Work, for I Am With You

Repair for The Future Campaign

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

February 17, 2008

Text: Haggai 1: 15b-2:9

A marble sculpture of Haggai by a 13th century artist has the prophet looking over to his left and upward, his mouth slightly open, as if he has been surprised. He has a full beard, wavy hair down to his shoulders. His face is strong and rugged, that of a mature man familiar with the out of doors. In his left hand is a tool (a chisel?), held close to his chest, his fore finger stretched along its side. (Giovanni Pisano, at Duomo, Siena, for the façade of Siena Cathedral; image was found at Web Gallery of Art, www.wga.ha)

It is the artist’s imagination, of course, which created this image. The prophet, back home in Jerusalem, trying to cope with a desperate situation was longing for a word of hope for his people.

We may have set times to pray, forgetful and busy as our minds are, and schedules keep us on course. Now and then and here and there, when we are awake enough, God may speak or appear to us. God may interrupt our routines.   Not in an undisputable way, for all communications with the divine are elusive, hard to pin down, as God cannot be grasped. In these precious moments, we may hear with the heart God’s solace or instruction or correction. Perhaps the sculptor is trying to convey Haggai’s moment. Here he stands, chisel in hand, working against the odds, with the people complaining that they came all this way home for this mess?

Haggai and his fellow Judeans had been back in Jerusalem for 16 years already, having been freed from exile by Cyrus, King of Persia. They had returned to a city and environs that must have looked like Berlin at the end of World War Two. Rubble, mostly. Even the temple area was barely recognizable. Some in the returning party could remember the former temple, which had been destroyed some sixty years earlier. In captivity, the children and grandchildren had heard stories of the Promised Land, and were jubilant to be returning to a land reputed to be flowing with milk and honey. But it was all the returnees could do to eke out a living and build simple homes in which to live.

The temple had been the very house of God. It was a symbol of their unity. How would they re-group as a people unless the temple could be rebuilt?

A start had been made, a few stones marking out a foundation. Seeing it, the old-timers wept: it would not be a temple like Solomon’s. Others rejoiced: even a modest temple was better than nothing.

The presence of the temple was more than a practical issue, a place to gather. The temple, for them, made tangible their vision of the Kingdom of God. (Preaching the New Common Lectionary (PNCL), Year C, After Pentecost, 1986)

Then Haggai, as pictured in the sculpture, I believe, receives instructions from the Lord of Hosts:

“Speak now to Zerub-babel (the king) and to Joshua (the high priest), and to all the remnant of people….. ‘Who is left among you who saw their house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing at all? But now, take courage [be strong] [all of you]; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Hosts…… This is the promise I made you when you came forth from Egypt. My Spirit is standing in the midst of you; fear not…..Once again, I will shake the heavens and the earth…..and I will fill this house with splendor….The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the past….’” (Partially taken fromThe Complete Bible: An American Translation, 1923)

Haggai knew that re-building the temple would not bring in God’s reign. But he believed that God had called his people to be a light to all the peoples of the earth. God’s chosen were called to show their loyalty to this mission by re-building the temple, which would be a “symbol of God’s graceful presence for all the world.”
 (PCNL)

We mortals need places to come together. There is a power in gathering. And, more profoundly than any other organizations, people of the Covenant must rub elbows on common ground. We cannot sustain our faith journeys by ourselves. When Christ ascended, he did not leave us a book; he left us a community of believers. (The book came as a product of the community on mission to preach and to teach the Gospel.)

Our situation is so much different now, of course. We are not so tied to a holy place as the ancient people of Judah. Any place we assemble can be holy ground. We have come to “Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” (Hebrews 12: 24)
 
And yet. We have not changed that much! We need our temples, too--- these places consecrated to the glory of God. Yes, for practical purposes, but for symbolic purposes as well.

Imagine with me.

We walk up to Tarrytown UMC on a Sunday morning and memories flood in upon us.

We may remember coming here with our baby in the family heirloom ready for baptism.

We may remember gathering in a circle with arms crossed, for closing prayers and the MYF benediction, with a squeeze of each others’ hands at the end.

We may remember a solo sung at just the time we needed to hear the message it conveyed.

Or the time you stood here at this altar and made those impossible promises to your beloved wife or husband

You may remember with when you came here for comfort and thanksgiving when your wife or husband died.

God was here. God’s “spirit was standing in the midst.” God may be anywhere God chooses to be, but God was certainly here at times like these.

