian Empire, led by Cyrus, defeats Babylon, there is a shift in the policy of the oppressors. Those leaders who had been taken by force from Judah are allowed to return home. The Persians are still in charge, but there is a greater degree of freedom and governance. There is a group of folks led by Zerubbabel who head back to rebuild the temple. Then another wave of folks return with Ezra and introduce some religious reforms.

The book of Nehemiah starts around 445 BC… nearly 100 years after those groups first start to go back. So realistically, this is about 150 years after Jerusalem fell. Nehemiah is serving as the cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes… which means, he has the King’s ear. And he gets word from his brother, who has just returned from Judah about how things are going there.

The news isn’t great. Those who survived exile and those who returned were struggling. Jerusalem was still in shambles. For nearly 100 years, people have been able to start rebuilding, but progress just wasn’t being made. The community was falling apart and when Nehemiah heard this, he wept.

Which led me to think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Developed in the 1940s by Abraham Maslow, this pyramid describes different needs that drive our behavior in the world. At the very bottom level, we all have bodily, or physiological needs for things like shelter, food, and clothing. Basic needs, we call them. The next level up are our needs related to safety. We all need stability, structure, freedom from fear… which can come from laws or work or property.

And the truth is, unless these fundamental needs are cared for in a person’s life – they simply cannot think about worrying about any of the needs farther up the list. In the same way, when you no longer can care for needs higher up the pyramid, it begins to impact the needs below it. A person who is starving is not focused on their reputation. A person who has no employment or safety begins to struggle to provide for food or shelter. Someone living in fear cannot work towards self-fulfillment. Someone who lacks a place to sleep is not spending their day working to build friendships. For 150 years, the people of Judah were simply trying to survive.

Over these last couple of years, so much of our lives have been refocused on some of the fundamental needs in our lives. We cut back only to what was essential. We focused on our health and embraced masking to keep ourselves and others safe. We adapted practices to make sure we could purchase basic needs online. Schools and businesses put up plexiglass and changed their air filtration systems. Everything in our lives has been focused on those bottom two levels of the pyramid.

Friends, we, too, have been in survival mode. And we needed to be in survival mode. We did what we could to keep our heads above the water and that was all we had the energy and capacity to do. And that is okay. The ways we adapted to better care for ourselves was a good and holy thing.

So, what does all of this have to do with community? Well, you can move both ways up and down this pyramid. We are discovering that a lack of social connections can also have a great impact on our health. You see, we also have a need to belong. Dr. Richard Slatcher at the University of Georgia writes, “we humans are engineered by evolution to crave contact with other humans.” Studies have shown significant connections between loneliness and mortality and morbidity. And yet, these needs related to love and belonging are higher up the pyramid. Connection. Friendship. Respect. Growing in Faith. We aren’t able to really focus on them unless we can first care for our physiological and safety needs.

Nehemiah turns to prayer and fasting and hears a call to respond. He confesses all of the ways that he and his people have turned their backs on God and asks God to listen to his prayers. He believes in the promises God made… that God will gather up the scattered people and put them back together.

And the thing he believes will be the start of this action is to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That is the nudge in his heart. That is his calling. And I think part of why this is so important is that because it is only when the people can live in safety… only when they are protected… that they can start to think about other needs – like their need for connection and community.

Yes, he embarks on a building project… but the goal is ultimately to rebuild the people of Israel. It is about the restoration of God’s people. It is about a return to the faith. It is about remembering who they were and getting back to what it means to care for one another.

Friends, we don’t have a physical building project before us today… but I do think that we have some rebuilding to do as a community. The world we find ourselves in is increasingly disconnected from one another. Students are less engaged in our schools. Our social circles have become smaller. “The Great Resignation” isn’t just about the workplace… we are seeing less people showing up to volunteer and give of their time to one another and their communities. We are more isolated than ever.

And as I have been praying about where to start and what to do, one of the things I keep hearing is that we need to start right where we are. We need to strengthen our relationships with each other. We need to work to better care for one another. We need to take the time to pray together, to talk with one another, to listen and to share… And so, we challenge you to step up, join us as we study Nehemiah, and help us rebuild our community.

