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.
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.