THE BEST IS YET TO BE

A Sermon based Upon Haggai  2: 1-9

Dr. Charles J. Tomlin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

November 7, 2010, Proper 27C

Halloween is past, but there is a verse in this passage that still haunts:  “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? (Hag 2:3 NRS).

Haggai is not only talking about a place that used to be, but he is talking about the temple, a place of worship that used to be, but is no more.  

I saw the same thing, not once but several times over in Europe.  Beautiful, huge cathedrals with bell towers, religious paintings and all kinds of elaborate furniture, but many of these buildings were also in decay and many of the churches were empty, some were even left bombed out after the war; never repaired.   Today, some have been remodeled, but still function more like museums than places for worship.  As far as their intended purpose, they are abandoned churches, and still in many cases, reflecting a church in ruins.

I had the same kind of feeling when I visited Turkey the mid 1990’s.  This was a land where some of the very first churches were birthed.  The churches of Ephesus, Sardis, Colosse, and many others were once vital, functioning, living churches, but no more.  A land that was once Christian is Christian no more.  What is an even more frightening truth to consider is that wherever the church goes, it eventually moves toward decline.  But everywhere Islam goes, it is still thriving, growing, and alive and seems only to grow stronger.   How does Christianity look in many lands, many places where it used to be---in Europe, Asia Minor, in Jerusalem and even in some major cities in America?  How do the churches look now?  As you think about their “former glory” in the 1950’s?  How do the churches look now? 

The church I remember in my 60’s and 70’s childhood was often a “thriving” church.   I don’t think everything was perfect, nor do I think that everyone went to church for the right reason, nor do I think it was a world better than today.   What I do remember is that there was a certain ‘glory’, ‘hope’, or ‘anticipation’ that seldom exists today.  I remember full churches when revival time came.  I remember everyone coming together for special occasions.   I remember the whole church coming together in times of loss, crisis or celebration.   I don’t see as much of that today.   The church as an institution, like most other institutions, is in serious decline.  “How does it look to you now?”   Will it soon be “as nothing?”

WHEN LIFE FALLS APART

It may be “hard” for us to imagine this first word from Haggai, not because we can’t imagine it, but because we don’t want to.  But we all know parts of our own lives that are not as “glorious” as they used to be or that feel like they are in ruins.  We all know not just churches, but also towns and villages around us that are in decline.  We even know of the decline of our own nation with its increasing crime, decreasing civility, and decline of morals along with the fall of what was once a great, optimistic economic engine.  Where we are headed as a nation and as churches is difficult for us to imagine?   

But, if this is any consolation at all, it must have looked the same way to the first Israelites who returned from exile to Jerusalem.   This is exactly where Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of the returnees were.  They are coming home, but home is in complete ruins.  They all have sick feelings in their hearts.   Maybe it is something like Thomas Wolfe’s words, “You can’t go home again.”   Even when you return to the place you came from, it doesn’t remain the same.  You change, people change, life changes, time changes.   The “glory” of a given moment doesn’t last.   We all have to learn to “deal” and to “cope” with that.

This is how I sometimes feel when I visit Statesville, the town where I grew up.  Statesville today is not the Statesville it used to be.  So much has changed.  So many buildings and businesses are gone.  So much is in decline, as in most small towns in America.  Statesville is “home,” but the reality is, there is no “home” like it used to be.   I still love life, but sometimes, I suddenly get a sense of being “lost in the cosmos”.  And I don’t think I’m the only one.  One of the most popular TV carries a title many relate to: “LOST”.     

But there’s more than just a feeling of ruin and loss.   Even the “former glory” of Israel was not that much compared to the new “home” these exiles had gotten used to in Babylon.  Comparing to how Union Grove looks compared to Charlotte or New York?  Can Union Grove appear so glorious?  But of course, most of us would rather be in Union Grove.  Dorothy told us that “there’s no place like home” even if its Tornado ally in Kansas.  In other words, home might not ever be able to compare to the glamour of Oz, but the truth is, Oz is not real as it claims to be either (Remember the Wizard was all smoke and mirrors).  Home is real. Home is family.  Home is what’s familiar.  Even in ruins, home is still home.  It might seem like nothing to some, but it’s sure something to us.  