But friends, there is one more essential component. When I first turned to the Book of Nehemiah, I was sure that I had found a perfect resource for this task. After all, the whole focus is about how Nehemiah brings all these people together to accomplish a great project, refocuses their faith, and everyone rejoices! But as I kept reading more of the details of this story, the more complicated it got.

The Book of Nehemiah starts with a man in tears… but it also ends with Nehemiah in tears. In the end, they build the wall, but he isn’t really successful at transforming the people. And that’s because Nehemiah is missing something that we aren’t… The love and grace of Jesus Christ that transforms our heart and the power of the Holy Spirit that truly can change this world.

As we will sing at the end of our service today:

Come set Your rule and reign in our hearts again

Increase in us, we pray, and unveil why we’re made.

Come set our hearts ablaze with hope, like wildfire in our very souls.

Holy Spirit, come invade us now.

We are your church. We need your power in us.

May it be so. Amen.

What’s Mine is Yours

Posted on May 20, 2018Leave a comment

Later this morning, our church will welcome nine new members.

These young people have been working hard all year long to learn more about the faith that we hold together. And they will stand before the congregation at our second service this morning and will confirm and profess that faith for themselves.

While a few of them are newer additions to this congregation, most of these students were born into this family, were baptized right here at Immanuel, and have long been a part of this community of faith.

In our last class, we sat and read together from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The same passage that we heard just a few minutes ago.

And we remembered that at the beginning of the confirmation year, we were different people, from different schools, different ages. But throughout the course of the year, Jesus broke down the barriers between us and created a new person out of our group.

So now they are no longer strangers.

And thanks to the amazing work of our mentors, they now have some connections across generations. Through their volunteer work this past year, they have joined Immanuel members serving at CFUM and Joppa and have helped lead worship and have shared their gifts of music with the church. They’ve come to committee meetings and have used their voices and ideas to help shape who we are and where we are going.

They belong to God’s household. This church, this community of faith that has Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

Throughout this Easter season, we have been thinking together about what it means to abide in God, to make a home in God, to interact with one another in this community of faith as family. And what I love about this passage from Ephesians is that it is yet another reminder that “Christ is building us into a place where God lives through the Spirit.”

We don’t always talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, but on a day like today, that Holy Spirit takes center stage.

On this day of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection, we remember that the Holy Spirit came upon those first disciples like tongues of fire.

It filled them, it transformed them, it gave them abilities of which they never knew they were capable!

That day, God turned those apostles into the foundation of God’s home.

And ever since then, God has been building a glorious temple.

Brick by brick.

Person by person.

Christ has been building us into a place where God lives through the Spirit.

In John’s gospel, Jesus was preparing to say goodbye to the disciples. He knew that the end of his earthly ministry had come, and he was trying to get them ready for what came next.

And Jesus promised that a Companion would come, the Spirit of Truth, who will not only testify about Jesus, but would pass on all of the things that Jesus himself had received from the Father.

He is telling the disciples, what was mine, is now yours, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

My ministry… it’s now yours.

My love… it’s now yours to give.

Healing power… it’s now yours to share.

The good news of the gospel… it’s now yours to tell.

The work of Jesus Christ continues through the disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And friends… it continues through you as well.

This was not a one-time offer for a select group of individuals who lived a very long time ago.

No, Jesus is telling us that through the power of the Holy Spirit he will continue to live in every person who believes.

The church is not a physical place, a structure, where we gather once a week for an hour.

The church is a people, as that good old hymn reminds us, a people that are filled with the Holy Spirit and who testify to the good news of Jesus Christ and in whom God lives and moves and cares for the world.

As Emmanuel Lartey writes in his commentary, “The Holy Spirit connects the creative genius of the Father with the redemptive love of the Son and the courageous witness of the church.”

Bishop John V. Taylor describes the Spirit as the “Go-between God” – “connecting the past and future in a present full of meaning.”

