Praise in the Process

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Will you pray with me? God be with us as we gather together this morning. Help us to hear what you have to say to us. Take away our dread as we return to our homes and lives. Help us to know what we should do together to be your faithful people. Amen. This is a reading from the third chapter of Ezra. It on page 367 in your pew bibles. When the seventh month came and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. Then Jeshua son of Jozadak with his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his kin set out to build the altar of the Lord of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it as prescribed in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set up the altar on its foundation because they were in dread of the neighboring peoples and they offered burnt offerings upon it to the Lord morning and evening. And they kept the festival of booths as prescribed and offered the daily burnt offerings as required for each day. And after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings of the new moon and all the sacred festivals of the the Lord and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters and food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from King Cyrus of Persia. In the second year after their arrival at the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak made a beginning. Together with the people and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity, they appointed The Levites from 20 years old and upward to have the oversight of the work on the house of the Lord. And Jeshua with his sons and his kin, and Kadmiel and his sons Binui and Hodavia, along with the sons of Henadad. The Levites, their sons and kins together took charge of the workers in the house of the Lord. Thanks be to God. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. [00:03:03] Speaker B: So Claire just read from the third chapter of the Book of Ezra and we've been going through that book. A book about a time of rebuilding after disaster and loss. Sound familiar? So how do you. How do we face an enormous task of rebuilding and not feel Overwhelmed by it. How do you take on some new project, renovation, renewal, relocation, reimagination of yourself, your work, your country, the world, and not say it just seems too big, the mountain is too large. I can't even begin. I remember the first week I was here as your pastor back in 2007, and Hugh Smith, then member and elder of the church at that time, who had been overseeing facilities for years, took me on a tour of the Knox campus, took me to the sanctuary, then took me to the boiler room, then what was then the fireside room, then the Northside house. And it just seemed like renovation after renovation, fixing issue after fixing issue, renewal issue after renewal issue was there all one large onslaught. I thought it's just too much. And this was just on the facility front. So much else to be done in terms of worship, renovation. When it came to instrumentation and energy, there was committee structures and small group ministries to be built, new mission endeavors outside of our doors to be engaged in and so much more. We had big dreams and it just seemed like those were so far from where we were. I had a similar feeling back in 2011 as I sat down on the brick steps in the backyard of my newly purchased home on 2266 Norwick Place. We bought a fixer upper and it was a great price, man, we got a great price on this. But after having purchased it and seeing all the work that was needed, from a kitchen remodel to, oh, let's just say a functioning heating and air conditioning system to just about every room needing flooring, other work, an unpermitted bathroom upstairs that needed to be removed, the list just went on and on. And I remember sitting there thinking, what have I done? What have we done? This is too big. We're never going to get there. I remember having a similar feeling these recent weeks as I've gone to visit the site of that former house. And now there isn't a house to be rebuilt. There's an empty lot. The only thing that's still there is a fireplace that we decided to keep. It's not in great shape, but we wanted to keep something from our former house. And that fireplace didn't burned down. And there are some posts that mark the fence. Other than that, it's dirt. You know, you look at that and you think, how do you begin to rebuild that? And then your eyes gaze to the whole neighborhood and even beyond that neighborhood to next door neighborhoods with so many empty lots and the task of rebuilding not just a single house, but a neighborhood in a larger community, thousands of structures. It's like, how do you begin that, that challenge? That project seems so vast. You felt that way before when you're taking on some big project. As Labor Day approaches tomorrow, I think of labor organizers today facing the enormous task of renovation and renewal in that historic movement. The first Labor Day parade was held back in 18, and some 10,000 workers marched in New York City advocating for shorter work days, better pay a day off, and for the right to form unions so they could bargain collectively. Labor Day is a national holiday where we're called to remember that the first Monday in September. But one challenge that labor organizers face today is that union membership, which included roughly 25% of the workers 40 years ago, now stands at roughly 10. That decline is attributed to big forces that are tough to overcome, laws that make union organizing difficult, certain efforts to combat unionizing by large companies, economic shifts away from industries that were traditionally unionized. And if you are a labor organizer, you are probably thinking, man, building something new here, renovating, renewing. How do you begin? I think about the challenges the Christian church faces in North America with declining membership and the challenge to bring new vitality and energy and participation and imagination and gospel proclamation and commitment to justice and service. How that can be brought not just