Last week there was a tragic attack on one of the oldest churches in the Middle East, which is located in Baghdad---the Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church.  At last count 58 people were killed while worshipping in the church.  It is reported that when Terrorist began to assassinate   hostages, police raided the building and three attackers detonated their suicide vests which left 58 dead and the building in ruins.  One woman who survived, but had to lay for hours in her own blood, said that she thought she was going to die, but she was at peace, because she realize there was no better place to die than in her church.   Maybe, albiet for different reasons, the Exiles who returned to Jerusalem felt that their cause was also hopeless,  but even to die trying to rebuilt their temple in the ruins of home was better than to die in extravagance and splendor of Babylon.  They must have felt all was lost, but at least they were “home.” 

MY SPIRIT ABIDES AMONG YOU

It was in such a moment of “homesickness” and “lostness” that God spoke a new word through the prophet Haggai to those who felt that all was hopeless:   “ Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, ⁵ according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.   ⁶ For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; ⁷ and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts….

⁹ The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts. (Hag 2:4-9 NRS)

How do you believe such a word of hope when you are still standing in ruins?   How do you “take courage” and know God is with you, when God still seem hidden, absent or far away?  How can we believe that the shaking of our world is God at work, and not simply the unfolding of our own destruction?  How can humans like us, who always have death hanging over our heads, teach our hearts to sing the hopeful song that “the latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former?”  Can we believe God is building something new, something to live toward it, or something worth waiting upon in our own time of economic ruin, religious, moral, and social collapse?   Can we find a way to build hope?   

Once in my ministry I helped to lead a building program.  Building programs can bring people hope and optimism.   The “strange” thing about the building program I was leading as Pastor is that I had voted against it.  The church wanted to build a Family Life Building, which included new classrooms for children, youth and a gymnasium that was also a much larger fellowship space.  I was for the building, but I wasn’t for the timing of it.  I thought we should spend our available money on hiring staff and developing ministries before we built the building.  I didn’t think we should rush into debt.  But I was “overruled” by the building committee.  The philosophy in that moment was that “if you build it, they will come.”  It was the “building” not the “ministry” that they wanted to bring them hope and they had no patience to “wait”.

We all know times when we become “desperate” for hope.  Sometimes seek “buildings”, “signs” , “words” or “people” whom we believe can bring hope.   But examining Haggai’s words carefully, we might recognize that he does not give so much a detailed “prediction” about the specifics of a “building” or “temple” to bring hope.   I’m sure Haggai would have loved to look ahead and see how the Temple Building program would work out.  He would like to have told  the people precisely how wonderful it would all be---one day.   They couldn't rebuild or recreate the splendor of the past, which was David and Solomon’s temple, nor can could they ever hope to match the grandeur or excess of Babylon’s pagan temples, nor can we today match the thrills of what Fenway Park or Dallas Cowboy’s Stadiums might sell or advertise.  But, what Haggai wants them to know this one central truth he knows: “If they will build, God will come!”  The prophet doesn’t know buildings, but he knows God.  “But knowing all the details of the future wasn’t Haggai’s job, but knowing God was” (Idea from Susan Bond at, www.goodpreacher.com).   

Neither Solomon’s Temple nor Haggai’s Temple still stands today.  But what Haggai preaches and promises is not so much about a “building” as much as it is about God’s presence.   “Take courage….for I am with you” (vs. 4)….”My Spirit abides among you, do not fear (v. 5)…. “I will shake the heavens, the earth, and the nations, so that the treasure will come…..  (vs. 6-7)… “I will fill this house with splendor” (vs. 7).   What else does God “fill” his house with except his own presence?  This is the foundational and abiding hope and in the beginning, as much as the end.   To know God’s presence is our only true and abiding hope.  Our ultimate hope is not in a building, a nation, a religion nor even in the life we now have.  Our only real hope is that when we keep trying, keep believing, keep building and keep working, God’s will make his presence known.  

Philip Yancey tells of an event that happened in Afghanistan back in the 70’s.   It was right before the Russians invaded the area, and the UN was there along with many other American workers and their families.  Because these families were away from home, a Church Youth group was going to go on a mission trip to hold a Christian concert and worship service, just for them.  No Afghans would be invited.   But still it was a very dangerous job, because anything the group did, which was not sanctioned by the Muslim government, or appeared to be making a direct witness for Jesus could get them in trouble.  

The Youth leader made all the group write out their lines.  They meticulously planned every word, every testimony, every song and every move.  When the time came they were well prepared to “be careful” and “cautious” for Jesus.  But then, during the concert, following the Spirit felt in his heart, one of the youth decided to break from the prepared script.  What made matters worse is that Afghans were curiously close by leaning against the wall to hear ever word.  The Youth Leader was a nervous wreck.