This story does not exist solely in the past. It is not something we recite or remember.

This is OUR story.

It is still being written and conceived.

It is being lived out through our very actions in the world.

The Holy Spirit is present in this place, right here, right now, and Christ is building us into a place where God lives.

And just as you could probably name the spiritual forefathers and foremothers of your faith… Our confirmands look to so many of you as the foundation of their own faith journey.

You are the strong support upon which their generation stands.

You have taken what you have received from God through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and you have shared it with them.

You’ve given your prayers.

You’ve shared your time.

You’ve provided food and encouragement and smiles.

You’ve said – “what’s mine is yours.”

And already, these confirmands are themselves part of this temple that God is building, giving support, lending insight, helping to form the faith of not only one another, but also their mentors.

There is one bad habit that we have as the church however.

We tend to think of confirmation as a graduation – the end of a journey – instead of the beginning.

And we tend to think that once we have joined the church, that’s it, we’re doing growing and learning and letting the Holy Spirit move us.

Or maybe we think that once we’ve been a teacher or a mentor, or once we’ve retired, or once we’ve reach a certain age, THEN is when we’ve reached the end of this journey and we can be done growing and letting God us us.

But friends…

No matter where you are in your faith journey…

No matter how young or old you are…

Whether this is the day of your confirmation or the 50^th anniversary of your confirmation…

God still lives in you.

The ministry of Jesus is still yours to undertake.

The Holy Spirit still has work for you to do!

Your ministry might change through time… You might gain new skills and take on new challenges or you might retire from some things to let others have a voice…

But God is never done with you.

This community will always need your presence, your prayers, your gifts, your service, and your witness.

Christ is building us into a place where God lives through the Holy Spirit.

I believe that God lives here.

I believe that the power of the Spirit can help us do amazing things.

I believe that this church makes the love of Christ known in this world.

This is where God lives.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Enough…

Posted on October 1, 2017Leave a comment

“Enough” by John van de Laar

Worry and stress are not hard for us, God,
We do them without thinking:

There is always the potential of threat
To our security,
Our comfort,
Our health,
Our relationships,
Our lives.
And we foolishly think that we could silence the fear
If we just had enough money,
Enough insurance,
Enough toys,
Enough stored away for a rainy day.
It’s never enough, though;
The voice of our fear will not be dismissed so easily.

But in the small, silent places within us is another voice;
One that beckons us into the foolishness of faith,
That points our gaze to the birds and the flowers,
That in unguarded moments, lets our muscles relax.
And our hearts lean into loved ones.;
In unexpected whispers we hear it,
Calling us to remember your promises,
Your grace,
Your faithfulness;
And, suddenly, we discover,
That it is enough.
Amen.

A week or two ago as some of us came into church on Sunday morning, you might have noticed a police car here at Immanuel.
Overnight, the garage in our yard was broken into and a snow blower and set of tools had been stolen. They weren’t fancy or terribly expensive, but they were ours. The garage door was damaged in the process and our amazing and excellent Trustees have been working since then to secure the garage, increase a bit of our security, and help keep us all safe.

The neighborhoods around our church are changing.
We have had quite a few shootings recently and we are not the only ones who have experienced break-ins. Whether it is cars, or garages, or houses, there has been an increase in crime.
Our neighborhood is also becoming more diverse. Economic inequality is growing. We see more people of color and more languages are spoken in our midst.
I hesitate to correlate these things, but they are all part of the fabric of what is changing around us.

I think about this reality as we start our new worship and stewardship series: Moving Out of Scare City.
Des Moines is a fantastic place to live and work and grow. It was named the #1 city for young professionals a few years ago.
Yet, we were also in the top 10 list of worst cities for African-Americans in the nation.
We have had a higher murder rate this year than we have in a long time.
More of the students in our schools are on free and reduced lunches.
One in five children in Polk County are hungry.
There are some things about our neighborhood and city that feel less safe and more scary.