to one congregation, but the larger body of Christ in the United States. How do you set out to rebuild something really, really big that matters to you and not just give up, lose hope, say it's too big? I imagine that is precisely the kind of question the people of ancient Israel faced as they arrived in the ruins of their former capital city of Jerusalem and the ruins of the temple. We read in chapters one and two of the Book of Ezra of a time that a great number of the people of ancient Israel who had been living in exile, exile in Babylon, returned to Jerusalem to rebuild that temple. That city and temple had been destroyed some 50 years earlier by the Babylonian army under King Nebuchadnezzar. Many of the former residents of Jerusalem and Judah, those who survived, were taken into exile in Babylon, some 900 miles away on the other side of the ancient Fertile Crescent. Nearly 50 years later, a new empire, the Persian empire, was ruled that Fertile Crescent. And under their king, Cyrus, after he defeated Babylon in 540 BC, he issued a decree. The Jews could now return to Jerusalem and could rebuild that temple. We read of that decree in chapter one of Ezra. And when those former residents of Jerusalem and Judah, when they made it all the way some 900 miles, the journey we imagine took some four months, they get there and Then they see their city lying in ruins, their temple in ruins. How do you face a task of rebuilding that big? History tells us that temple they are rebuilding would in fact be destroyed centuries later by the Romans in 70 CE. How do you take on a task as big as that of rebuilding the temple and city, especially knowing where what happened under Babylon could happen again. When we read about what those people of ancient Israel did as they stared at that enormous task before them. Once the people of ancient Israel had arrived in the town surrounding Jerusalem, they gathered in the ruins of that city. On the seventh month, the holiest of months in the biblical calendar. And led by the priests in following the guidelines of Torah, stones were gathered and an altar was erected. An altar in the ruins, an altar. Before the foundation of the temple was even laid still, the people of God marked that space and time and said, this is sacred, what we are doing, where we are right here, right now. This is sacred. This is a space we can pray to the living God. This is a space where. Where we can praise that God and enjoy relationship with God together. We read of how they were afraid of their neighbors, but did that keep them from doing that? No, it seems like it spurred them on, that they said, because we are in fear, we need to lean on God. We need to mark this time and space as sacred. We need to come together and know that there is a power greater than us at work and acknowledge that power as we begin this enormous task. We read of how they began the burnt offerings. Day and night, they offered these burnt offerings. That was a way of kind of daily prayer, prayer, moment by moment, a form of offering themselves to God. Worship is a powerful way. We offer ourselves, we take an offering and in worship we give ourselves to God. They set up a system where they could continue these burnt offerings, led by the priests in a constant manner, bring their offerings so that this practice of acknowledging God, of worshiping God, could begin and continue each step of that journey ahead. And what wisdom there is in that. Before the foundation is even laid, you worship, you worship. They praise and worship God before the building even begins. They build an altar and start this ritual of burnt offerings. They somehow name their God as not simply there when the temple is built. Not a God who's going to show up one day, but a God who's there in the process. So a former member of this church alerted me to John Wooden and said, oh, man, you've got to read the writings of this guy. Incredible. Coach has some great wisdom. And it was wonderful to learn about John Wooden's. Story. John Wooden, as so many of you know, I didn't was the head coach for the UCLA Bruins basketball team, and Wooden led that team to winning 10 NCAA championships in a 12 year period. They won seven championships in a row, more than any other Division 1 college, men's or women's basketball team. I was part of a Division 3 school, so it's hard for me to contemplate that. Well into his retirement years, Wooden was asked in this interview what he missed most about those days coaching that basketball team. He was asked, do you miss the excitement of game day? Do you miss that day when you're holding the trophy and standing with the rest of the team at that pinnacle of victory, having won the national championship? And Wooden replied, I don't really miss the games or the tournaments. He said, I miss the practices. I miss the practices. I miss charting out how we're going to use that practice time, what will be the best exercises, what will work for this team and not of just spending that time with the others. And then Wooden quotes Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, whose novel Don Quixote is one of the most celebrated works of literature of all time. Cervantes authority often quoted as saying this siempre es mejor el camino que la posada. Siempre es mejor el camino que la posada. El camino can be the way, or the journey, or the road. Posada can mean the inn or that hospitable space that we're seeking, or the end of the journey. Wouldn't use the quote the road is is better than the inn. The road is better than the inn. Now it turns out we're not sure Cervantes actually wrote that. Like so many quotes attributed to people, we're really not sure he actually said it. But if you read Don Quixote, there certainly is a sense where those main characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza find that so much of life is known on the road, not just at the destination. There's also a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson that Wooden mentioned as well. To travel, hopefully, is a better thing than to arrive. Now, I'm not sure the ancient people of God we read about