The Good Ole Days, God by the hand of King David
delivered Israel from all its enemies and united them into one great nation and
established Jerusalem as the capital; the place on Earth where he would dwell. God had kept his promise made to Israel’s
forefather and progenitor Abraham to give to him and his descendants a land and
make them to be a great nation. God had
delivered them out of slavery in Egypt and led them through the conquest of the
land. Then with David, there was a
measure of Shalom – peace, well-being, security, enough – well mostly, his sons
would occasionally revolt.
It was the Good Ole Days. Everybody had pulled together and built a
nation, a great nation. Jerusalem with
David’s Palace was beautiful, a stately capital city to rival any. Yet, there was no temple to honour Israel’s
God who had made them who they are.
David wanted to build a temple, but God wouldn’t let him. David’s hands were too bloody from war to
build God a house. So, God said David’s
son, Solomon, would build the temple.
Under Solomon the Good Ole Days got even better. Solomon was legendary for his wisdom, his
love of science and botany, and his many wives and concubines. Rulers came from all over bringing him gold
and silver and their daughters. He was a
king unsurpassed in wealth and glory and women.
He built the temple for God and it was beyond being a marvel. It to took him twenty years to complete it. Everything was gold plated, silver plated, or
made of bronze. It glowed in splendour
of polished metal. The glory of the Lord
dwelled within. God finally had his
place on Earth to dwell.
Those were the Good Ole Days. Solomon’s temple stood for roughly 250 years
until in 586 BCE the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and levelled the temple
and took all its treasures. They also
took most of the people into captivity, back to Babylon where they
resettled. Apparently, idolatry and
abusing the poor did not please God.
Our reading from Haggai picks up nearly seventy years
later. A remnant of the people had
returned to Jerusalem. The rest stayed
in Babylon because they were doing well there. Those who returned were expecting God to give
them shalom when they got back, a return to the Good Ole Days. But, it just wasn’t the same. They began to do well enough to build nice
houses for themselves but they never seemed to have enough. Haggai prophesied that they were wanting
because they had looked after their own houses while neglecting to rebuild a
house for God. The remnant got the
message and got busy rebuilding the temple.
Well, it just wasn’t the same as Solomon’s Temple. It lacked the splendour, the gold and silver
plating and with things just not being the way they used to be, enthusiasm
waned. The people felt the hopelessness
of lacking the resources to do it like they used to. No temple treasure. Not enough people. And there was the pervading question of where
was God in all this. The people needed a
word from the Lord, a sure sign to go on.
Haggai rose to the occasion. It was the 440th anniversary of
the day that Solomon completed his temple.
He started by acknowledging their profound disappointment. The seniors in the crowd, the octogenarians,
they would have been the only ones to remember the glory of Solomon’s Temple
and they were few. It was time for those
who had never seen that temple to get on with building a new temple, a new
temple for their day and time. God would
provide the resources and the splendour of the new temple would surpass the
splendour of the old one. “Take courage. Work for I myself am with you standing in
your midst. My very breath is in
you. Do not fear.” So says the Lord God himself. This new thing happening in their midst,
coming back to the Land and rebuilding the nation, was nothing less than God shaking
the heavens and quaking the earth to churn up something fundamentally new into
being. Take courage political
leaders. Take courage religious
leaders. Take courage people of God. Your God is doing a new thing.
It is quite difficult for me to read this passage
from Haggai and not see and feel a correlation to our present day and
circumstances. It is Remembrance Sunday
and when reflecting on those who made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in
war in protection of our society from fascist tyranny we, like Private Ryan in
the movie by that name should be asking ourselves have we been good
people. Have we continued to better the
society they died for or have we spoilt it with narcissistic entitlement so
that we never seem to have enough.
This is the also the Sunday before the American
Presidential election. The Good Ole Days
are definitely gone for my home country.
As the world watches that election we must keep in mind that the
American president is not the Saviour of the world who can fix everything. The last time I checked that role was
reserved for Jesus. The American
President is a servant of the people, and supposed to be a wise leader and role
model. An image of what it is to be an
American. Speaking as an American we
have spoilt with narcissistic entitlement what my grandfather fought for and
for which he saw many of his friends die right beside him. America, though you have a right to them, put
your guns away before you needlessly kill someone and learn to respect and help
each other.
As the church, the Good Ole Day is gone. The former splendour of Christianity in North
America is no more. Things will never be
like they used to be. Our society has
changed too much. Rick Warren, Pastor of
the Saddleback mega-church and author of all things “purpose driven” said with
respect to the way things are today for the church, “People aren’t looking for
a church. But they are looking for
friends.” People need loving community
and trusted friends, but gone is any sort of notion that they can find that at
a church. People just are not going to
come to church like they did twenty years ago and days prior because something
culturally ingrained in them makes them feel like they need to go to church for
things to be right.
Working the metaphor of Solomon’s temple and church
buildings, there are going to be fewer to very few church buildings being built
from here on out because the church building of the very near future will be
somebody’s home or barn or a coffee shop or a storefront – something visibly open
and directly present in the neighbourhood.
Old church buildings like this one will persist but the congregations
that meet within are going to have to figure out, as this congregation is doing,
how to open their doors to their neighbourhoods and be good neighbours. The congregation that can get known for things like throwing
block parties and its open-to-everyone-no-strings-attached front lawn Barbeque
will have a likely chance of making it through the next thirty years.
The New Testament church was buildingless because the
fellowship of the people is the temple where God dwells on earth. The splendour of the new Temple is the
presence of God in our midst. God is
with us, in us shining like gold and silver.
But, God is out there as well among our neighbours doing stuff. Our neighbourhoods need Jesus people to be out
there being good neighbours who listen, and help, and work at building good,
solid, unconditional, compassionate friendship in our neighbourhoods.
Finally, this congregation has its particular
concerns to deal with. I hear God’s word
through Haggai speaking to us today. Let
us not be so lost in humble arrogance to think that we cannot take verses as a
direct word from our Lord to us. God
does speak directly to us through the Scriptures. This day God says to us, the remnant people,
the people through whom God is building the future church here, God says, “Take courage. Keep working, for I am with you. My Spirit abides among you. Do not be afraid.” We’ve a good, blessed fellowship here. The Triune God of grace abides in our
midst. Let’s not be fearful. Let’s take courage and keep at it. And all God’s people say, “Amen.”
