Glory Days or Days of Glory (Sunday, November 6th, 2016)

Bible Reference(s): Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Sermon by Rev. Terri Thorn

Unless you've been hiding under a rock this week then you already know that on Wednesday, November 2nd,  the Chicago Cubs won the Major League Baseball World Series for the first time in 108 years.  Now, I'm not even going to claim to be one of those life-long Cubs fans, who has stuck with them season after season, never giving up hope, optimistically claiming, "there's always next year."  In fact, I'm not even going to pretend to be a baseball fan.  I grew up listening to the Cincinnati Reds, but I couldn't name a Reds player today if my life depended on it.  And yes, when Rob and I lived in the Chicago-area we attend a couple of Cubs and White Sox games, but I assure you those were all about the social, not the sport.   I still enjoy an evening at the ballpark and a good rousing 7th inning stretch, but I have no loyalty to the sport or to any team. 

However, with the Cubs and the Indians - the two longest championship drought teams ever-- playing each other in the World Series, I knew that I had to watch. No matter who won, history would be made.  Suffice to say, on Wednesday night  in game seven, history happened many times over.

And the instant the ball left Chris Bryant's hand and landed in Anthony Rizzo's glove for the third out in the bottom of the tenth...every sports fan, everywhere (maybe even in Cleveland) became a Cubs fan.  If not for the fact that they won the World Series, definitely for the many inspiring stories that emerged in the days following the victory.  Only a heart of stone would not be touched by the stories of long-waiting generations of Cubs families watching the game together, or the especially moving story of an Indiana man who listened to the game at the graveside of his father who had loved the Cubs.  Or that of 85-year old, Darel Sterner, who held out, literally on his deathbed, to hear the final out of game seven.  He died three hours later and will be buried in his Cubs World Series Champion T-shirt tomorrow.  

I don't know what it is about the Cubs or their fans who, by the way, no longer have rights to their nickname, the loyal losers.  Not sure what makes Wrigley Field, flying the W, or Go, Cubs, Go so magical...but I think Hazel Nilson embodies whatever it is.  You see, Hazel is 108 years old.  She was born in 1908, the same year the Cubs last won the world series.  Hazel has waited patiently through two world wars, the Great Depression, the evolution of the automobile, the moon landing, more technological advancements that we can count, and  numerous historical events...a lifetime of waiting for her beloved Cubs to claim the championship title again.   On Wednesday, from the comfort of her assisted living facility she finally witnessed a night of glory for the Cubs.  She saw them win the World Series.  Hazel rejoiced in the victory, but she also said, "I never lost faith in the Cubs.  Win or lose, I love them."  Talk about a loyal and devoted fan! 

Something tells me that the prophet Haggai would love Cubs fans...especially Hazel.  In a way, she is preaching Haggai's sermon.  You see, when it came to waiting for their place of honor and dignity to be restored, Haggai's listeners, the people of Israel, were as long-suffering as Cubs fans.   They had  been waiting for more than a generation, in Babylonian exile...waiting for things to get better...waiting to return to their homeland, to their freedom and to their life.  It turns out, though, they were not as die-hard and faithful to the vision as those millions of Cub fans have been to this championship!

Keep in mind that Haggai is speaking to the Israelites after they have returned home...although definitely not to their former glory.  In fact, for the very few in the community who had lived through the terror and destruction of the exile, home looked nothing like they remembered.  Everything was in ruins -- homes, land, lives ---all gone.  The most heart-wrenching loss was the beloved Temple.  It, too, was gone.

Now, for the older generation, the memories were faint and fading, but they still recalled a Temple that was glorious.  Not only had Solomon's Temple been a sight to behold visually, it was central to their identity as a faith community. It represented their relationship with God, as the people of God, and it was gone...completely gone.  What an overwhelming sense of despair those few elders must have felt.

But, quite honestly, most of the exiles were like the millions of Cub fans who aren't Hazel.  They were born in exile and had never even been to their homeland.  The Temple was something they had never seen.  They had no memories of their own to draw upon.  They only knew the stories.  The stories that had been passed down through the years...stories of what the Temple had been...back in the day.  However, as with most glory day stories, if you weren't there when it happened, it is difficult to really to appreciate it, much less wait for it to return again!

This is why I think Haggai would have loved the Cubs fans.  They were not only willing to wait for the Cubs to have their new day of glory, they did their part to make it happen.  They didn't just rest on the glory days of 1908.  Instead, for more than a hundred years,  they have faithfully supported the team, bought the tickets, wore the logo, and cheered  --winning or losing --right up til the last out of every game the Cubs have played.

Unfortunately, that was not the case with these Israelites. They seemed to have just let the hope and possibility die.  Some were living with memories of the glory days...some had just heard the stories of the glory days...but none were actually working toward a revelation of God's glory by rebuilding the Temple. 

Instead, upon their return to Judah, they became consumed with trying to rebuild their own lives...worrying about their survival...planting gardens, earning wages, building homes.  The Temple site-plans went by the wayside...no energy, effort, or vision for rebuilding it.   The exiles were so busy re-establishing themselves as a people in the land, they neglected to established themselves as a land of God's people.  

That is until God spoke through Haggai, commanding the post-exile Israelites to refocus their priorities from self to God. God even went as far as to say that the reason the Israelites were struggling to settle and prosper was because they had been so busy working on their own houses that they neglected God's house.  So busy making a life, they neglected to worship the Source of life. Sounds familiar?  And that's where this passage picks up...and once again, Haggai implores them to shift their time, energy and focus toward re-building the Temple. 