I think about the poem by John van de Laar that I shared with you and our temptation to silence that fear through money, insurance, security, gadgets… by clinging ever more tightly to what we have.
When it feels like death, hunger, and the overwhelming struggles of the world loom all around us some of us think about moving out. We want to separate and wall ourselves off from the problems and focus on taking care of our own.
Some churches around us have done that.
They moved out to the suburbs.
Or their church no longer looks like the neighborhood it is situated in.
Their beautiful sanctuaries and people in fancy clothes who walk into them on Sunday mornings stand in stark contrast to the needs of the people that surround them.

In many ways, I think that was the impulse of the people we follow in Genesis this morning.
In chapter 10, we find a listing of all of the descendants of Noah as they developed into the nations of the earth. One of his great-grandsons, Nimrod, began his kingdom with Babel.
While we don’t know of the threats or dangers that surrounded them, the scripture tells us in verse 4 that they wanted to make a name for themselves.
The promise of God that came to Noah was that he and his sons would “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” They were meant to spread the knowledge and blessings of God across the planet.
But this group of descendants feared being scattered over the face of the earth. They feared falling apart.
The potential threat of losing their identity, their status, their place in the world caused them to foolishly throw themselves into building a tower.
They believed that if only the tower were strong enough…
Rich and famous enough…
High enough…
Nothing would threaten them.

But this is not God’s desire or intention for our lives.
God doesn’t want us to worry about getting more and more or protecting only ourselves.
In fact, God knows that if we live our lives that way it will never BE enough.
We will always be unsatisfied and fearful.

Instead, God calls them… and us… to turn our attention away from ourselves.
God tells them they don’t need a tower – they are already enough.

And then God confuses them, scatters them, diversifies them.
Like the bloom of a dandelion becomes a thousand seeds that drift away to far flung places on the wind, God caused the people of Babel to be scattered to the winds – speaking different languages, practicing different customs, becoming different people.
In whatever place they found themselves, they began to look like the ones they were surrounded with.
They allowed the blessings of that new place to transform them.

When we look out on our neighborhood, it is tempting to see the diversity as a threat that might cause us to lock the doors of our building even tighter.
We might turn inward and stop reaching out, stop making connections, stop inviting others to join us.
OR
We could listen to that still small voice that beckons us out into the neighborhood.
We could open our doors to those who are yearning to find a relationship with God.
We could reach out in love and grace to even those who would rob us.
We could find ways to allow ourselves to be transformed and blessed by people who don’t look like us.

When I think about the legacy that Immanuel is building, I don’t see us building up a monument to ourselves, but I think about the ways we have opened our doors to welcome others in.
Not only do we gather and collect food for our neighbors through DMARC, but our front lawn is an invitation for our neighbors to come and take a book or what they might need for an evening meal.
Our building is available for other groups like Bikers Against Child Abuse to gather and plan so they can do the important work of ministry they feel called to.
We realized we had more than enough space to allow a small group of African refugees to come in and worship with one another. Under Pastor Joshua’s leadership, they became a congregation that now has a building of their own!
Our space was empty for just over a year, when this summer, a new friend called the church, looking for a place to worship.
Her name is Mu and she is one of many folks from southeast Asia, Myanmar in particular, who have built a community here. They were looking for a place where they could worship in their own native tongues… but also where they could build relationships with others.
Over the last few months, we have gradually been exploring what this new relationship might look like. Our Fireside Room was sitting fairly empty and on Sunday mornings their group has been gathering in that space to worship and pray.
They don’t have a pastor, but a volunteer from another church has been teaching in Burmese. Mu then translates into another language, Karenni. Their children are joining our children in Wednesday night activities and children’s church and we are navigating multiple languages at once!
On this day when we celebrate World Communion Sunday, I remember that while the people of Babel sought to make a name for themselves, God calls us to share the divine love with all people and to celebrate and delight in the diversity and abundance of all we share this neighborhood with.
Young and old. Rich or poor. Black, Hispanic, Asian, White.
This is what church looks like.
This is what blessing looks like.
And as we join and share and break bread, we remember that we don’t have to fear that we will not have enough.
With God’s help, there is always enough.