Sure enough, after the meeting, the Minister of Culture for Afghanistan, summoned the Youth leaders to his office.  They feared the worse, but when the Culture Minister began to praise their “Youth” work, they couldn’t believe their ears.  He said, “We’ve had all kinds of youth come through this land, looking for drugs and causing all kinds of problems.  But your youth are different.  Our own Afghan young people need to hear such a witness to love and faith.  We want you to travel all over this country and share this message of hope.

They couldn’t believe their ears.  After they came back to travel throughout the country side sharing their witness, not just to American expatriates, but also to Afghans, the headmaster of an American Christian school took them on a tour of a local cemetery.  He first showed them the grave of the first missionary who came to that area.  He worked for 30 years. Not one single convert.  Then they went to another grave, where a man died who had worked for 25 years and only had one convert.  Finally, they found another grave, where a man had worked for 25 years, just moving rocks.   Then, the Headmaster turned to the youth group and said: “All these years’ people have worked and moved rocks waiting for God to show up.   They were building for 55 years.  All this work has been done to get to this moment, where you have a chance to bring in a harvest.  (From an article in Christianity Today, Nov. 2010).   

THE TREASURE OF ALL NATIONS

That harvest in 1970’s Afghanistan did not last long.  Today, the Church where that youth grouped worked has been demolished and buried in a deep hole so no one can find out it ever existed.  That moment, that temple that church, now stands in ruins as do many lives in Afghanistan.  Will the hope return?  Will God show up again?  How do we respond to the “ruins” and the “waits” we all encounter in life?   What do we do when things fall apart and how do we keep our faith?  How do we “wait” for God’s presence to show up?   

Bob Phelps, pastor of Providence Presbyterian in Fernandina Beach Florida, tells of a tragedy that hit his small community where he once was pastor, when 5 people were all killed in a plane crash on a vacation trip to Europe.  The church where they attended was between pastors so Bob agreed to help a family member plan and perform the funeral.   The little church would not hold all the mourners who came, as 3 caskets were lined in front of the sanctuary in one service and 2 for another.   As the people came together from different churches and different denominations, to share their grief and support each other, there was no question that in this moment as everyone came together to pray, to mourn, and to hope, that God was with them.  Even in the worse of moments, amid all the ruins, they still found their hope in the promise of Jesus who is the promised “treasure among the nations” that has come to give us hope against all hopelessness. 

Sometime after the service, when the community learned to live and to laugh again, the “brother” who helped plan and perform the funeral, came to visit with Pastor Bob.  He had even made up a calling card with a motto for this “business” they hoped they never would need again.  The calling card read: “We’ll baptize you, we’ll marry you, we’ll bury you, decently and in order, all amidst splendor!” (From www.goodpreacher.com).     

Can you imagine “splendor” in the midst of all that can happen in life?  It’s almost sacrilegious and ridiculous to imagine such a thing?  But Haggai could.  And he is right about this: we can only imagine true “splendor” in the “ruins” of our lives when we know God is still with us.   And we can only know God is with us, through the “treasure of the nations”, which is Jesus, and his living Body, the Body of Christ.   Only in knowing God’s presence, can we keep believing in the midst of the “impossible.”   John Adams, a founding Father of our nation once wrote Thomas Jefferson these words about his faith: "Without religion (speaking of faith in God and particularly the Christian faith),  this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I man Hell."   To Alexander Hamilton, he wrote in a similar fashion, "without religion and the hope of the afterlife, everyone would be well advised to take opium....for I am certain, there is nothing in this world worth living for but hope, and every hope will fail us, if the last hope, that of a future state, is extinguished."  (From Jon Meachan's "American Gospel", Random House, 2006, pp 28, 30).


 Sometimes, like Jesus on his cross, we are “covered up” in ruins, or must be “buried in splendor” and we can’t see God anywhere and hope seems to fail.   But God is still here and so is hope.  This is the promise of the Christ on the cross and his resurrection.   As Scripture testifies, in the darkest moment of the cross, God was there, “reconciling the world to himself.”   Through the Resurrection power of God, 3 days later, the splendor returned and it was more than ever before. 

Today, we too must take Haggai’s word for it, even amid the ruins we experience.   Even in the worse that can happen, God will make his presence known and his future is still coming.   We can keep building against the odds and trusting, when we build it, “He will come.”  We can believe this because “treasure of nations” has come, and through Jesus Christ and the promise, he has made to us; through his teaching, through his dying on the cross, and through his resurrection and his promise to return and bring God’s kingdom, no matter the ruins we go through, the ups, the downs, the detours, the delays; with Jesus, the best is yet to be.   Amen.