We Protestants have always had mixed feelings about our church buildings. We know we are prone, as all humans, to make end out of means. We know that the church is comprised of people, not buildings. We know that Christian communities have met in many places: catacombs, caves, houses, open fields, in tents, under outdoor tabernacles. We also know that we can be self-indulgent, and we can spend money on creature-comforts when our resources could go to relieve human suffering. And, we can become so attached to our places of worship that the preservation of our places becomes an end in itself and can distract us from our mission to be in ministry with those up against hard odds.

And yet we also know that God calls us to be in the world for a purpose. The purpose can be expressed in many ways.

We are the body of Christ---- called to extend the ministry of Christ through time.

We are a royal priesthood: a people set apart to make Christ known through sacrificial service.

We are ambassadors for Christ: re-presenting the love of God to a world hungry for agape love.

We are Christ-followers, sent to invite others to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, and to teach them the Way.

We are servants, as Jesus was, to those who are hurting, as well as advocates for those who are hope-starved.

And this means that we must live some place. To state the obvious, we have to be a human institution, a flesh and blood organization, just as the Word had to become flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. To carry out our mission, we have to be embodied. We are “earthen vessels” for sure, to remind us that the power belongs to God and not to us. But we hold in our care a treasure, which is that God has acted in Jesus to bring salvation to the whole world; that God has met Evil head-on and conquered it, so we are liberated to be laborers in God’s vineyard.

We tend to forget that we are in the life-changing business. Not that we have power in ourselves to change people, but God does. For when persons receive Christ into their lives and begin to follow in his Way, they are changed. It is as if they are re-born.  They find themselves no longer wanting to live all turned in upon themselves, but focused on loving God and neighbor.

Ask yourselves: What would your life be without Jesus Christ? And do you not want to be sure that others come to live nurtured by him, too?

For the sake of this agenda, we exist in time and space. By faith, knowing all the risks, we organize and we incorporate and we build places to facilitate our mission.

As with Haggai and his fellow exiles coming home, God calls on each generation to respond to the needs at hand, “to work, for God is with us.’ “God acts and calls on each generation to respond and thus to participate in God’s design” in our own time and place. “For the living of these days,” it is our turn to use our resources for the sake of our mission, now and in days to come. We are called to conserve what we have, not merely for our sakes, but in order to continue and expand our work for future generations. (PNCL)

In 1945, Methodists gathered for the first time to prepare for a new church on Exposition Blvd. Since then, members did what was necessary to respond to the challenges they faced, in the ‘60s, 70s, ‘80s and ’90s. Some of you were here as the church entered into and completed one or more of these expansions.

TUMC participated in a campaign for capital funds between June 1, 2001 and May 31, 2004. $4,920,669 was received. The renovated education building was occupied in September, 2002; the Fellowship Hall in December, and the Administration Building in May, 2003. The price tag for the whole effort was just under $6,000,000. How in the world were you able to do this? Lots of work and sacrifice went into this effort. And we are the beneficiaries, especially those of us who have come along later. Members saw the need and responded. Every time I walk into my office, I am aware of the debt I owe to Jim Mayfield, my predecessor, for all the work he did to provide a senior pastor’s office of such beauty and functionality.

Now our older buildings----those built and added on in the 1950s forward---- need attention which cannot be delayed. You are learning the particulars week by week. (Watch the youth-produced video at tarrytownumc.org) It is now our turn to respond to these needs at hand.  Let’s restore these buildings to their former glory---not for pride’s sake but for the sake of God’s work in the world through us. 

Taking care of our church home is basic stewardship. It is a home for which we share responsibility. Think about it:  If the home in which you are living were in the same condition, you would be busy finding ways to make the repairs and improvements necessary to stay there. So it is with us as church family in this church home.

We need to come together on this effort to repair for the future.
I ask you to make your best estimate of giving, perhaps not knowing where it will come from, but trusting that God will provide. Estimate your gifts, based not upon your own strength, but on God’s strength. You may not know what you can give now or over the next three years given the unknowns in your life. How about this: write on the estimate of giving card, “I will give as I am able, with God’s help.”  Of course, we need large gifts from those who are can do so. And we need a broad base of support from member households. No commitment is too small. It is my hope that all of our members will know the joy of participating in this project as we repair for the future.

Let’s take care of business. In three years, our buildings will be in good shape and we will work to keep them that way in the future----and avoid getting behind the curve again. In three years, we can also reduce our long-term indebtedness and shorten the period of our debt service. Let’s not do the job half-way; let’s complete the job.

This church does not belong to us. It is Christ’s church. We are stewards for a time and a season. Let it not be said that, on our watch, we let our heritage deteriorate. Instead, let it be said of us that we responded with joyful generosity, touched by the love we have for  Jesus Christ and for his Church.