Now, through our 21st century eyes, this may sound like God calling the people to a serious building campaign...but this command to rebuild the Temple is about so much more than bricks and mortar, or the silver and gold that would go into it.  Rebuilding the Temple is about re-forming their identity as the people of God.  You see, the previous Temple, in all its splendor, had been the center around which Jews oriented their lives.   It represented the relationship between God and his people.  It was God's presence among the people, and worshipping there signified that they were God's people.   Without the Temple, where was God among them?  Without the Temple what made them a community? Without the Temple, they would have memories of the glory days, but the revelation of God's glory would never come again.  

So no wonder Haggai pushed them to make it priority. 

The Israelites were stuck...and Haggai's job was to unstick them.  It's possible that they were  stuck in the memories of the past.  Perhaps they were stuck in fear.  Fear that they could not replicate and rebuild what was there before.  Selfish fear of what would happen to their own houses if they were busy with God's.  Or it could be that they were just stuck in a three hour committee meeting to determine the color of the carpet in the new Temple! 

Although, I wonder if it could be that they were paralyzed by the same thing that has been gripping  American Christians in recent months - an overwhelming sense of grief...fear that all has been lost...feeling that things are not OK...realizing that the past is unrecoverable, the future is unclear, and the present is as scary as heck.   

Now, don't get me wrong, Western Christians have been experiencing anxiety for decades as the glory days of the church have faded.  More recently though, these same Christians have experienced a loss of influence in the world - especially here in the United States. Not just a decline numerically;  it feels as if the church is becoming ineffective, unconnected, and powerless.  And many Christians are quick to blame government interference for the situation. 

However, a more honest assessment could be that we've made our bed, and God is letting us lie in it. Now, at the risk of sounding like an Old Testament prophet, American Christianity did not decline overnight...and no political party has done us in.  We've been distracted by many things - while an entire generation slipped away from the church.  We've been apathetic about Temple building.  And by that, I don't mean actual buildings and structure -- quite the opposite.  Those we have always done well.   Temple-building, however, is a different matter.  Remember, the Temple represented the holy relationship between God and the people...and the people coming together as a community.   Many churches in America have let the relationship and community building aspect of being the church slide.   And, truth be told, most have rested on the laurels of the church's glory days, hesitant to reveal God's glory in new and creative ways.  We've blurred the line between self and community...as well as the one between living Christian values and living American values...which, let's face it, are not always one and the same. 

In fact, I suspect this double-mindedness is part of what is making Tuesday's election so difficult for many Christians.   There isn't a single candidate who wholly reflects both values.  I hesitate to bring politics into this sacred space, but folks, I know that many of you are worried about the outcome of Tuesday's election.  I think we all are to some extent - for many reasons.  So, let me just offer this encouragement:  the person who is elected on Tuesday will be the President of the United States. That is all.  He or she will not be the Spiritual Leader of the United States, nor will he or she be the Head of the Church.  That job belongs to Jesus Christ...and only Jesus Christ.   Let that promise be your source of peace.

The results of this election are not going to destroy the American church, nor will they save it.  God has entrusted the future of the church, to the church.  He has called us to that awesome responsibility.  We can choose to build up or tear down.  We can fret and worry, or we can ask for mercy and move forward in faith.  We can look back at the glory days, or look forward to the day of God glory.

Just as God's call for the remnant people to rebuild the Temple was as much as about their identity as it was about the building itself, the work to be done in Christianity isn't about the structures, the programs, or the politics.  It's about relationships.  It's about believing in the kingdom vision and doing our part to bring it about.  To build the Temple was to create a place where the community would be united and where God's glory would be revealed.  Today the church is that Temple.  We are the Body of Christ, a community united.  We are called to be the revelation of the glory of God...to reflect God's presence in the world...just as the Temple represented God's presence to all who came near it.   

This is what we are called to build, to do and to be in the world.  All of us together.  We have the answer the world needs...we are the proclaimers of the gospel of grace...and we are the means by which the church grows.  We are the modern-day Temple and Temple-builders.  We do that.  Not Donald Trump.  Not Hillary Clinton.  Not the Supreme Court.   

My friends, do not fear.  Do not fear.  The past is still unrecoverable, the future remains unclear, and the present is even scarier today than yesterday.   But as the Body of Christ, we can be totally OK with that.  In fact, living with uncertainty is a part of life and not having all the answers is a key element of our Christian faith.  In his life, death and resurrection, Jesus teaches his followers to step forward in trust and hope and faith. 

So, whether the Church finds itself in the midst of turmoil that we bring upon ourselves, or responding to outside forces of culture, or trying to survive the Presidential term of someone who does not reflect our Christian values, we have no reason to fear.   We stand on the same promises that God offered through Haggai and we receive the same encouragement that Haggai shares on God's behalf.  Be strong, he says.  Be strong and work.  Don't fear.  I am with you.  I have been with you since the day I brought you out of Egypt.  My Spirit is among you.  Don't fear.  If you will step forward and build, I will provide all you need to get it done. 

In other words, the future of the Christian church is in God's hands and dependent on our obedience and commitment.  It requires us to move forward into a future we cannot see...to be willing to generously build the church we have yet to imagine...inspired by the promise that God is with us always.  To paraphrase the wise, 108-year old, Cub fan,  "Jesus has never lost faith in the Church.  Win or lose, he love us."  Amen.