in Ezra would have said it's a better thing to travel, hopefully than to arrive. I'm not sure they would have said the road is better than the inner, but I am sure it was an immeasurably awesome thing when that day finally came around in roughly 5:16 BCE when, roughly two decades after they first laid that foundation after they first set up this altar, that second temple was finally completed. And I know from what we read in the scripture passage today from Ezra chapter three, they identify, identified and worshiped and praised God on the road in the journey as part of the process. We read in fact in today's passage of how this people gathered in the Jerusalem temple, even celebrated that festival of Sukkoth or the festival of booze. And you might remember that was the festival, one of the annual festivals to which Jews from all over the area would get gather in Jerusalem. So they could really have this sense we are one people gathered inside of this great temple and there they would build these booths that had vegetation on them. And the whole idea was to recall that time the people of Israel were wandering through the wilderness, heading towards a land of promise. But remembering that on the road, on the journey, God provided for them. God provided manna, God provided quail, God provided water. God was there guiding them with a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. God showed up to them and gave a law to guide them. God was with them on the road and they could mark that by the festival of booths as they began this new process, multi year, multi decade process of rebuilding. Well, one of my favorite worship services at Knox took place not actually in this sanctuary, but it took place outside. You might remember it was Easter 2021. We weren't even allowed yet to gather in spaces like this. It wasn't deemed safe. We were still in that period of the COVID home quarantine, but it was a period where it was safe to gather outside. And so we did. We had people spread out on the lawn. And I remember so well that day, just being outside, seeing the sanctuary, but being out there and being able to worship God. I still remember Elise leading us in singing Ain't no grave that's going to hold his body down. And I remember looking at the comments online at the worship service of so many people who couldn't gather in person or didn't gather in person while we're still a of part of the community. And it was like that resurrected Christ, we can know that Savior on the road calls to mind probably to you as well, that story told in Luke's gospel of the road to Emmaus, right? How two disciples, one Cleopas, were walking towards Emmaus soon after the crucifixion of Jesus. And after some women had gone to the tomb and had a vision of angels that said Christ was risen. These two disciples had heard that, but they Weren't sure what to make of it. And while they're walking to Emmaus, you remember a stranger shows up and asks them about these things. And then this stranger starts to explain to them from the Scriptures, starting with the book of Moses and the prophets all the way through about the Messiah and about how the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is there in the Scriptures and is getting fulfilled. And then they encourage this stranger, these two disciples, to join them at their lodging. And Jesus does. And there they realize, oh, as Jesus breaks bread, this is actually Jesus Christ. The presence of God as we know it in Christ was right there with them, not just at the inn, but on the road, on the journey. And they could celebrate that our faith proclaims that the very God we know in Christ is with us, not just in the life to come, not just when we reach the end of our days, but God is with us in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, on the road, as we work for the renewal of all things, we can celebrate when houses, churches, communities, movements get rebuilt. But as we set out on that rebuilding task, let's recall the wisdom of the ancient people of Israel. And let's worship daily, weekly, way before we arrive at that rebuilt city or church or nation or world. Let's praise God. Let's enjoy God. Let's lean on God in the process. Praise in the process. Well, one final story, and I'll quit. Back In November of 1988, a college friend of mine invited me and another friend of ours, Rob, to join him, Bill and his family for Thanksgiving that year. Our college was in Massachusetts, and my friend lived in Richmond, Virginia. I thought, this is great. I've always wanted to head to Virginia. Never been to that state, nor to the city of Richmond. So I thought, this will be wonderful to be a long trip to get there, you know, a long drive. But once we get there, it'll be awesome. It'd be great to celebrate Thanksgiving with my friend Bill and Rob and his family. So I learned shortly before taking this long drive from Massachusetts all the way down to Richmond, Virginia, that another college student would be joining us, somebody I didn't know really well, someone named Jill. And Jill, I learned, was going to be taking this trip so that she could then join another friend once we got to Richmond, Virginia, and drive with him all the way to Georgia, where actually she is right now with her folks. She was going to join her, her friend, when we got to Richmond to get Thanksgiving with her family in Georgia. So on the road, you'll never guess what happened. We strike up a conversation. Rob and Bill were sitting in the front. Jill and I had many hours and back. And lo and behold, not at the destination of Richmond, Virginia, but on the road, I found something I wasn't expecting. I found my future life partner. I found love. Friends, open your eyes in a time of rebuilding to what God might have for you, for us. At each stage of this rebuilding process ahead, maybe we too will find wonderful opportunities to discover love of neighbor, love of God, maybe even the love of our life right now, as this rebuilding time begins. And let's praise God, not just at the end, but right in the process. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, amen.